Most Read This Week In Museums

[close] The purpose of this group is to read and discuss books pertaining to Art History, the Visual Arts (Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, etc.), the Decorative Arts, Museums, and Landscape Gardening. Fiction and Nonfiction books will be discussed. Relevant films and documentaries also are of interest. Suggestions are welcome.

[close] If you love museums and you love books, this is the place for you! Join us as we explore connections between books and special exhibits, museums, Omnimax films, and other events happening around the Cincinnati Museum Center!

[close] Let's explore museums, one narrative at a time. This group is for all of my fellow museum registrars, historic preservation enthusiasts, art lovers, archivists, amateur archaeologists, post-colonianal scholars, museum educators, and anyone who has ever found themselves falling down a World's Fair rabbit hole. If you are fascinated with the history of museums, you've found the right place. I want to explore the institutional history of museums and am pleasantly surprised by the amount of reads out there, even if you have to search a little to find them. I hope you will join me in gaining a better understanding of the past of museums so that we can comprehend with context their important and complicated role today. Biographies, fiction, theory, text books, primary sources, historical fiction, and memoirs are all welcome, as long as they relate to the wide world of museums. My hope is that by reading a plurality of works, we can better understand this big, broad thing that is museums. So, let's dive into the cabinets of curiosities, insidious philosophies, humble beginnings, questionable practices, honorable efforts, scientific discoveries, dazzling displays, dangerous digs, stunning artwork, tedious tasks, and daring efforts that make up this nuanced field.

[close] For anyone interested in books on this topic, including the following overlapping sub-topics: (1) Antiquities trafficking/looting; (2) Art market scandals, incl. forgery; (3) Nazi-looted art (& returns; (4) Returning/repatriating cultural artifacts*; (5) Investigations of art heists (6) Museum scandals The group's primary goal is to share a list of recommended (nonfiction) books--see https://www.goodreads.com/group/bookshelf/1206818-art-and-antiquities-crime-nonfiction-reading that will appeal either to a newcomer or more well-versed readers. The discussion page can be used to exchange ideas, and/or recommend other media on the topic (magazine articles, podcasts and TV series). The list will be broken down into the following sub-themes (which have some overlap): -Antiquities trafficking and looting -Art market scandals, incl. Art forgery (late 20th C/early 21st C) -Nazi-looted art (and returns) -Returning/repatriating cultural artifacts* -Investigations of art heists -Museum scandals Our reading list(s) will include older/out-of-print titles as well, since some of these are really useful from a historical perspective. *Books on more theoretical or legal concepts (e.g., 'what are museums' responsibilties?), or best practices, won't feature prominently, unless they are seminal. But, readers interested in how these topic relate to art and antiquities crime are encouraged to create an in-depth group, and use the discussion page(s) to share links and invite others.