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Originally published by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in German, Claims and Realities of New Museology is the first doctoral dissertation to analyze the effectiveness of new models for museums.
In memoriam
Dr. Herbert Ganslmayr 1937-1991
Acknowledgments
In connection with my work as a museum ethnologist at the Übersee Museum in Bremen I asked myself the question--prompted by Dr. Herbert Ganslmayr, Director of the Übersee Museum--whether and how local and regional museums as adult educational institutions could contribute to societal development, that is to coping with everyday life and to improving the conditions of life. In my exploratory research on this subject, which I carried out at the ICOM/UNESCO documentation center in Paris, I "discovered" new museology, a trend in modern museology in which the concept of the museum appeared to hold an answer to my question and which I have therefore made the subject of a detailed study within the framework of my doctoral work in the field of ethnology.
The new conception of the Übersee Museum and my practical work for the Übersee Museum form the basis of my museological background, which, together with systematic ethnology as a basic science for the study of culture, has determined the genesis and orientation of this work. My particular thanks go to Dr. Herbert Ganslmayr, who has had a decisive influence on my professional career, introduced me to museum work and finally stimulated and supported the present work. I wish to thank Dr. Ganslmayr for exposing me to new ways and new possibilities for working independently and gathering experience in the field of museology.
My very special thanks go also to Prof. Jürgen Jensen of Hamburg University, who was my supervisor until the time of my master's examination and who in this way has had a crucial influence on my studies as an ethnologist. I wish to thank Prof. Jensen for his interest in the present work and for his untiring support and constant readiness to advise me.
This work would not have been possible without my colleagues and interviewees in Quebec (Canada), the United States and Mexico. I wish to thank them for their interest, their extraordinary readiness to cooperate, their remarkable hospitality and the support they bestowed on my research work. My particular thanks go to René Rivard for arranging numerous contacts.
I wish to thank my friends and colleagues Dr. Sibylle Benninghoff-Lühl, Dr. Thomas Labahn, Johannes Sommerfeld (M.A.) and Dr. Andreas Köchert for their readiness to talk with me, their critical spirit and the important suggestions concerning the present work.
Special thanks go to Madame Anne Rafin, director of the UNESCO-ICOM Documentation Center in Paris, for her friendly and tireless help in obtaining literature. Moreover, I wish to thank Monique Bonneau and Clara Valverte for help with transcription and for proof reading the parts of the work not in German. I wish to thank my former teacher, Mr. Klaus Papies, and Dr. Thomas Labahn for their willingness to proof read the German manuscript.
From the beginning of this work in June 1984 until its completion I received a grant from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Institute for Educational Excellence, Division of Graduate Support). I wish to thank the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for supporting my work, and especially Mr. Konrad S. Krieger.
Finally, I wish to thank with all my heart my parents, my sister and my friends and colleagues, who stood beside me in word and deed in the course of this work and, in particular, found words of support time and again.
My particularly heartfelt thanks go to my companion in life, Jean-François Mercier, who has supported me in my work in every respect and whose kind and critical sympathy has contributed to the successful outcome of this work.
While I wish to thank all of the persons named for the various forms of stimulus they gave to the present work, I wish to state explicitly that I alone am responsible for any errors and omissions.
Hamburg, January 11, 1988 Andrea Hauenschild
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
3. Case studies
3.1 The ecomuseum in Quebec, Canada
3.1.1 Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, Musée Territoire
3.1.1.1 The Haute-Beauce
3.1.1.2 Origin
3.1.1.3 Conception and objectives
3.1.1.4 Structure and organization
3.1.1.5 Activities and programs
3.1.1.6 Evaluation
3.1.2 Ecomusée de la Maison du Fier-Monde
3.1.2.1 Montréal Centre-Sud
3.1.2.2 Origin
3.1.2.3 Conception and objectives
3.1.2.4 Structure and organization
3.1.2.5 Activities and programs
3.1.2.6 Evaluation
3.2 The neighborhood museum in the United
3.2.1 The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum
3.2.1.1 Anacostia
3.2.1.2 Origin
3.2.1.3 Conception and objectives
3.2.1.4 Structure and organization
3.2.1.5 Activities and programs
3.2.1.6 Evaluation
3.3 The integral museum in Mexico
3.3.1 Casa del Museo
3.3.1.1 First project
3.3.1.1.1 The Zona Observatorio
3.3.1.1.2 Origin
3.3.1.1.3 Conception and objectives
3.3.1.1.4 Structure and organization
3.3.1.1.5 Activities and programs
3.3.1.1.6 Evaluation
3.3.1.2 Second project
3.3.1.2.1 Pedregal de Santo Domingo de los Reyes
3.3.1.2.2 Origin
3.3.1.2.3 Conception and objectives
3.3.1.2.4 Structure and organization
3.3.1.2.5 Activities and programs
3.3.1.2.6 Evaluation
3.3.2 Program for Development of the Educational
Function of INAH Museums3.2.1 Origin
3.3.2.2 Concept and objectives
3.3.2.3 Structure and organization
3.3.2.4 Activities and programs
3.3.2.5 Evaluation
4. Claims and Reality of New Museology:
4.1 Objectives
Comparative Analysis of the Case Studies4.2 Basic principles
4.3 Structure and organization
4.4 Approach
4.5 Tasks
4.6 Critical assessment
New museology1 is an idea of the museum as an educational tool in the service of societal development (de Varine 1985:4): "[...] the museum, for us, is or rather should be one of the most highly perfected tools that society has available to prepare and accompany its own transformation."
At the center of this idea of a museum lie not things, but people (cf. de Varine 1976b:127). Although it is described as "new"2 and must be considered a phenomenon of the seventies and eighties, new museology actually follows the tradition among museum people dating back to the nineteenth century of considering the museum as an educational institution in the service of society.
In 1971, at the Ninth General Conference of the International Council of Museums, Stanislas Adovéti, a philosopher and author from the People's Republic of Benin, with the approval of the Mexican Mario Vásquez, pointed out the precarious situation of the museum (cf. Adovéti 1972; de Varine 1978b:29). He believed that the museum as an institution would either have to change radically or lose its right to exist and sooner or later disappear.
Since then, in countless museum conferences, academic lectures and articles, critics have lamented the obsolete character of museums and have questioned the conception museums have of themselves and their right to exist. But, in fact, museums appear to be surviving the crisis. In place of the feared closing of museums, the headlines announce new openings. Here the question inevitably arises: Have museums changed so that they enjoy increasing popularity? One thing is sure: museum people, under the pressure of events and in reaction to vehement criticism, have awakened from their torpor and are trying hard to make changes.
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1 The term "new museology" used here is a translation of the commonly used French and Spanish terms "nouvelle muséologie" and "nueva museologia."
2 In this regard, it should be noted that this idea was developed definitively by French museologists and is, in fact, relatively "new" in the context of centralized French museum work.
3 These changes are expressed, among other things, in the modified definition of the museum put out by the International Council of Museums in 1974 (ICOM 1974:1): "The museum is a permanent non-profit institution, open to the public, in the service of society and its development, which does research on the material evidence of man and his environment, acquires such evidence, preserves it, communicates it and, in particular, displays it for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment." [Emphasis added]
In his remarks on the "prehistory" of new museology (1978b:29), de Varine, Secretary General of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) from 1965 to 1974, noted the discouragement of museologists in the course of their attempts to change the museum, since all efforts to modernize the museum and achieve cultural relevance had failed to catch on:"[...] the most enterprising and innovative museologists throughout the world had lost their illusions: the museum as an institution devoted to tradition was in the course of dying, despite the efforts being made on all sides to invent a future for it."
De Varine (1978b:29) argued further in this regard that the modernization of museum architecture, display technology and research on target groups has led to a tremendous increase in costs and commercialization, without changing the quality of the museum visit and motivating city residents-with the exception of captive public-school classes-to increase museum visitation (cf. de Varine 1987b:1-2).
Dissatisfied with attempts to reform traditional museums, museologists in various countries looked for possibilities to change radically the working methods, content and structure of an institution that some thought outmoded. The purpose was to help museums achieve social meaning, less in the sense of recognition and increased attendance, but more in regard to the museums concrete contributions to everyday life. These considerations finally led to the creation and testing of new forms of the museum. Three parallel developments occurred, independent of one another and in separate social contexts: neighborhood museums in the United States, integral museums in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, and ecomuseums in France and Quebec (cf. chap. 2).
A consequence of the protest against and attempt to change established, stagnating, museum practice was the formation during the 1980s of an association of museum workers called the International Movement for New Museology (MINOM). The group consists of museologists who have joined together to explore ideas of the "new" museum as a democratic, educational institution in the service of social development (particularly at the local and regional level). Baron (1987:1) specifies the thrust of new museology as follows: "[...], this new active or community museology resolutely challenges the museum as an institution, the omnipotence and omniscience of the curators, the domination of the fine arts over all other disciplines, aesthetic pleasure as the essential criterion of an object's value, the absolute precedence of objects over life and the abiding nature of the history and values of an elite that turns to its profit the resources of the planet, the creativity of its inhabitants and taxes of its fellow citizens."
