A dramatic increase in interest, world wide, in the educational role of galleries and museums has occurred in the past decade. This results in part from a rekindling of the debate about their purpose and effectiveness - whether as public institutions founded with educational intentions, or as private foundations with an educational interest. While diverse informal learning opportunities and more structured education programmes have multiplied as a consequence, and networks have been established for sharing ideas, the need for a more substantial and sustained approach to research-informed...

This book traces the relationship between the museum and the micro-cultures of the countryside over the last 50 years. The period is one of extraordinary tensions and change for the countryside, as it has experienced widespread agricultural mechanisation, rural depopulation and changing demographics, the growth of environmental activism, and the development of the heritage industry. Global issues such as the political and social imperatives to tackle population growth and climate change have led to an increasing sense of a distributed responsibility for the world's welfare with strong local...