Over the last twenty years museums have proliferated, attracting new audiences and assuming new prominence in public life. The Return of Curiosity offers a fresh perspective on museums and what they may now be good for. Nicholas Thomas argues that what is special about museums are their collections, which are not just rich resources for reflection, but creative technologies that enable people to make new things in the present.Reflecting on art galleries, science and history institutions, and ...

This book presents a thorough investigation on how diverse elements of interest determine the representation of the past in an open air museum. In particular, a representation of 18th century America in Colonial Williamsburg is explored, with a special focus on their street theatre program “The Revolutionary City”. The author examines how the theatrical program is developed using historical themes and character interpretations to give the reader a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at reconstru...