Of course, distinctions must be made, in particular, that the "new" museum does not see itself as an alternative to the established museum but as a supplement opening up new dimensions. Although a systematic and detailed comparison is not possible here, in fact, new museology shares much with traditional museology. Many modern museums-particularly local and regional museums, folk-art museums and natural history museums-follow ideas similar to those of new museology.4 What is new about the "new" museum lies less in its individual elements than in its overall concept.
The discourse of new museology is essentially cultural and political, not scientific. De Varine (1983b: no page no.) admits the difficulty of defining the essential features of new museology: "There are no established rules or models, just theories that have been immediately belied by practice." Correspondingly, questions related to the nature and theory of new museology have been avoided, as Michel Roy (1987:8) emphasizes: "These practices are characterized by a refusal to develop a precise museological model, a practice based on a precise theory. Exploration and experimentation are still underway."
It cannot be denied that relatively much of the available literature, which consists predominantly of short articles, has--with a few exceptions--a certain propagandistic character. A body of research, properly speaking, is next to nonexistent. At best, one can speak of a "body of thought," a "collection of ideas." The single longer work on new museology by René Rivard (1984a) makes no scientific claims and should be viewed as a general compendium of ideas on the subject. With the exception of the case studies of Gariépy (1986), Céré (1985) and Antúñez et al. (1976), there has been no comprehensive analysis of new museology according to systematic, empirical criteria.
A first attempt to relate the claims and reality of new museology to each other and to subject them to a comprehensive, critical analysis will be undertaken in the present research work. Basically I consider the changes in museum practice demanded by new museology, particularly with respect to local and regional museums, to be desirable and, through a scientific study of the relationship of theory to practice, I intend to produce a more precise definition of and solid basis for new museology. This work aims to make new museology accessible and comprehensible, clarify its problem areas and stimulate its practice in order to advance the museum as an educational institution and agent of social change.
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4 The wide spectrum of discussions of so-called traditional museology is clear, for example, in the publications of the International Commission for Museology (ICOFOM) (cf. ICOFOM 1980, 1983, 1987; cf. also Sola 1987).
The plan of the "new" museum in chapter 2 is a theoretical construct, an ideal type, in which the claims of new museology are put to the test. The hypothesis that the "new" museum is feasible leads to testing these claims against the reality of museums generally classified as examples of new museology. For this purpose I carried out a series of empirical case studies (cf. Aleman/ Ortlieb 1975), which form the central element of the present work and are dealt with in detail in chapter 3.
The following museum projects were selected as case studies: the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, musée territoire, Haute-Beauce, Quebec, Canada; the Ecomusée de la Maison du Fier-Monde, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Washington, D.C., the Casa del Museo project, Mexico; the Program for the Development of the Educational Function of the INAH Museums, Mexico.
These examples represent varied applications of new museology. Each project shows peculiarities that distinguish it from the others.
The principal emphasis was intentionally placed on a qualitative investigation of the individual aspects of new museology. Data derived from intensive structured, non-standardized interviews and research of the literature and documents.
All together I interviewed 35 persons for a total of 63 hours, recorded on tape cassettes. Transcribed word for word, the interviews produced 800 pages of written text. The questions addressed the development of the museum project, each country's system of museum practice and the personal experiences, assessments, views and judgments of my respondents. A wealth of material on new museology emerged from the interviews that differs considerably from the "official" discourse of publications and conferences.
Of course, the bulk of the data reflects the specific conditions of each museum during the period of investigation. However, an effort was made to clarify the course of the museum's development over a longer period of time. Current data were produced through interview questions related to the previous conditions of the museum being studied and by maintaining personal contact with the informants throughout the two-and-a-half year evaluation phase.
The representatives of new museology have made only limited attempts to systematize their prior experiences and develop definitions. 5 Since 1986, however, a working group of MINOM members (Jean-Claude Duclos, Eulalia Janer, Mario Moutinho, Girard Colling, Marc Maure) has published a paper outlining the principles of new museology. In it, Duclos et al. (1986) distinguish the objectives and means of new museology from its missions and functions (Duclos et al. 1987). As a first attempt (Duclos et al. 1986), the authors classified as objectives the following elements of new museology: a global view of reality; research that satisfies social requirements; action that is continually adapted to a population and its territory; and an approach, research and actions that contribute to individual and social development. The same work (Duclos et al. 1986) also identified the means of new museology as follows: collection, conservation, research (interdisciplinarity), exhibition and museum education (participation).
I will, therefore, attempt (of course, with no claim to "final truth") to specify the ideal type of the "new" museum, relying on the statements of practitioners of new museology.
With regard to the general definition of the museum as an institution, I consider that the following constituent elements should be distinguished: objectives "objectifs" or "missions" in Duclos et al. 1986; 1987), basic principles, and structure and organization, approach, and tasks "moyens" or "fonctions" in Duclos et al. 1986; 1987).
According to new museology, the "new" museum is defined by its socially relevant objectives and basic principles. Its work as an educational institution is directed toward making a population aware of its identity, strengthening that identity, and instilling confidence in a population's potential for development. In this regard, Maure writes (1985a:17): "A museum is a means, a tool available to a society to find, give form to, mark, demarcate its identity, i.e. its territory and its frontiers in time and space, with respect to other societies and other social and cultural groups."
Rivard (1984a:13f) and Taborsky (1978:22f; 1982:1-9, cf. Taborsky 1985) speak in this connection of identity as the totality of images that a group has of itself, its past, present and future. The role of the museum is, in the first place, to put a population in a position to visualize, be aware of and name these images, which are manifested at the material and non-material levels in everyday life. Taborsky (1978:23) speaks in this regard of the important role of the museum in the process of "positive imagizing.@" The business of museums must be to realize a population's right "[...] to imagize, to name, to define what objects are, as locally perceived; to define what the local needs are, and the objects which meet those needs."6
By identifying and naming the material and non-material elements that constitute their environment people realize their right to their own local and regional identity, they take possession of their world and gain a certain control over it (cf. Maure 1985a:21). Museums consciously take up the search for identity. However, the objective of the "new" museum goes beyond the formation of identity. The "new" museum wants to make a concrete contribution to coping with everyday life by pointing out problems and possible solutions. Museums as educational institutions can contribute to a population's consciousness of its neighborhood or region (cf. chapter 2) and act upon it in a formative way. Putting the theoretical model into words, de Varine (no year:4) described the "new" museum as a kind of people's university: "[...]: the place which can and must mirror the questions which individuals and social groups are asking themselves—not to supply answers, but to state the problems, point to alternatives, and offer materials and information to assist them to realize and decide what attitudes to take up."
By attaining the immediate goals of forming identity and coping with everyday life, the "new" museum strives to influence the integrated development of a region and its population (Document de travail 1984:4).
The radical expansion and application of the principles of public orientation and territoriality, as the fundamental principles of the "new" museum, follow from the goal of service to society (cf. de Varine no year:4).7 If a museum really wants to initiate identity-forming and development- relevant work within the context of a given population, it must orient itself to the local conditions and to the specific interests and needs of that population. The "new" museum may not isolate itself from society in a self-sufficient manner, but rather must open itself outward to society, in order to have an effect on the public.
The far-reaching orientation to the public for which the "new" museum strives, requires that its potential public be identified. Here the basic principle of territoriality comes into play. The "new" museum relates to a clearly demarcated territory and its population. These are defined by cultural and natural boundaries (for example, a city, a neighborhood, a cultural and geographical region), rather than tied to given administrative divisions (Rivard 1984a:50). The function of strongly defining the museum's relationship to its locality provides meaning to the public (Bellaigue Scalbert 1983:35). 8
Based on the objectives and basic principles of the "new" museum, representatives of new museology have developed a view as to what a museum—its structure, approach and tasks—should be, and this view will be examined below.
In order to preserve its experimental character and maintain the greatest possible openness to the constantly changing reality of people's lives, the "new" museum strives to maintain a low degree of institutionalization. Neither the spatial nor the organizational structure is fixed. Employees are engaged on the basis of time-limited contracts so that the staff may be continually renewed (cf. de Varine 1978b:37). Rivard (1984a:38) understands the "new" museum rather as a dynamic movement than as a fixed institution: "A fortiori, movement and institutionalization are opposed to each other, since movement itself will be threatened by death if it is 'put in a box', since in the long run this will remove its dynamism, its popularity, its centrifugal force."
In order to preserve independence, the "new" museum's budget depends, in so far as possible, on the resources of the region. That includes museum funds generated through contributions from local businesses and citizens. State subsidies make up the difference in the required budget (cf. de Varine 1978b:37; Rivard 1985b:204).
In contrast to the traditional museum, where activities are limited as a rule to the "Four walls" of the museum building, the "new" museum advocates a decentralized spatial structure. It marks its territory by creating so-called identification markers. The Document de travail (1984:4) states: "New museology proposes to remove barriers in different ways: to go into environments not favorable to museums, to extend the museum throughout an area, to make sporadic excursions into non-museum environments, to give shows before neglected publics, to distribute the museum throughout homes, families and other social and productive cells (hospitals, factories, people's houses)." Because of this spatial branching and splitting, the "new" museum is often referred to as a "fragmented museum."
