University Museums in Scotland - Conference 2004

The Significance of Collections

A Conference organised on behalf of UMiS by the Museums & Galleries Office, University of Edinburgh

Date: 12 November 2004 at St Cecilia's Hall Museum of Instruments, University of Edinburgh

Below is the programme for the conference. Where a name is highlighted you can click on that name to read the conference paper. Links below the title of the paper will let you see the PowerPoint presentation.

Session one : A Distributed National Collection?

Steven de Clerq (Utrecht University Museum)
Keeping Research Collections
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Jane Robinson (Scottish Museums Council)
From National Audit to National Significance
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Yvette Burrows (Designation Advisor, Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives)
Developing a Cross-Domain Designation Scheme
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Session two: Collections of Significance

Geoff Hancock (Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow)
Is objectivity possible? Possible criteria for assessing the relative importance of biological collections
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Alastair Ramage & John Powles (Heatherbank Museum of Social Work, Glasgow Caledonian University)
The Significance of Uniqueness

Sebastiano Barassi (Kettles Yard, University of Cambridge)
The collection as a work of art: Jim Ede and Kettle's Yard
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Helen Rawson (Curator, University of St Andrews)
'I observed nothing remarkable': the presentation of, and responses of visitors to, objects of significance at the University of St Andrews, from 1677

Session Three: Collecting for the Future & The International Perspective

Panel discussion

Helen Wilkinson (Museums Association)
Steven de Clerq (Utrecht University Museum)
Alison Morrison-Low (National Museums of Scotland)