{{short description|Domain of scholarship and professional practice within the field of folklore studies}} '''Museum folklore''' is a domain of scholarship and professional practice within the field of folklore studies (folkloristics).
== Characteristics == Some museum folklorists work full-time in museums of ethnography, ethnology, cultural history, or folk art, often as educators, curators, and directors. Others work in other settings, such as in public folklore programs, academic departments, community-based organizations, and consultancies. Such folklorists either partner with museums in the development of scholarly and public programs or study the history and impact of such work.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dewhurst|first1=C. Kurt|title=Folklife and Museum Practice: An Intertwined History and Emerging Convergences|journal=Journal of American Folklore|date=2014|volume=127|issue=505|pages=247–263|doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.127.505.0247|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/|accessdate=11 October 2015|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Key themes in museum folklore include policies and practices relating to tangible and intangible cultural heritage,<ref>{{cite web|title=China-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage Project|url=http://www.afsnet.org/?page=FICH|website=American Folklore Society|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ethnographic Museum Practice|url=http://www.afsnet.org/?page=FICH2|website=American Folklore Society|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> museums as sites of conscience,<ref>{{cite web|title=Museum of International Folk Art (USA)|url=https://www.sitesofconscience.org/members/museum-of-international-folk-art/|website=International Coalition of Sites of Conscience|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> museums and cultural tourism,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kirshenblatt-Gimblett|first1=Barbara|title=Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage|date=1998|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520209664}}</ref> and museums as sites of innovation relative to the digital preservation, presentation, and access to cultural heritage collections.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bol|first1=Marsha|last2=Dewhurst|first2=C. Kurt|last3=Hertz|first3=Carrie|last4=Jackson|first4=Jason Baird|last5=MacDowell|first5=Marsha|last6=Seeman|first6=Charlie|last7=Seriff|first7=Suzy|last8=Sheehy|first8=Daniel|title=Rethinking the Role of Folklore in Museums: Exploring New Directions for Folklore in Museum Policy and Practice|date=2015|publisher=American Folklore Society|location=Bloomington, IN|url=http://www.afsnet.org/?page=FLMuseum|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> Museum folklore practice has often focused on ways of animating the object-centered nature of the museum through events and activities that bring the people behind heritage collections into engagement with museum audiences, as through such activities as museum-based artist in residency programs, folk festivals, and art and craft sales markets.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Patricia|last2=Seeman|first2=Charlie|title=Folklife and Museums: Selected Readings|date=1987|publisher=American Association of State and Local History|location=Nashville, TN|isbn=0910050856|url=https://archive.org/details/folklifemuseumss00hall|accessdate=11 October 2015|url-access=registration}}</ref>
There is significant interaction and overlap between museum folklore and the neighboring field of museum anthropology, as well as the interdisciplinary field of material culture studies.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Berlinger|first1=Gabrielle A.|title=Ethnography as a Strategy in Museum Preservation|journal=Practicing Anthropology|date=2015|volume=37|issue=3|pages=34|doi=10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.34}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dewhurst|first1=C. Kurt|last2=MacDowell|first2=Marsha|title=Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Museum-Based International Collaborative Partnerships|journal=Practicing Anthropology|date=2015|volume=37|issue=3|pages=54–55|doi=10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.54}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hertz|first1=Carrie|title=Finding the Local in the Global in the 21st Century|journal=Practicing Anthropology|date=2015|volume=37|issue=3|pages=56|doi=10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.56}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jackson|first1=Jason Baird|title=Interconnections: Folklore Studies and Anthropology at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures|journal=Practicing Anthropology|date=2015|volume=37|issue=3|pages=20–23|doi=10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.20}}</ref> Museum folklore is often understood as a sub-area of the wider realm of public folklore.