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5 However, Rivard (1984a) gives a good overview; some broad outlines also appear in the Document de travail (1984) and in the Groupe de Recherche en Patrimoine (1983). Stevenson (1987:31) and Lacouture (1987:21) compare traditional and new museology.
6 In his feasibility study for the museum of the Inuit in Inukjuak, Quebec, Rivard wrote (1985a:17): "A museum can play a vital role in helping a society to define its present reality, collecting the images that it readily has and exhibiting/communicating these images to the people. When the museum is actively engaged in presenting and discussing the present and local images—as some do—it is a prime method for helping a people to gain control over their activities, to clarify the issues of actuality, to discuss concerns, and to gather vitality and self-identity. With the help of an active museum/cultural centre, Inuit society can readily deal with its social and economic conditions. But the first step . . . is to imagize them. And the museum is able to involve people with imagizing not only the past but also the present and the future, with imagizing not only what is beautiful and traditional, but also social concerns, current existence, economic situations, society in general."
7 Cf. particularly the works of Rivard (1981, 1983b, 1984a, 1984b).
8 So that the "new" museum may avoid reactionary nostalgia for homeland and self-admiration, an additional element must be added to its sense of locality: openness to the outside, i.e. expansion of local and regional horizons through correlations and dependencies linking homeland to the outer world on the national and international levels. The representatives of new museology have specifically referred to the danger of idealization (cf. Hubert 1985:189).
A crucial element in the structure and organization of the "new" museum is that it offers the population an active role in shaping and participating in the museum (cf. Rivard 1984a:48-50). The work of the "new" museum is based on the knowledge and energy of the "living forces" of the population and thus includes the public in its various activities. Ideally the museum will be supported by the public itself and the population will at the same time be the actor and object of the museum's work (Rivard 1984a:16).
This form of museum work, which is distinguished by public participation, is described by representatives of new museology as "people's museography." 9 As to the position of the visitor, the Document de travail states (1984:5): "Collective memory, social subjects and creative movement completely change the concept of the museum visitor. Contemplation and intellectual pleasure are supplanted by the participation and involvement of the visitor, who in this way becomes an integral part of the new museum in place of being merely a guest. Through his knowledge and his living forces he is called upon either to participate in the museum adventure itself or to involve himself in the sociocultural and even economic development of his territory. He is no longer a visitor; he becomes a decision-maker, an actor, a museographer and an agent of multiplication."
The "new" museum has an organizational structure geared to the greatest possible inclusion and participation of the community. The museum is linked and accountable to an association of citizens who meet in a general assembly to approve the museum's annual programming. There residents choose representatives for the board of directors. The board advises the museum personnel between general meetings. The population is offered further possibilities for active participation by joining various working groups.
The team of museum employees (salaried and volunteer) consists in so far as possible of citizens of the neighborhood or region. They acquire the necessary skills through practical museum work, through participation in special courses in people's museology and through periods of practical training in other "new" museums. Scientific and technical personnel and the active public cooperate as equals in the areas of conception, programming, production and evaluation. There is no hierarchical decision-making structure within the museum.
Beyond the specific elements of structure and organization, the "new" museum-in contrast to the usually specialized traditional museum-is distinguished by an integrated and integral approach to reality. French-speaking scholars frequently refer to this element as the "system approach" (Maure 1977/78:33). Human activity is dealt with as part of a complex whole.
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9 Rivard (1984a:84) defines "people’s museography" as ". . . a body of techniques and practices applied by a population to the conservation and enhancement, in a museum or otherwise, of the collective heritage of the community and its territory."
This "new" view of reality (cf. for example de Rosnay 1975; Morin 1977; 1980; Terradas 1983) requires an interdisciplinary approach to museum work. Maure (1985a:21) comments: "Another central aspect of these "new museums" is the importance accorded to the ecological perspective. The traditional specialization between different disciplines, such as art, ethnology, history, natural sciences etc., is replaced by an interdisciplinary approach that puts the accent on the relationships between man and his environment."
The work of the "new" museum is theme-centered, in distinction to predominantly object-oriented, traditional museum work. The themes to be addressed arise from the "collective memory" and from contemporary needs.
The approach followed by the "new" museum also includes not only recording, documenting, conserving, and investigating the past, i.e. the cultural and natural heritage, but also making the museum usable for coping with the present. This is done by giving the past value and viewing it with critical awareness. Conservation and development are not treated as antithetical, but as integral components of an evolutionary process (cf. Collin 1985:1).
In order to enhance its outward-directed effectiveness, the "new" museum actively engages and cooperates with a region's already existing institutions (cf. Rivard 1984a:58,61).
The tasks ("means" or "functions" in Duclos et al. 1986; 1987) that the "new" museum performs are set by themselves to achieve desired objectives. The descriptions of these tasks-collection, documentation, research, conservation, public programs-correspond to a great extent with those of traditional museums. But in the "new" museum, "continuing education" and "evaluation" are added to the list of tasks. However, fundamental differences exist in the interpretation of the tasks. Two of the primary functions of a museum are generally the collection and conservation of a given heritage. In the case of the traditional museum, these activities are directed to recording as completely as possible the available inventory of artifacts. In the "new" museum, the stress of collection and conservation activities is placed on the non-material cultural heritage. In this regard, the Document de travail (1984:3) states: "All knowledge, all historical and social perceptions, all testimony become subjects and objects of conservation."
Practitioners of new museology use the expression "collective memory" to define the totality of a group's non-material heritage. "Collective memory" comes from the work of Maurice Halbwachs (1950). In the "new" museum, only the material goods that possess information and communication value relative to the collective memory are collected and conserved (Document de travail 1984:3):"[...] material goods become part of the heritage only as a function of the needs of this collective memory, either to illustrate, or to keep a representation that is real rather than imaginary, or to seize the future."
Objects without meaning for the "collective memory" are not treated as part of the heritage. This means that identifying an area's cultural heritage is not determined in the first place by scholars, as is the case in traditional museums, but rather it is the population of a given region whose collective memory determines the heritage to be preserved. That which is alive today in human memory, significant and useful in the present determines the heritage (cf. Rivard 1984a:46-48).
The "new" museum does not conserve for conservation's sake, but proceeds from the requirements of the present (Billaigue-Scalbert 1983:38). Thus, the job of the "new" museum is first of all to collect, keep and study the elements of this collective memory, which is manifested in individual testimony. The "new" museum forms collections in the sense of placing objects in museums only to a limited degree. The emphasis of collection activity is placed rather on forming an extensive data-bank that records the natural and cultural inventory or heritage of a community and its territory (cf. de Varine no year:2f; Querrien 1985:199). Everything that exists is interpreted as part of a system of interactions that humans form with their natural and cultural milieu. The inventoried heritage is available to everyone. If possible, it is left in situ and kept in its original context. In this regard de Varine (no year:3) states as follows: ". . . this means that the museum as bank of things must burst its bounds to include-in spatial terms-the whole of its community; and the real things which it accumulates must not be in effect laid aside in a building dedicated to this purpose, but must count as virtually and scientifically belonging to the museum collection, though without having to give up their physical location or their usefulness."
Only a limited number of objects, which in some way are deemed representative, significant, aesthetically interesting, rare or delicate, are acquired and conserved. This assures that they are preserved and remain accessible as part of the public heritage (cf. de Varine no year:3).10Elsewhere (1979:83) de Varine describes the significance of the collection for the "new" museum: "The collection is composed of everything this territory has and everything that belongs to its inhabitants, both real and personal property, material or non-material goods. This is a living heritage, constantly changing and constantly being created, belonging essentially to individuals, families, small collectives, which a motivation and research team can use as needed for all kinds of actions. The acquisition of fragments of this heritage is not programmed and takes place in effect only in the case of abandonment, risk of alienation prejudicial to the community, voluntary gift or definitive use for another purpose. It is only a last resort and the collection proper of the museum, in the institutional sense, cannot be an end in itself." [emphasis added]
Just as collection and conservation refer to the needs of a given population, so too is research into the inventoried and conserved heritage not conducted as an end in itself. Research problems stem from social reality with solutions geared to coping with everyday life and shaping community. The starting point of research is the concrete social conditions and requirements upon which the research results finally act (cf. de Varine 1983a).
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10 Regarding collection policy, cf. Veillard (l985).
In contrast to presentation formats that concentrate on aesthetics, a notion prevalent in traditional museums,11 "new" museums employ theme-oriented presentation means. Through the use of audiovisual materials and real or reconstructed "environments," objects are represented in context and make social references. They convey the meanings as interpreted from the standpoint of the population.
For citizens to be actors in the various spheres of museum work, the "new" museum uses museum-specific continuing education to prepare the population to perform museum tasks to which they are entitled and to do them independently.
Another task the "new" museum explicitly assumes for itself is evaluation: the continuing process of calling itself into question and scrutinizing its work. This is done to ensure that the museum will constantly adapt itself to changing conditions and needs of the population. Rivard (1984a:10) speaks about evaluation as opening the museum to criticism.
