The Ecomuseum:Incorporating the sense of purpose and identity with the pieces on display.

This week we read multiple articles dealing with the idea of the ecomuseum. In practice, an ecomuseum is a place where the pieces on display are not simply left in cases for the regular museum patron to simply peruse at their leisure while they exist solely behind their glass case separated from the context that they once existed in, devoid of their original purpose. the ecomuseum is a place where the pieces are carefully placed, instilled with plaques and sometimes even used in demonstration to give the onlooker the sense of the true social context that the piece used to, or currently exists within.

The first example that sprung into my head when thinking about examples of ecomuseums would be found in some of the museums that I was lucky enough to have visited as a child on field trips. Them being the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, and Old Sturbridge Village.

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum is known as the largest native american heritage museum. From the moment you enter the exhibits they are able to put you into the environment of what it would be like to be around the museum pieces in their past life.


From the exhibits you can see in some instances that specific pieces are taken out and put behind glass under lights in order to preserve the objects from possible harm, but to also give you an insight to the artistry behind the object. Whenever the museum does this, they make special care to provide some sort of context for the piece through writings about its significance on plaques and pictures placed beside them. Most of the exhibits are artful representations themselves attempting to recreate what life would have looked like for native people in this place in a specific time period. These exhibits I believe serve the most justice in terms of putting the visitor into an environment that would bring them to their best understanding of the cultural place that each of these pieces holds.

The second example of an ecomuseum that I was able to experience was Old Sturbridge Village. In this outdoor interactive museum actors are hired to perform the daily tasks of people in the pre-civil war era. Walking through the village alone gives the visitor a sensory likeness to what it would be like to live in that time (Not counting the touristy drawbacks, such as tour groups and schoolchildren traveling in packs). Along with displaying the tools and demonstrating the means by which the people would use these tools, the actors themselves are well versed in the goings on of the time period and can provide cultural backgrounds for the task they are performing by explaining certain significance and application within the time period.