Introduction to Archives and Museums

The course presents archival science and museology as fields of study, and gives an introduction to archives and museums as institutions and workplaces. Central concepts and terms, basic theories, political ideas and plans for archives and museums in Norway are introduced, as well as historical developments. The course also adresses digitization as phenomenon, and offers perspectives on the differences between physical and digital archives and collections management.

Some of the major questions explored in the course are: What are archives and museums? What features do archives and museum collections have that make them important to societies and individuals: before, now, and in the future? How have they developed historically, as fields of study, scientific subjects, and places of experience and learning? How has digitization affected archival science and archive institutions, museum studies and museums?

The course includes excursions to an archival institution and a museum, as well as a thorough introduction to the work area of ​​collections management in museums, with the use of physical objects.

Knowledge

The student has knowledge about

• what archives and museums are
• the variety of materials, objects and records that archives and museums manage
• main working areas in archives- and collections management
• the societal role og archives and museums
• the Norwegian archive and museum landscape
• basic aspects of the history of archival science and museology
• main trends in the political agenda for archives and museums in Norway
• basic features of the digitization of society and of how this affects archives and museums

Skills

The student can

• describe the work that goes on in archive institutions and museums
• discuss similarities and differences between archives and museums
• give an overview of the development of archival science and museology as fields of study
• explain, in basic terms, how digitization has affected archives and museums

General competence

The student

• has a general understanding of what museums and archive institutions do
• is conscious of the significance of archives and museum collections for society and the individual
• sees archival science and museology in historical perspective
• can assess, in part, how digitization affects archives and museums
• can express himself/herself professionally, both orally and in writing

A combination of lectures, excursions, group assignments and written assignments. If practice institutions wish to use BA students for e.g. preliminary projects, workshops or trials of various kinds, we will facilitate cooperation.