In summary, the model of the "new" museum as it emerges from the discourse on new museology can be represented as follows:
Schematic representation of the ideal "new" museum
1.
Objectives:
Coping with everyday
life
Social development
2. Basic principles:
Extensive, radical public orientation
Territoriality
3. Structure and organization:
Little institutionalization
Financing through local resources
Decentralization
Participation
Teamwork
based on equal rights
4. Approach:
Subject:
complex reality
Interdisciplinarity
Theme orientation
Linking the past to the present and future
Cooperation with local/regional organizations
5. Tasks:
Collection
Documentation
Research
Conservation
Mediation
Continuing education
Evaluation
The "new" museum is avowedly opposed to (while thoroughly acknowledging the progress made by modernized traditional museums) those traditional museums that remain untouched by a general reorientation and still consciously adhere to an elitist concept of the museum that neglects social relationships (cf. Baron 1987:1).
The "new" museum, then, is the counterpart of the elitist, traditional museum. According to de Varine (1978b:35) the latter has the following "sacrosanct" characteristics: ". . . high-priority respect for the imperatives of conservation, the notion of the masterpiece and the preeminence of the acquisition function, absolute obeisance to the classifications of the sciences and disciplines, particularly with respect to the human sciences, subordination of the public and its needs to the precondition of the performance of the museum's other functions, imperatives of security, notions of safety, good taste, scientific rigor, etc."
The traditional museum, which forms the point of departure for the criticisms of new museology, may be represented as follows:12
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11 Lacouture (1983:3ff) ascribes the main reason for the elite character of museums to the aestheticized form of presentation of traditional museums.
12The attempt is made here to depict an "opposing model" to the ideal type of the "new" museum presented above, but without setting out more fully the details of the traditional museum. This would go too far in terms of the subject matter and framework of the present work. The outline that is a typification, clearly emphasizing the characteristic features. They are referred to for purposes of comparison in the evaluation of the case studies (see chapter 4). It should be stressed that this outline does not refer to the "modernized" traditional museum.
Schematic representation of the traditional museum
1. Objective:
Preservation and protection of a given material heritage13
2. Basic principle:
Protection of the objects
3. Structure and organization:
Institutionalization
Government financing
Central museum building
Professional staff
Hierarchical structure
4. Approach:
Subject: extract from reality (objects placed in museums)
Discipline-oriented restrictiveness
Orientation to the object
Orientation to the past
5. Tasks:
Collection
Documentation
Research
Conservation
Mediation
Varine (1983c:4ff; cf. Rivard 1984a:44ff) explains this innovative concept as follows: the conventional kind of museum consists of the following three elements: a collection in a building for a public. Many authors (cf. Rivard 1984a:44f) add a fourth element to this list: the specialists, who carry on the museum's work. New museology redefines these constituent elements (cf. de Varine 1983c:4ff; Nicolas 1984:1-2):
1. The collection is the totality of the heritage.
2. The building is the totality of the territory.
3. The public is the totality of the population.
Using Rivard's terminology (1984a:7), the "new" museum is ideally "without architectural barriers, without disciplinary barriers and without barriers to public access"--and therefore an "open" museum in the most extreme sense (cf. Sola 1987:48).
A question that is frequently heard from all sides is whether the "new" museum, with its high ideals, is unrealistic and utopian. De Varine writes (no year:5):14 "On the one hand, I believe that such a radical rethinking is the only possible salvation for the museum as a useful factor in the life of society in the modern world. Utopia is no danger as long as it is aware of itself and inspires positive action with concrete efforts. On the other hand, old and recent experience proves that the above museological principles are practicable and effective."
One of the tasks of my research is to investigate using case studies how the "new" museum has been realized in various social contexts and how these realizations relate to the claims of new museology, that is, to what extent are we dealing with "concrete utopias."
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13 In the case of local and regional museums within an easily defined territory. However, territoriality is not a basic principle for traditional museums.
14 For the criticism of new museology, cf. chapter 4.
3.1 The ecomuseum in Quebec, Canada
3.1.1 Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, Musée Territoire
3.1.1.1 The Haute-Beauce1
Haute-Beauce is a rural area in the southeastern part of Quebec. It is located in the southwestern hinterland of the Beauce region proper, which consists of flourishing small towns such as St. Joseph, Ste. Marie, Beauceville and St. Georges along the Chaudière River.
The Haute-Beauce region is physically separated from this center of small towns principally by its position on an Appalachian high plateau that reaches as much as 873 meters in elevation. Besides the traditional region of Beauce in the northwest, Thetford-Mines in the west, Lac Mégantic in the south and Sherbrooke in the southwest form the important zones of influence. The southern boundary is only a few kilometers from the U.S. border. Haute-Beauce comprises a total of 13 rural parishes: La Guadeloupe, St. Evariste, Ste. Clothilde, St. Hilaire, St. Benoit, Courcelles, St. Sébastien, St. Victor, Lac Drolet, Lambton, St. Romain, St. Honoré and St. Ephrem. In connection with the establishment of a mill street as a tourist attraction, there have been attempts made in the Haute-Beauce since 1986 to include the East Broughton parish in the area of the Haute-Beauce (cf. Des liens se tissent avec East Broughton 1987).
The 13 parishes named above belong to various administrative units: the federal districts ("comtés fédéraux") of Beauce and Frontenac, the provincial administrative regions of Quebec and Estrie and the four MRCs ("municipalités régionales de comté") of Beauce-Sartigan, Robert Cliche, l’Amiante and Du Granit.
A description of the region beyond this basic information is complicated by the fact that the creation of this territorial unity of Haute-Beauce is inextricably linked to the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. This is why the genesis and peculiarities of the Haute-Beauce region need to precede the activities of the ecomuseum.
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1When the origin of statements is not specified more precisely in the following text, these are summaries I made of the available material. When I refer to certain persons by name, without providing further details, these are statements made in interviews by my respective respondents: Pierre Mayrand (1-18-85), Maude Céré (1-25-85), Denis Hovanec/Johanne Badeau (1-25-85), Luc Lafontaine/Lorraine Charest (1-24-85), Jacinthe Roy (1-31-85), Guy Baron/Paul Bolduc (2-1-85), Lucille Létourneau (1-31-85), Candide Dubord (1-31-85), Ginette Fortin (1-31-85), Monique Pomerleau (2-1-85). In distinction to the usual citations, all of the cited portions of interviews appear in bold face.
2The 13 parishes belong to 16 separate "municpalités."
The Haute-Beauce region, which properly speaking does not have its own center and has to be defined essentially by its location "between [...]" and "on the bank of [...]" (Fortin), did not exist before the establishment of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce or its predecessor, the Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce. "Haute-Beauce" as a regional unit was created in the late 1970s and early 1980s in connection with the founding of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. Because territoriality is a cornerstone of the ecomuseum and no predefined territory existed, the initiators of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce gradually delimited and determined such a territory. The name "Haute-Beauce," which was little used until then, was given to a geographical and cultural unit that in their opinion—or better, according to their intuition—was identifiable. It was first used in 1957 by a geographer to indicate the area that nestles like a horseshoe in the curve of the Chaudière River (cf. Céré 1985:13). Although the name "Haute-Beauce" had not been widely used by the region’s inhabitants, it does reflect a tradition in the area to distinguish between the "upper Beauce" and the "lower Beauce."
But the recent association of the 13 villages in a territorial unit may be attributed in a very limited degree to the initiative of the population. Its association with a museum project was advanced by people who were more or less outsiders. Céré described the complex process as follows:
When the project was started in 1978, it was Pierre Mayrand who [...] began to do motivation work in the three nearby villages, St. Evariste, St. Hilaire de Dorset and La Guadeloupe, three very nearby villages. And he slowly created a more inclusive concept of the villages around there and at a given time he would go as far as St. Martin, St. Méthode. With experience and usage it was realized that 13 was the maximum it was possible to go to, because geographically this began costing too much, the transportation, moving, telephone, long distances. [...]. So, it was seen that this was the high plateau [. . .]. So, the part between the old Beauce and L’Estrie was included in the limits and it was decided not to touch the Chaudiére region or the L’Amiante region. It was really those 13 villages that are jammed together inside that geographic area.
Céré later referred to the problems of this kind of delimitation and the criteria underlying it. One selection criterion was the economy and efficiency of the museum’s work. A second was the geographical location of the 13 villages on the high plateau. Furthermore, a crucial factor for the territorialization (cf. Rivard 1984a:50) of the Haute-Beauce region was its commonality in historical and socio-economic terms. Despite the artificiality of combining the 13 villages (split among various administrative zones), the Haute-Beauce region is relatively homogeneous.
What unites the Haute-Beauce population is their common historical origin and traditions. White people only settled the high plateau around the middle of the 19th century. Traditionally, residents earned their living in agriculture, forestry and granite quarrying. Sheep breeding and wool processing also formed important industries. Even today the Haute-Beauce is predominantly rural—around 16,000 people live in the 13 communes (cf. Céré 1985:13).
