This book recovers the significant contribution made by women to
museums, not just in obvious roles such as workers, but also as donors,
visitors, volunteers and patrons. It suggests that women persistently
acted to domesticate the museum, by importing domestic objects and
domestic regimes of value, as well as by making museums more welcoming
to children, and even by stressing the importance of housekeeping at the
museum. At the same time, women sought 'masculine' careers in science
and curatorship, but found such aspirations hard to achieve; their
contribution tended to be kept within clear, feminised areas.
The book will be of interest to those working on gender, culture, or
museums in the period. It sheds new light on women's material culture
and material strategies, education and professional careers, and leisure
practices. It will form an important historical context for those
working in contemporary museum studies.