The Galt Museum is moving in a new direction when it comes to its philosophy towards artifacts, according to the facility’s collections technician.
“We start to realize that we’re shorting ourselves significantly by just putting all of our energy into stewardship of the physical and not doing enough to extract the cultural meanings,” Kevin MacLean told an audience at the University of Lethbridge on Nov. 19.
When people approach the museum with donations, they almost always describe the objects as old because they believe that is what museums want.
Recently, leadership at the museum has decided to prioritize the meaning attached to each donation, rather than only its age.
Participation in an interview is now a prerequisite for the museum to consider an offer.
The new approach has made the process more personal for both staff and people with objects to donate.
Interviewing every contributor takes quite a bit of time. MacLean says he accumulated 29 hours of content in 2017, which translates to over 250,000 transcribed words. Despite the effort, he finds the process rewarding.
“I’ve been hugged after I’ve finished doing an interview. Perfect strangers that I don’t know, after they’re finished talking with me will tell me they love me,” says MacLean.