In addition to agriculture, wood processing and the textile industry constitute important sources of employment (cf. Gariépy 1986:34-42 for the current economic structure). Family businesses are widespread. A total of 82.9 percent of the inhabitants earn their living in the region itself (Gariépy 1986:49). For a rural area, the unemployment rate compared to the rest of Quebec is astonishingly low. On the one hand, this may be explained by the existence of a large number of middle-class industrial businesses, but, on the other hand, also by the emigration of part of the working population, particularly those between the ages of 25 and 45, to the urban centers of Quebec and Montreal (Gariépy 1986:33 ff). The real structural weakness of the area and the consequences of the economic crisis, particularly in the textile industry, were thus concealed. Urban emigration due to the absence of suitable education and work opportunities represents one of the greatest problems facing the Haute-Beauce region. Moreover, respondents complained of an inadequate road system, relative isolation and neglect on the part of the provincial government (cf. the detailed account of the region’s economic condition and infrastructure by Guy Baron 1985).
Overall, however, this is a relatively prosperous region—far removed from poverty and squalor—in which life takes its usual course, free of disruptions. Gariépy shares this conclusion (1986:42), when she speaks of a "rural environment not faced with acute social and economic problems." She goes on: "The plateau of the Beauce back country, despite its relative isolation, appears to enjoy a certain prosperity."
How did the population react to the creation of an Haute-Beauce region? Did the amalgamation correspond to current consciousness and existing community needs? The awareness of a common heritage among the various villages appears part to have been awakened by the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce (beyond border and family ties that are common to all the parishes).
On the whole, however, Haute-Beauce is treated as an autonomous and meaningful unit, independent of the traditional Beauce region, with which the population identifies more and more. Céré noted that:
When the ecomuseum of the Haute Beauce was named, this had an extraordinary dynamic effect [...]. At first this word ‘haut’ flattered people’s ego; then they immediately told us that there was an impression of being born, or coming into the world, and this was really important to people. The name was a very important triggering element.
Rivard (1984a:86), following Edwina Taborsky, speaks of the "power to name." Yet it was outside motivators who exercised the "power to name," in order to offer the population a name and a concept. Céré expressly noted: "It was we who defended the position of the Haute-Beauce and in the end the people are connecting with it quite well." Gariépy (1986:52) also criticized the lack of community involvement in the process of territorialization and "naming."
Thus, Haute-Beauce as a regional unit less reflects the reality of the citizen’s everyday life than represents a new element that only gradually is winning social acceptance through various promotional techniques.
In the end, however, it should be emphasized that all the respondents—all persons who had already undergone a certain sensitization process—agreed without qualification that the merging of the 13 parishes made sense and offered the population previously unexplored possibilities for identification and action. The role the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce played will be addressed in the following sections.
3.1.1.2 Origin
The Musée et centre regional d’interpretation de
la Haute-Beauce
In 1978 Bolduc put the collection up for sale. Rather than sell individual pieces to American antique dealers who were passing through, he preferred to dispose of the complete collection locally. The collection represents a unique testimony of the Haute-Beauce’s cultural heritage and Bolduc ascribed great importance to its remaining within the region. Thus, he tried repeatedly to get the Quebec Ministry of Culture to erect a history center, but unfortunately without success (cf. Le Comité Culturel de la Guadeloupe: no year). Bolduc got little support from his fellow citizens. With some exceptions the residents of La Guadeloupe and surrounding villages were unaware of the collection’s existence (Luc Lafontaine).
Therefore, Bolduc contacted an outsider, Pierre Mayrand, an art historian and museologist at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), who owned a second home in St. Hilaire de Dorset and had visited the small private museum several times (cf. Céré 1982a). Mayrand declared himself prepared to take on the development of a project that combined keeping the collection in the region and erecting a museum or interpretation center. He described the basis for his decision:
There was a general context conferred on it, a political context as well, from the fact that there were now in Quebec people who were very up to date on ecomuseology and who wanted to experiment with it on the ground. Because what is ecomuseology actually? It’s experimentation for the purpose of stepping in and experimenting. And, second, there was the fact that I was available and circumstances were such that I was able to take a concrete interest in that region.
Mayrand took the first steps in 1978 as a solo effort. From the first, he strived to create a cultural institution that would be of benefit not only to a single place—La Guadeloupe—but to an entire region yet to be defined. In the initial phase, Mayrand scouted around and found recruits for his project through newspaper articles and contacts with municipal officials. He formed a small committee with interested locals and outsiders.
In 1979, after a year of promotion, Mayrand and the committee officially founded the CRIHB (Centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce) Corporation, in order to provide a legal basis for further action (cf. Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce 1979). The corporation decided to establish a museum and interpretation center3 with a regional orientation and in this connection to keep the name "Haute-Beauce," which Mayrand had introduced, because this was something that could create a dynamic in the region and permit us to achieve our goal (Mayrand).
Through an intensive house-to-house public-relations campaign, CRIHB sought to gain the support of the population for the acquisition of Bolduc’s collection and for the establishment of a museum. In accordance with the concept as developed by Mayrand, "the museum would be an organization concerned with the present and future as well as the past; its role would be to reveal the identity of that particular part of Quebec" (Stevenson 1982:7).
By the end of 1979 some partial successes could already be counted (cf. Report of the Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce 1982a): the Haute-Beauce museum and interpretation center was created as a "focus for the identification and promotion of the region," (Stevenson 1982:8). For a token rental of one Canadian dollar per year the parish allowed the corporation to use a historic presbytery in St. Evariste, the geographic center of the Haute-Beauce. An agreement was reached with Bolduc to purchase the collection for a price of $60,000 (Can.) payable over a period of five years. According to Mayrand:
This was an extremely serious, extremely important agreement, it was the main test of a certain kind of credibility in the area, to see if the organization was capable of keeping on in the area.
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3Up to this time, there had been no talk of an ecomuseum. For Mayrand, however, the following was clear from the beginning: It was the ecomuseum that we wanted to get to at the end of the line.
And the museum did receive the expected and necessary support of the population during this initial phase. In a large-scale door-to-door promotional campaign, $27,000 (Can.) was collected within the region for the museum and interpretation center. For Mayrand (1980:15) this money was "the symbol of success, of a collective effort," which covered the first installment to purchase the Bolduc collection and pay for the renovations and furnishing of the museum building. The project also received a government subsidy (Mayrand). In this way the population made a considerable contribution to the establishment of the museum, which was considered by many to be an indication of an existing need and active approval.
With the exception of the prominent people who served as representatives of the population during the initial phase, the potential general public did not play a part in the conception and creation of the institution. The population’s only activity (or passivity) was limited to "sensitization" or "motivation" and subsequently to the donation of $27,000 (Can.). The great majority of citizens knew nothing of the formation phase, most of them becoming aware of the Museé et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce only over a period of time when it became an accomplished fact. All respondents agreed the museum and interpretation center did not arise from a citizen initiative. Lucille Létourneau, the current vice president of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, commented:
[...] it was not the whole population [...], one must not say that. This came from a small part of the population, because there were people involved at the beginning who were also part of the population, but always under the direction of Pierre Mayrand and Maude Céré. [...]. Maude Céré and Pierre Mayrand were really the masters of the work, I believe, at least the conceivers of it.
Although the idea of a museum had already been conceived and implemented in a preliminary way by a citizen of the Haute-Beauce, the Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce goes back to an idea of Mayrand who played a key role in bringing it about. Ginette Fortin confirms this: if there had been no Pierre Mayrand, [...] it wouldn’t be there, there would be no story to tell.
Here is an interesting paradox. Although the museum did not stem from a citizen initiative, the question of whether it was imposed is categorically denied. Lucille Létourneau stated:
No, oh no, not at all, because there was a group of people who joined onto their idea right at the first, [...], the surrounding parishes were quickly won over to this idea. No, this was not imposed. Of course, not everyone was sensitized on the same day [...].
Basically, the respondents did not question the leading roles of Mayrand and Céré, who were the ones who had the necessary knowledge, experience, awareness and relevant contacts to drive the project forward. Létourneau:
As with anything else, someone has to take the lead. For my part, I think that the population follows rather than innovates.
I will return to the problems of this position in connection with the subject of "participation." First, however, the organizational development of the Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce will be pursued further.
Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, musée territoire
After five years of building awareness in the Haute-Beauce, Mayrand and Céré succeeded in officially founding the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. This for them had been the aim from the beginning. But, at first, it was not discussed openly and in the end met resistance. It was not possible to consummate the founding of the ecomuseum without some losses: it was preceded by the resignation of the museum’s advisory board, which held a more traditional concept of a museum and distanced itself from the attempts to found an ecomuseum.
The museum founders first introduced the term ecomuseum in 1982. This was done to ensure the museum was dynamic and not become—like many traditional museums—in a state of static self-satisfaction. After a long debate, the resistance of the advisory board manifested itself more and more strongly. Mayrand decided to organize a counter-initiative for the purpose of founding the ecomuseum. He recalls:
I stepped in and proposed to all the groups that had been sensitized in the other villages that a parallel body be created. Thus, in my own body I created a parallel body so as to be able to change the power relationships and, if necessary, reverse the other bodies and create the ecomuseum and the regrouping associated with the ecomuseum.
