The Promise of Cultural Institutions

In our professional literature, 'how to' books far outnumber 'why to' books. This is a 'why to' book. It reminds us why museums and libraries exist and what they have in common. It explores the power that redounds to both as places where knowledge and experience intersect. It calls upon us to expand our vision of the educational and life-enhancing potential that our institutions possess. And it articulates some key principles required to achieve that potential. . . . This is also a 'big picture' book. It is about recalling why we entered our professions and the obligation we have to support the learning of those we serve. This book reminds us that we support our users best by staying focused on the driving concepts of our work and not getting mired in its details. This book makes us understand that at the start of every day we need to remember that our primary task is not to complete the items on our daily agenda. Rather our primary task is to achieve the collective vision of our institutions, and their promise to enable learning. -- G. Rollie Adams, President and CEO Emeritus, Strong Museum * From The Foreword *
Reading David Carr's essays collected in The Promise of Cultural Institutions is very much like being able to participate in a private retreat with a wise and understanding mentor. For all of us who work in or with cultural institutions, these essays offer a constant reminder of the profound importance of our work, and an insightful guide to how to carry out that work more effectively. -- Harold Skramstad, president emeritus, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
How refreshing! Finally a book on museums and libraries that looks at how these institutions fit into the lives of their users rather than how users fit into the lives of the institutions. And that perspective makes such a difference! -- Wayne A. Wiegand, Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Co-Director, Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America
In David Carr's generous thinking the museum becomes a place that supports free inquiry, that is used rather than visited and that generates connections between each learner and the world. This provocative book challenges museums to become places of possibility—where knowledge is not privileged and open-ended questions are nurtured. The Promise of Cultural Institutions offers profound insight into the necessity for great cultural institutions in a civil society. -- Beverly Sheppard, President and CEO, Old Sturbridge Village
With all the 'how-to' texts that already crowd our shelves, such an insightfully written 'why-to' volume is certainly welcome. Welcome, too, is the remarkably graceful prose with which Carr has enriched the literature of our field. -- Stephen E. Weil, Scholar Emeritus, Center for Education and Museum Studies, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. * Curator, 46:4 *
David Carr's series of essays speak of the mystery, promise, and possibilities in our cultural institutions, and he calls to their users to risk being changed by those institutions. After reading The Promise of Cultural Institutions, I will never again be able to enter a library or museum or gallery without being more questioning, more mindful, more open to how the institution connects to my own unfinished life. -- Leigh S. Estabrook, University of Illinois
[B]rave and compelling . . . Carr posits fundamental questions about an endangered relationship of user and institution and asserts that both parties are responsible for the future of museums, libraries, and other collections. Neglecting the deep questions that this book raises would be a mistake for any leader of a cultural institution. -- Keith Donohue, National Archives and Records Administration * Cultural Resources Management *
David Carr steps back from his enjoyment of museums and his work in libraries to ponder why these cultural institutions are vital parts of our lives. His essays provide a mini-retreat for any museum worker wanting informed reflection on how the institution provides an enriching cognitive environment. -- Pat Sullivan, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario * Muse *