In Praise of Touching
Kristin Hussey Kristin Hussey

In Praise of Touching

Why is working with museum objects so appealing to researchers? There can be little doubt that object-centred research has been coveted by academics and curators alike since at least the nineteenth century. A wealth of scholarly work has interrogated the museum object from philosophical, historical and sociological perspectives. You might justifiably think already we know everything there is to know about how to engage with objects. So why are researchers (including myself) still obsessed with something as simplistic as touching them?

Read More
Ming: The Forgotten Celebrity
Kristin Hussey Kristin Hussey

Ming: The Forgotten Celebrity

A short note for the Archives of Natural History exploring the life and afterlife of the London Zoo panda Ming. This research contributes to a growing interest in the afterlives of animals in museums and tracks the decline of interest in comparative anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons.

Read More