Life on Display

Revolutionizing U.S. Museums of Science and Natural History in the Twentieth Century

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, History, Biological Sciences
Cover of the book Life on Display by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain ISBN: 9780226079837
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: October 3, 2014
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
ISBN: 9780226079837
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: October 3, 2014
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Rich with archival detail and compelling characters, Life on Display uses the history of biological exhibitions to analyze museums’ shifting roles in twentieth-century American science and society. Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain chronicle profound changes in these exhibitions—and the institutions that housed them—between 1910 and 1990, ultimately offering new perspectives on the history of museums, science, and science education.
           
Rader and Cain explain why science and natural history museums began to welcome new audiences between the 1900s and the 1920s and chronicle the turmoil that resulted from the introduction of new kinds of biological displays. They describe how these displays of life changed dramatically once again in the 1930s and 1940s, as museums negotiated changing, often conflicting interests of scientists, educators, and visitors. The authors then reveal how museum staffs, facing intense public and scientific scrutiny, experimented with wildly different definitions of life science and life science education from the 1950s through the 1980s. The book concludes with a discussion of the influence that corporate sponsorship and blockbuster economics wielded over science and natural history museums in the century’s last decades.
           
A vivid, entertaining study of the ways science and natural history museums shaped and were shaped by understandings of science and public education in the twentieth-century United States, Life on Display will appeal to historians, sociologists, and ethnographers of American science and culture, as well as museum practitioners and general readers.         

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Rich with archival detail and compelling characters, Life on Display uses the history of biological exhibitions to analyze museums’ shifting roles in twentieth-century American science and society. Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain chronicle profound changes in these exhibitions—and the institutions that housed them—between 1910 and 1990, ultimately offering new perspectives on the history of museums, science, and science education.
           
Rader and Cain explain why science and natural history museums began to welcome new audiences between the 1900s and the 1920s and chronicle the turmoil that resulted from the introduction of new kinds of biological displays. They describe how these displays of life changed dramatically once again in the 1930s and 1940s, as museums negotiated changing, often conflicting interests of scientists, educators, and visitors. The authors then reveal how museum staffs, facing intense public and scientific scrutiny, experimented with wildly different definitions of life science and life science education from the 1950s through the 1980s. The book concludes with a discussion of the influence that corporate sponsorship and blockbuster economics wielded over science and natural history museums in the century’s last decades.
           
A vivid, entertaining study of the ways science and natural history museums shaped and were shaped by understandings of science and public education in the twentieth-century United States, Life on Display will appeal to historians, sociologists, and ethnographers of American science and culture, as well as museum practitioners and general readers.         

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book War Stories by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Crisis of the Wasteful Nation by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Securing Approval by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Comics & Media by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Measuring and Modeling Health Care Costs by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Authors of the Storm by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Economics for Humans, Second Edition by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Having People, Having Heart by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Music, the Arts, and Ideas by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Infested by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book A Very Queer Family Indeed by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book The Chinese Maze Murders by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Shareholder Democracies? by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book When Peace Is Not Enough by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
Cover of the book Hayek's The Road to Serfdom by Karen A. Rader, Victoria E. M. Cain
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy