How Museums Tell Stories explains how museums “work” as a form of media that narrates stories intentionally and unintentionally.
Story—in life and in museums—is a phenomenon that emerges as people perceive, represent, and interpret the qualities of tellability and narrativity in relation to stimuli. Tellability is noteworthiness: it attracts our attention. Narrativity is a set of elements that enables us to perceive a story is being or could be told. The book discusses how and why these qualities are so present in museums, and how they enable physical institutions to tell stories in many forms, at many scales, in many styles of representation, and to varying degrees. Drawing on conceptions of narrative from literary theory, film, psychology, and cognitive science, Wong offers a shared vocabulary for understanding and analyzing how story manifests in museums at the level of objects, collections, exhibitions, and space.
How Museums Tell Stories will be essential reading for researchers and students interested in how and why museums engage audiences, as well as museum and cultural heritage practitioners seeking concepts and analytical tools for approaching and evaluating their work more critically and conscientiously.
By:
Amelia Wong
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 270g
ISBN: 9780367540579
ISBN 10: 0367540576
Pages: 134
Publication Date: 27 March 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of figures; Introduction: How Museums Tell Stories; Ch. 1: Narrativity in Museums; Ch. 2: How Museum Objects Narrate; Ch. 3: How Museum Collections Narrate, part 1: Early Collections and the Foundations of Mimetic Narration; Ch. 4: How Museum Collections Narrate, part 2: Public Museums and Diegetic Narration; Ch. 5: How Museum Exhibitions Narrate; Ch. 6: How Museums Narrate Through Space; Conclusion: The Limits of Narrative and Museums; Index.
Amelia Wong is a content strategist and communications specialist who has worked in museums, universities, and government for nearly 20 years. She holds a BA in History/Art History from UCLA and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. She lives in Los Angeles, USA.