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baron|first1=Robert|last2=Spitzer|first2=Nicholas R.|title=Public Folklore|date=2007|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=9781604733167|oclc=607552460|edition=3rd}}</ref> In North America, the historical connections linking anthropology and folklore studies more broadly are of particular relevance to museum folklorists because many early leaders of the American folklore society were also anthropologists active in museums.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Darnell|first1=Regna|title=American Anthropology and the Development of Folklore Scholarship: 1890-1920|journal=Journal of the Folklore Institute|date=1973|volume=10|issue=1–2|pages=23–39|doi=10.2307/3813878|jstor=3813878}}</ref> In Europe, what is here referred to as museum folklore would often fall within the field of European ethnology.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Niedermüller|first1=Peter|last2=Stoklund|first2=Bjarne|title=Special Issue: Museum and Modernity|journal=Ethnologia Europaea|date=2004|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–93}}</ref> Museum folklore is also often understood as a part of the sub-field of folklife studies.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bronner|first1=Simon J.|title=Encyclopedia of American Folklife|date=2006|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk, NY|isbn=9780765680525}}</ref>
== Organizations ==
An organizational home for the sub-field in the United States and Canada is the [http://www.afsnet.org/?page=MuseumSection Folklore and Museums section] of the American Folklore Society. Among folklorists, this section is cognate to the Council for Museum Anthropology among museum anthropologists.
==Important persons ==
Prominent figures in the history of museum folklore include:
* William Bascom (1912-1981)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lurie|first1=Nancy|title=A Lesson for Curators|journal=African Arts|date=1932|volume=16|issue=2|pages=90|jstor=3335845}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crowley|first1=Daniel|last2=Dundes|first2=Alan|title=William Russel Bascom (1912-1981)|journal=Journal of American Folklore|date=1982|volume=95|issue=378|pages=465–467|jstor=540751}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Redman|first1=Samuel J.|title=Museum Tours and the Origins of Museum Studies: Edward W. Gifford, William R. Bascom, and the Remaking of an Anthropology Museum|journal=Museum Management and Curatorship|date=2015|volume=30|issue=5|doi=10.1080/09647775.2015.1076708|pages=444–461|s2cid=161806193 }}</ref> * Franz Boas (1858-1942)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stocking|first1=George|title=Objects and Others: Essays on Museums and Material Culture|date=1988|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison}}</ref> * William N. Fenton (1908-2005)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Becker|first1=Mary Druke|title=William N. Fenton (1908–2005): Relationships, Research, and Museums|journal=Museum Anthropology|date=2006|volume=29|issue=1|pages=44–49|doi=10.1525/mua.2006.29.1.44}}</ref> * Stewart Culin (1858-1929)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bronner|first1=Simon|title=Stewart Culin, Museum Magician|journal=Pennsylvania Heritage|date=1985|volume=11|issue=3|pages=4–11}}</ref> * Artur Hazelius (1833-1901)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stoklund|first1=Bjarne|title=Between Scenography and Science: Early Folk Museums and their Pioneers|journal=Ethnologia Europaea|date=2004|volume=33|issue=1|pages=21–36}}</ref>
Leading senior scholar-practitioners in the field today include Marsha Bol, C. Kurt Dewhurst, Rayna Green, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, and Marsha MacDowell.<ref>{{cite web|title=Museum of International Folk Art Director, Marsha Bol Announces Retirement|url=http://www.newmexicoculture.org/news/2015/museum-of-international-folk-art-director-marsha-bol-announces-retirement|website=New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=C. Kurt Dewhurst|url=https://museum.msu.edu/?q=node/144|website=Michigan State University Museum|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Rayna Green|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/profile/411|website=National Museum of American History|accessdate=28 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Hoffman|first1=Allison|title=The Curator of Joy and Ashes|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/128885/poland-new-jewish-museum|accessdate=11 October 2015|agency=Tablet|date=April 10, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Marsha MacDowell|url=http://museum.msu.edu/?q=node/149|website=Michigan State University Museum|accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Folk museums Category:Folklore studies Category:Museology