By October 1983, Mayrand had mobilized the ecomuseum supporters to such an extent that it was possible to call an extraordinary meeting of the members of the corporation of the museum. During the meetings, the articles of incorporation were changed and the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce was founded, (Mayrand; cf. Musée et centre régional d’interprétation de la Haute-Beauce 1983a; 1983b).
Despite the best intentions not to let the museum and interpretation center degenerate into a lifeless place for storing objects, doubts do arise regarding the practices described above. Certainly those present at the extraordinary meeting had the right to express themselves and vote; and, in fact, the majority approved of the ecomuseum. Democratic appearances were thus observed, but it should not be forgotten that this required intensive efforts of mobilization and persuasion. The people, by themselves, would not have thought of the idea of the ecomuseum, never mind take a stand against the board. This conclusion is also indicated by the two following statements:
This did not arise from the needs of the local people nor from an idea of the local people. (Guy Baron),
and, in Paul Bolduc’s view:
This did not arise from a need, but it happened at just the right moment.
The concept of the ecomuseum is an approach that is alien to the general public. Even Céré noted that most people did not know what it meant. Although the initiators knew the problem very well, they made no effort to explain the nature of an ecomuseum to the affected community. They should have gradually familiarized citizens with the concept of the ecomuseum through participation in the museum’s programs. Céré on this subject:
You don’t spend your time making the theory with other people, you do concrete and specific actions.
René Rivard expressed himself similarly:
They should not get involved in the definition. . . . It is preferable in my opinion, with regard to motivation, to get organized for doing concrete things. And this is the whole thing, the dynamism of what makes people understand in action.
"Learning and knowing through experience" is not a method that should be rejected on principle, but here it is accompanied by the fact that the residents of the Haute-Beauce practically started out by buying a "pig in a poke," when they agreed to the founding of the ecomuseum. The question arises here as to whether it is possible to come to a responsible decision within the framework of a democratic decision-making process when the concept to be discussed and approved is not understood. I believe that this is not possible, which means that this decision was a sham democratic one. Agreement was reached on a matter that indeed seemed attractive to its supporters, but which was not widely understood by those affected by it.
Until 1983 supporters acted to popularize the new museological concept among the citizenry. However, the people directly involved only had a vague and fragmentary understanding of the workings of an ecomuseum. What the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce really is—leaving aside the problematic establishment phase—and how it is to be classified, can best be judged from its objectives, structure and operations.
3.1.1.3 Conception and objectives
As its bylaws state (Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce 1983a:2), the museum is intended to contribute to "better conditions and better life of the region corresponding to territory of the Haute-Beauce." In this regard Denis Hovanec clarified:
The objectives were to sensitize the people, make them aware of themselves, their environment, their territory, their problems, their needs, and finally to attempt to work together collectively to respond to these needs in order to bring about better development.
The Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce views itself as a people’s university, which can engender a learning process and bring about social change through citizen involvement in a variety of educational activities. First of all it should be stressed that the objectives of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce and the way it views itself are molded decisively by two key persons, Céré (educator, museologist and art historian) and Mayrand (museologist and art historian). The two borrowed its elaborate educational concept from the "pedagogy of liberation" of Paolo Freire and his followers.
Consistent with the ecomuseological approach, the Ecomusée of the Haute-Beauce does not wish to be a fixed, static educational institution, but sees itself as evolutionary and part of a dynamic process. Céré (1985:1) refers to a "laboratory of didactic experimentation in a rural environment" that strives for social change while continually changing itself and adapting to changed conditions (cf. the functional model "triangle of creativity" in chapter 3.1.1.4).
The educational process that the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce strives for is directed less to the unilateral communication of a given content than to "learning through participation," "learning through experience," "learning through action"—synonyms for the central point of view that Céré (1985:62), citing Edgar Faure, summarized as follows:
Henceforward, education will no longer be defined with respect to a determined content that is to assimilated, but will be conceived of as it really is, as a process of being which, through the diversity of its experiences, teaches one to express oneself, to communicate, to question the world and always to improve.
The implication of this Céré (1985:61) summarized as follows:
The ecomuseum has taken the side of self-teaching rather than that of education in the unique sense used by specialized museums, which are anxious to democratize Knowledge, to spread the good word of Culture. We have opted rather for the demanding challenge of working in osmosis with a population so as to enhance its knowledge and its cultures with a view to regional development.
The overall educational activity of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is carried out ideally on two levels: first, to generate on the individual level self-respect, self-confidence and the aptitude for self-determined action, and second to affect the development of the region. According to Céré:
There is individual development, where each person can find his place and develop, can use the museum as a personal spring board, but this is also a tool of regional development. I believe that for me these are the two great objectives of the ecomuseum.
The Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce basically strives to educate the population through its active participation in the museum so that it can answer the questions: "Where do we come from?," "Who are we?" and "Where do we want to go?" The first two questions refer to the objectives of identification—to create a sense of territorial identity by considering a community’s history, its cultural and natural heritage and by linking its past and present. The third question, however, raises the issue of future prospects or goals and its corresponding strategies for action. Both elements—identification and future-oriented thought and action—make up a comprehensive development process.
During the identification phase, the cornerstone should be laid for the next stage. Identity building should include the acquisition of certain work skills. Through active participation in the ecomuseum, the population is supposed to learn to reflect, to work collegially, to plan, to draw up a schedule of what is due and what is owed, to act on the basis of this schedule as a function of the planning that has been done (Céré) and finally to take responsibility. In this way the population can use the ecomuseum as a tool, so that identification can lead to initiative and self-determined action directed to molding the future (Mayrand):
It seems to me that development is very closely linked to the people’s autonomy, to their basic capacity to make these decisions and not to wait for others to impose them, to be capable of taking their own matters into hand and not having them imposed or fabricated, rather than saying "let’s wait for the government to give us something before starting".
What does development mean for the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce? Céré:
It is when one departs from everyday life to make an improvement in the quality of life on the individual level and then on the level of the region.
An important element here is contact with the outside world, which imparts security and an impulse to innovate. (Céré):
It is important to develop oneself, to find other persons, to exchange, to see how things work elsewhere, to look for new ideas, and to act so as to evolve in society for oneself and for the region.
On the subject of development, Mayrand observed:
For me development is expressed in terms of initiative. . . . These are not isolated attempts at development, these are attempts that are interconnected and that basically make it possible to achieve a certain number of objectives so that a region is able basically, for example, to improve the quality of its life.
Despite a certain vagueness, development is generally equated with an improvement in living conditions. The quality of these improvements and changes is to be defined—in accordance with the approach presented here—by the population itself! In sum, one can state that in the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce the concept of the "ecomuseum of discovery" (borrowed from Georges Henri Rivière) and the concept of the "ecomuseum of development" (borrowed from Hugues de Varine) are combined. The Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce understands its role to be not only the mirror of the population, but a tool of its self-determination and development for the inhabitants of the Haute-Beauce.
The following section will show whether and how the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce can realize its ambitious objectives. The determining question to which particular attention should be given is: Can this institution, created in the Haute-Beauce by outside specialists, become an instrument of collective action accepted by the population as its own? Or does the structural weakness noted in the museum’s origins run through the entire project?
3.1.1.4 Structure and organization
The administrative headquarters and service center of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is located in a former presbytery designated a historic monument since 1983—in St. Evariste, the geographic center of the Haute-Beauce region. A characteristic feature of the ecomuseum is its decentralized spatial structure. The museum is represented in the territory of the Haute-Beauce by several so-called "antennas," or associated groups (cf. chapter 3.1.1.5). The antennas, together with the administrative and service center, form the ecomuseum.
The Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is a private museum. It is a nonprofit corporation, which through intensive motivation and recruitment campaigns, particularly in the initial phase, had over 1,700 members (family membership!) at the time of this study. Although in the beginning outsiders were also accepted into the corporation, the membership was basically confined to the citizens of the Haute-Beauce. Membership must be renewed every year by acquiring a membership card. The annual membership fee of $2 (Can.) is within everyone’s means. In addition to membership fees, the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is financed both through contributions by the population and by local and, in exceptional cases, outside businesses (44.3 percent, 1981-1985, Gariépy 1986:75) and through subsidies (55.7 percent, 1981-1985, Gariépy 1986:75).4
The fact that the separate villages of the Haute-Beauce belong to various administrative units confers the advantage that the museum can apply to four different administrative districts for grants to carry out its numerous activities. Since the museum is recognized as an "organisme volontaire d’éducation populaire" (OVEP—a voluntary public education body), it also receives grants from the provincial ministry of education. For example, it received $21,000 (Can.) in 1986-87 to carry out continuing-education programs. Because the activities of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce are widely diversified, it can apply for project-related grants from various other ministries (agriculture, environment, hunting, fishing and leisure, science and technology, energy and resources).
Until 1983 the staffing of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce was financed mainly through job-creation measures (for example, "Canada au travail"). Even today the museum falls back on job-creation measures. As a rule, the contracts have a duration of six to eight months, followed by several months of unemployment. During this time the employees receive unemployment benefits, which makes it possible for them to continue their employment for the museum with virtually no change—until the beginning of a new period of job-creation measures.
