Seventeenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Within the past year, many museums in the United States have publicly announced that they will no longer be displaying any human remains, due to legislation changes or public controversy. As laws such as NAGPRA are updated and stakeholders’ perception on acceptable collections and display practices are constantly shifting, it is important to examine how these changes impact various museums. For my Master’s Thesis, I examine how museums and exhibitions in the greater Boston area are stewarding important cultural heritage, in this case human remains, both in the physical displays present and also in the literature they provide for public consumption, and how they convey their practices surrounding the treatment of human remains to the public. I examine the curatorial choices made, as well as the literature produced by each museum and exhibition, both online and in their physical buildings, along with media or video footage that can be found within these museums, coupled with external literature regarding stancetaking, community engagement, and stakeholders to better understand the ethics and practices of these museums and exhibitions. I have attended each museum and have taken notes on the comparable experiences, as well as collected photographs and video footage when permitted of the displays and their accompanying literature. I also examine each museum/exhibition’s various online resources, such as public collections databases and records to better understand the scope and variety of human remains found within these institutions, and how much of this information is available to the public.