Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
museums have a strong and lasting emotional effect on some visitors.
The impact of museums is also important insofar as they appeal to young
people whose image of chemistry may not be completely formed. If we
accept that the way museums portray chemistry can have an impact on its
public image, has the presentation of chemistry in museums changed
over the years and in what way has their portrayal of chemistry changed?
How do museums develop their chemistry displays? Are they created
purely by the curators, by an external group of leading chemists and
chemical educationalists, or are they shaped by the visitors themselves?
As a curator in a leading science museum who has both looked after
and developed chemistry galleries, I am able to show how chemistry is
displayed in museum from the curatorial point of view. On one hand this
means that I am able to see influences and connections which might be
missed by an external observer. I also have access to printed materials
and documents that an external author might not be aware of. I have been
able to discuss developments in the Science Museum with colleagues
whose experience goes back to the 1970s. On the other hand, my analysis
will be limited by being a curator, my view although deeper will inevita-
bly be narrower than that of an acute external observer. However, I be-
lieve this exercise is worthwhile. This is a good time to take stock as mu-
seums have changing radically over the last few years and will continue
to change. We are not likely to see entire galleries devoted to academic
chemistry in the future. My main aim is to present an insider's view of
gallery development and to show the importance of external influences. I
do not seek to place these developments within the latest historiography,
nor am I able within the limits of this chapter to place these galleries
within their broader museological and educational contexts. Nonetheless,
I hope this chapter will provide the material for future research on these
aspects of the topic.
The term 'chemical gallery' can mean many things and can cover
many different areas of chemistry, broadly defined. For example, chem-
istry galleries often cover the chemical industry and its products includ-
ing plastics and metals. It might be argued that any study of the devel-
opment of chemistry galleries should cover these outlying fields. In
practice, however, I have found that the image presented by the chemical
industry displays of chemistry galleries is very different from that by
