Museum and Gallery Studies: The Basics is an accessible guide for the student approaching Museum and Gallery Studies for the first time. Taking a global view, it covers the key ideas, approaches and contentious issues in the field. Balancing theory and practice, the book address important questions such as:



What are museums and galleries?


Who decides which kinds of objects are worthy of collection?


What do I need to know about practical care, conservation and collection management?


How are museums and galleries funded?


What ethical concerns do practitioners need to consider?


How is the field of Museum and Gallery Studies developing?

Complete with chronologies, glossaries and suggestions for further reading, this user-friendly text is
an essential read for anyone entering professions within museums and galleries, or seeking to understand academic debates in the field.

Introduction; 1. First principles; 2. Collecting and collections; 3.Display, interpretation, learning; 4. Economics: The Business of Culture; 5. Politics and Society: Power and authority; 6. Identity and Representation; 7. Continuing Controversies and Conflicts; 8. Current Debates and Future Prospects

Rhiannon Mason is Professor of Heritage and Cultural Studies and Head of the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University, UK. Her teaching and research focuses on the role of heritage and memory institutions in mediating public understandings of people's histories, cultures and identities.

Alistair Robinson is Director of Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, having held positions at the Victoria & Albert Museum and National Museum of Photography Film & Television. He is undertaking research into museums of modern art collecting contemporary art.

Emma Coffield is an Early Career Academic Fellow in Media, Culture, Heritage (MCH), at Newcastle University, UK. She is currently the MA programme leader for Art Museum and Gallery Studies. Her research focuses on contemporary art history, production and display, and the spatial politics of artistic practice.