Elizabeth Pye is Senior Lecturer at the University College London Institute of Archaeology. She coordinates the Institute's Heritage Studies Research Group and its masters program in conservation. She is editor of Caring for the Past: Issues in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums (2000)
This collection of essays looks at not only the past and present of touch in museums, but also the future as new pathways are discussed through both tactical and virtual developments. As museums tiptoe carefully into a world where fuller access and transparency are the battle cries, The Power of Touch blazes forward into this arena. Though the ideas presented may be polemical, they are all certainly thought- and discussion- provoking and a conscientious reader may find plenty of reasons to change their stance on touch in a museum context. - -Katherine Weikert, Portland Art Museum and Registrars' Quarterly