The Things about Museums constitutes a unique, highly diverse collection of essays unprecedented in existing books in either museum and heritage studies or material culture studies. Taking varied perspectives and presenting a range of case studies, the chapters all address objects in the context of museums, galleries and/or the heritage sector more broadly. Specifically, the book deals with how objects are constructed in museums, the ways in which visitors may directly experience those objects, how objects are utilised within particular representational strategies and forms, and the challenges and opportunities presented by using objects to communicate difficult and contested matters. Topics and approaches examined in the book are diverse, but include the objectification of natural history specimens and museum registers; materiality, immateriality, transience and absence; subject/object boundaries; sensory, phenomenological perspectives; the museumisation of objects and collections; and the dangers inherent in assuming that objects, interpretation and heritage are ‘good’ for us.

Roswell Angier is currently a faculty member at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA. Roswell has enjoyed a rewarding career as both a photographer and educator, and has worked as a freelance magazine photographer and been a partner in a co-operative photographic agency in New York. Many of his images are held in prestigious collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Smithsonian Museum, the Addison Gallery of American Art and private collections around the world.