| The Difficult Bequest: A History of the...

2nd Jul 2014

The Difficult Bequest: A History of the Smithsonian by Sasha Archibald

“Many museums struggle with articulating their purpose, but the Smithsonian is particularly burdened by a mandate fraught with contradictions. It is expected to be all things to all people: a museum “of the people” and yet a place for elite scholarship; a museum that honors the free-minded pursuit of culture and yet doesn’t offend mainstream mores; a museum that serves the interests of Congress and is yet historically objective; a museum that selects, curates, and filters, but is all-inclusive; a museum that represents living culture and is yet a repository of objects; and finally, a museum at the vanguard of historiography and museum practice, yet governed by stakeholders with contempt for academic trends. The Smithsonian’s tortured bureaucratic maneuverings magnify the awkward fit between intellectual inquiry and American pragmatism; to some degree, the Smithsonian spells the fate of culture in mainstream America. ”