Museums and the Past explores the central role of museums as memory keepers and makers. Using case studies from a Canadian context, the contributors to this collection reflect on the challenges in maintaining and developing museums as meaningful places of memory and learning. Discussions of museum practice and historical consciousness – how our understanding of the past shapes our sense of the future – consider the modern museum’s narratives and pedagogical responsibilities and how museums continue to inform our sense of history.

Viviane Gosselin's profile page

Phaedra Livingstone's profile page

Viviane Gosselin is curator of contemporary culture at the Museum of Vancouver and associate researcher at the UBC Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness.

Phaedra Livingstone is a museologist who has worked in, taught about, and conducted research on museums and heritage settings internationally since 1990.

Contributors: Susan Ashley, Jill Baird, Jennifer Carter, Pierre-Luc Collin, Claire Cousson, Lucie Daignault, Lon Dubinsky, Damara Jacobs-Morris, Robert R. Janes, Simon Knell, Marie-Claude Larouche, Lianne McTavish, Del Muise, Laurajane Smith, and Brenda Trofanenko

Viviane Gosselin and Phaedra Livingstone have created, for the first time ever, a book that looks at the relationship between museums and the concept of historical consciousness. In doing so, they are pioneering both museological and historical literature, and greatly contributing to an under-researched field.

Museum Management and Curatorship