By taking advantage of various government job-creation programs, it is at least possible to place the same people under contract time and again and thus a certain degree of continuity is guaranteed. However, the period of unemployment is a burden on those involved. Guy Baron, for example, expressed his frustration and a feeling of being exploited as a consequence of years of selfless, unremunerated employment for the museum (cf. Baron 1987:11).
Since September 1983, the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce has been a government-recognized museum, i.e. one accredited by the Ministry of Culture of the Province of Quebec (cf. Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce 1984b:1).5 Since then it has enjoyed a regular annual subsidy of $68,000 (Can.). The granting of this subsidy is conditioned on the contribution of an additional 30 percent of this amount by the citizens of the Haute-Beauce. Through this subsidy the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce now has a regular budget to ensure that basic functions are carried out. Basically the money is used for the salaries of the director (on a 12-month basis) and two employees (on the basis of eight months a year). Although the latter still live from unemployment benefits for four months a year, this guaranteed annual subsidy provides a certain safeguard.
Up until now, the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce has not felt the government influence that might be associated with the subsidy. Despite this, Baron refers to the subsidy as a "half-poisoned gift." A problem is the amount of energy needed for proper management of the large amounts of money and for implementation of the corresponding activities (for example, organizing workshops and renovating exhibit spaces). Hence, at times, the burden of work has shifted onto the service center. In this way not enough time remains for decentralized promotion in the region, i.e. work with the users and the public.
The core staff consists of around ten persons who work regularly at the museum and perform definite functions. At the time of the study, paid employees consisted of:
____________Director (Maude Céré)
Bookkeeper and technician (Luc Lafontaine)
Motivator (Denis Hovanec)
Two researchers (Guy Baron, Jacynthe Roy)
Two graphic designers (Johanne Badeau, Paul Bolduc).
4Not included in this number: a) a subsidy of $154,000 (Can.) in 1983 for the construction of workshops and exhibition space, and b) a subsidy of $180,000 (Can.) in 1985 for the Maison du Granit project.
5As grounds for this step the Minister of Culture at the time, Clément Richard, in an interview, stressed first of all the model character of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce (Doter le Québec d’institutions muséologiques de prèmire importance 1983/84).
However, in addition to the employees, volunteers from the population are supposed to be included increasingly in the management and direction of the museum and its various activities. This is done in order for them to begin the learning process and some day take over management of the museum. On this subject, Mayrand commented:
By definition and in accordance with our objectives . . . administrative and organizational education was one of the priority objectives. In order to be independent, these people needed to take themselves in hand, to set themselves objectives and to be capable of managing the objectives collectively, something they had never done.
For this purpose the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce has a complex participation structure. The population (in the sense of the participants) may influence the museum through various kinds of decision-making authority set out in its corporate statutes (cf. Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce 1983a).
Once a year a general membership meeting ("assemblée générale") takes place, with an average participation of 100 to 150 persons. These meetings are used primarily to review finances and report on museum activities. In addition, the general framework for future projects is laid down in coordination with the members who are present.
An important characteristic of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is its decentralized structure.6In some localities linked to the museum, local committees or "associated groups" or "antennas," had already come into being before the founding of the ecomuseum on the basis of local initiatives. Others were formed only on the initiative of the museum: the Tourism and Cultural Action Committee in St. Hilaire, the Tourism and Cultural Committee in St. Sébastien, the Cultural Committee in Lac Drolet, the Heritage Society in Ste. Clothilde and the Crafts House in St. Honoré. With regard to the establishment of the committees Céré noted:
Well, in some cases, when there is already a sociocultural committee in place, it is that committee that becomes the link to the ecomuseum, but sometimes it is just a few individuals who get together and create a small nucleus. After a few activities, when it becomes strong enough, its incorporation is brought about, its independence. What would be desirable is that there be 13 completely independent committees.
These committees are formally independent of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. They apply for subsidies to carry out local activities and reach their decisions independently at local meetings. The membership informally chooses one to three members to represent their village on the users’ committee ("comité des usagers"), which is a critical component of the structure of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. The formation of the users’ committee was proposed by Mayrand in 1983 at the establishment of the ecomuseum. The committee meets at least once a year, preferably before the general meeting, and the number of participants can vary from 15 to 50 (Mayrand), because, in addition to the selected representatives, interested observers are also permitted to attend. In addition to the representatives of the population, the director has an official seat on the users’ committee. An elected chairman presides over the committee. The users’ committee is a point of contact, or interchange, between the ecomuseum and its users, and because of that, it is a place of intensive motivational work. Within the framework of the meetings (Céré):
. . . the exhibitions are planned, the subsidy requests are planned, the 13 villages are brought up to date, the latest word is given on what is happening in the intra- and extra-regional bodies, the cultural councils, the development councils. Information is shared in this regard. . . . It is with them that all our programs are determined.
In addition, the users’ committee nominates five members of the ecomuseum’s board of directors ("conseil d’administration"). They constitute one representative for each of the five zones into which the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is divided (Les Vallons, Le Grand Lac, Le Grand Plateau, Les Crêtes, Le Coeur; cf. Baron 1986).
The rest of the members of the twelve-person board of directors are chosen by the annual general meeting, with the exception of the director and one representative of the parish of St. Evariste7who is automatically entitled to a seat. The members choose the president, two vice presidents, the secretary and the treasurer of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. In addition, both the employees of the museum and a number of permanent observers are entitled to take part in the board meetings, but without voting rights. The board of directors meets around five times a year and from two to 25 persons take part in the meetings (Mayrand).
The main task of the board of directors is to manage the museum’s financial affairs. In addition, as official representative of the members, the board influences the development of programs in the spirit of the recommendations expressed by the members’ meeting. In this process, the museum workers and the executive committee make concrete proposals in the first place.
_______________
6After the research phase concluded (1985), some structural reforms were carried out in the ecomuseum. These will be explained at the end of the present chapter (3.1.1.4).
7In connection with the rental of the parish’s presbytery, St. Evariste was given the right to send an official delegate to the board of directors.
An executive committee controls day-to-day operations, prepares for the meetings of the board of directors and develops concrete proposals. It consists of five to six persons (Mayrand), . . . who finally develop the work material, prepare the documentation and who are strongly supported by the workers themselves. The leading member of the executive committee is Mayrand, the initiator and present president of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce . . . who is often something of the great thinker, who sees things more in the long term—evaluation of Denis Hovanec, which is shared in principle by all the other respondents. The other members of the committee are the two vice presidents, the secretary and the treasurer—thus, the same persons who hold board positions. The museum director participates in the meetings of the executive committee by invitation, but does not have the right to vote. The basically participation-friendly structure described in this section addresses a quite important element of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. The various activities and programs of the museum are simultaneously the result of this structure and the means for its implementation and change. This connection is clear in the model of the "triangle of creativity of the ecomuseum of the Haute-Beauce" (cf. Rivard 1984a:43; see figure below).
Céré (1985:12) explains in this regard: "The creation process of the ecomuseum began with an interpretation initiative taken by specialists. Its power of diffusion made it possible to sensitize the population to the ideas of identity and appropriation of the heritage-action in order to be able to release clearly the sense of territorialization. Thanks to the techniques of creativity, the ecomuseum was produced. Through a phenomenon of retroaction, this population itself can now interpret what it is and determine the directions of its development."
The triangle of creativity of the ecomuseum of the Haute Beauce:
Interpretation
Retro-action Sensitization
Ecomuseum Creation Territory
Overall, Céré (1985:56) is correct in speaking of the structure of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce as a "participation structure." From a formal perspective, the museum does have a democratic structure. Many paths exist for the population to participate at various levels of museum activities and to use the ecomuseum as an instrument for its purposes. Public participation is a crucial element of ecomuseology, in general, and occupies a prominent position at the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce. Problems associated with participation, however, have emerged at the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, which require detailed discussion.
In regard to participation, doubts exist on the efficiency of the museum’s democratic decision-making structure, because strict limits have been placed on real participation—up to the present time, in any case. Hovanec and Létourneau maintained that potential citizen participation in the museum’s activities was limited from the outset. Because the population largely consists of agricultural and forestry workers, these have relatively little free time.
For those in other occupations with more free time, a large number of local groups exist they can join. St. Sébastien alone, a village with a population of 200, has nine institutions of this kind, in which some of the same people tend to participate over and over. The situation posed a certain obstacle for the formation of a local committee of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce (Hovanec).
The core group of active individuals includes 25 or 30 persons who regularly participate in the ecomuseum’s varied activities, i.e. in conception, research, education and programs (Hovanec). I believe emphasis is placed on participation in the sense of "letting oneself be included" and less on independent activity stemming from one’s own initiative. Exceptions, however, are occasionally found at the level of the local committees.
While the local population has a certain autonomy, at the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, the volunteer staff I interviewed (with one exception) stated they take action only when the initiators request them to perform specific tasks. Ginette Fortin, for one, said:
Maude has always asked me when there was something to do, she would call and say "can you help us" and I would go there.
Or Létourneau:
When they have needed help and I was available, I would go there, perhaps to organize various activities, perhaps to help with something big, but I would do what I could.
For Létourneau, volunteer work at the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce appears to be synonymous with readiness to help out:
In the museum they have their employees, but it happens that motivation work has to be done at a certain time, or there are people visiting, things like that.
Candide Dubord, on the other hand, is not convinced that it has to be this way. She stated:
You participate to help them . . . but our participation . . . it’s going to be partial. . . . I wouldn’t feel that it belongs to me and that it is my area of work and I have to do it.
She later vented her displeasure with this unsatisfactory state of affairs:
You feel you’re put on the shelf to be taken off when there is a need and then put back on right afterwards.
Now the question naturally arises why people remain in this passive position? The reasons are complex and varied for the interested citizens themselves. First of all, the work of the ecomuseum, its tasks and possibilities, have not yet penetrated the consciousness of the population of the Haute-Beauce (cf. chapter 3.1.1.2). In this respect, Hovanec said:
The rest of us say this is a tool for the population, but the people don’t know it’s a tool. It’s like with me, if I have a tool, but I don’t know how to use it. The situation is a little like that for the people, I think. They know that the ecomuseum does things, you can participate and they actually do, they set out to, and they do more, but this is still not something they feel more strongly than that.
The assessment that the population lacked the necessary knowledge and capabilities in order to take initiatives itself and have people from its ranks occupy leading positions was by and large shared by the volunteer staff who were questioned. In statements such as, "I am not a specialist" (Létourneau), ". . . none of us are experts or specialists . . . we don’t have the education" or ". . . I don’t think that there is a formula yet for taking on that duty and carrying it out adequately" (Létourneau) a feeling of subordination is clearly expressed. This contradicts the partner-like, egalitarian working conditions that the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce boasts about. Ginette Fortin assessed their capabilities differently than did Létourneau:
It takes someone like that to run this. You cannot improvise around there. You have to have knowledge, these aren’t small matters. Take me, I wouldn’t be capable, even if I wanted to, I think that I couldn’t keep that up for long.
The population discharges its responsibility by delegating it, from an unjustified sense of inferiority, to specialists whose authority enjoys almost unlimited recognition. Those questioned expressly emphasize how necessary it is to be guided by persons in authority for anything to happen.
The lack of responsibility keeps the population in its relatively passive position, which can be gathered from Dubord’s statement:
He [Mayrand] is the one who has an interest in this moving forward, whereas it isn’t the rest of us, we just help, it isn’t our work. We’re not the boss. That means that when we’re not our own boss, we help when we want to. . . . Since this is not our own responsibility, we wait, we wait until we’re told and, if the others are tied up with something else, nothing moves ahead.
Those who try to influence decisions after participating several times frequently feel overtaxed or simply overrun. They have too little prior information and too little available time—the agenda is too extensive—for them to discuss thoroughly the project proposals and carefully weigh their decisions. With regard to the lack of information, Lorraine Charest believes the people would really like to be fully informed, but they do not try sufficiently hard.
Occasionally, however, the day-to-day work governed by events and time pressure result in participants’ expressed wishes being disregarded or they are simply not consulted. Hovanec identified one of the basic principles of the ecomuseum and its attendant problems:
. . . that things are done in the rhythm of the people, according to what the people want, and this, I think, may often be the greatest problem, particularly with respect to specialists and thinkers. For my part, I find that they are frequently perhaps a little disconnected from the people’s everyday life and this is what causes there to be a danger at a given moment that the thinkers are finally at too great a distance from the population.
This problem further justifies the cautious reserve of the population. Proposed projects, even if based on identifiable needs, far exceed in kind and extent the imagination and capabilities of those concerned.
Caution also characterizes many residents of the region for another reason: The fact that the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce project was created by outsiders and will be further advanced by them obviously gives cause for skepticism.
A further problem in the acceptance of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce results from the fact that the staff—with the exception of Jacynthe Roy and Luc Lafontaine—does not consist of locals (Mayrand):
The main characteristic is that the majority of those people do not come from the region, which currently poses a problem.
Another difficulty appears to lie in the fact that the staff of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is made up of volunteers and paid employees. Therefore, a difference in status results that is reinforced by sociodemographic characteristics. In distinction to the initial phase, in which a predominantly volunteer staff was employed, a core group of permanent employees has existed since 1983. On the one hand, the formation of a staff of professional employees certainly has advantages in terms of efficiency, but on the other hand it has led volunteers to feel superfluous and without responsibility. "Let the ‘others’ do it: they know more and they’re better able to!"
As already indicated above, this inequality is reinforced by sociodemographic characteristics. The paid employees are persons 28 to 35 years of age, some of whom have a university education in the fields of geography, art history, history or teaching. The division by sexes is rather balanced. The group of volunteers, on the other hand, is predominantly women 45 to 60 years of age, with little or no higher education. This reflects the common stereotype that cultural affairs are a matter for housewives (Fortin).
Through intensive and regular contact and active exchange of information, it may be possible to achieve convergence and perhaps create a common basis. Some time has passed since the intensive sensitization phase and the museum has turned to other priorities. Thus employees note with regret that the museum has departed too far from its basic principles.
Hovanec, for example, said:
I find it’s like we’re in neutral. I find that people have even been a little overtaken by events. There was the first period, the sensitization was going on, the people were being made to understand a little about what was happening [...], but we are dedicated to being a development ecomuseum [...]. Sometimes people find this interesting, but frequently they are reticent, afraid, often you even have projects that are beyond them. [...] maybe you are no longer concerned with people following the movement. [...] I find there has been a distancing from the popular will, from popular participation.
Luc Lafontaine echoed these sentiments:
I find that more attention should be paid to our users’ committee. I think that the ecomuseum is above all for the population. There are big projects, but in the end they don’t touch the population.
In the meantime this "being in neutral" seems to have been overcome. There was a change in the museum’s management in early 1986. Gradually the president of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce, Pierre Mayrand, made a renewed effort to activate and involve members of the corporation, whose numbers had shrunk from 1,700 to around 800, and recruit new members (cf. Le conseil d’administration de votre musée 1987).
In connection with this initiative, the ecomuseum’s structure was changed to create five new committees, each chaired by a member of the executive committee:
—Development committee (Pierre Mayrand)
—Program committee (Guy Baron)
—Finance committee (Rénald Lessard)
—Committee for the establishment of the Maison du Granit (Jacques Fortin)
—Personnel committee (Lucille Létourneau)
These committees meet about twice a month. The chairmen are required to find people to participate both from the board of directors and the interested population.
Although the users’ committee is formally still in existence, it no longer functions de facto for lack of initiatives on the part of the "users." The new structure is intended to motivate people to participate. A project created by the development committee, for example, strives for a radical decentralization of resources and responsibility (cf. Mayrand 1987). This project was first presented to various local groups in the form of a working paper in February 1987 and later was submitted to the members for their approval within the framework of an extraordinary general meeting. In addition to the director of the service center, two other directors were named in the region (Denis Hovanec and Guy Baron), so that the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is now led by a directors’ group (without a corresponding change in the bylaws). The two additional executive positions are supposed to be occupied by alternating representatives of the various villages on a rotational basis. The division of the territory of the Haute-Beauce into five zones was abolished. Instead, the local committees are given greater autonomy and now directly name five members of the board of directors from their ranks (Pierre Mayrand, conversation of 8-7-87).
It was not possible to evaluate the result of these new initiatives by the time the present work was concluded. However, the implementation of unrestricted public orientation, through involvement of the population, is coming about in a slow and cumbersome manner. Hovanec stressed (in a conversation of 1-7-87) that the same persons still cooperate actively in the new committees, while new interested persons can be recruited from the ranks of the population only with difficulty. He furthermore described present participation as extraordinarily fragile and seriously questioned whether an effective bridge can ever be built between the ecomuseum and the population.
In any event, one should not expect direct success from the new attempts at mobilization. On the basis of years of endeavors, Hovanec came to the conclusion that the population may see no reason for a concerted action like the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce and feels no need for mobilizing innovative forces because, in principle, things as a whole are going all right from its point of view.
In any case, the introduction of effective participation and self-management is a lengthy operation consisting of very small steps.
3.1.1.5 Activities and programs
The various activities and programs of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce are based on a concept of overall cultural action, that is, on action that embraces the changing relationship of humans to their physical and sociocultural environment, linking the past to the present and the future. Historical reflection—given relatively great emphasis—is the point of departure for coping with the present.
In contrast to the traditional museum, the main area of work of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce is not collection or conservation, but rather the motivation of the population of the Haute-Beauce, i.e. public-directed educational action for the purpose of coping with the present and the future. All other areas of work are subordinated to motivation. The basis for the museum’s educational program is not created simply through collection, conservation, documentation, research and public programs, but rather motivation is partly carried out within the framework of these working processes by involving interested citizens in them.
An element common to all areas of work of the Ecomusée de la Haute-Beauce—in distinction to the traditional museum—is the secondary importance of objects. The collection, conservation and presentation of objects are not ends in themselves, but communicators of content and sources of motivation, as Mayrand underscored:
The priority, if the object is used, is never the object. In my opinion it exceeds the object, it goes beyond the object. The object