Museum and History vocabulary - Help needed urgently

[oggbashan]

I do get asked to do some weird things from time to time.

Today I visited a local museum that I support by donating my old junk and particularly masses of paper ephemera. They have two French students who are learning English through work experience (as part of an exchange with a French town that has taken English students to learn French).

None of the museum's staff have any French. When I arrived with my pile of junk I had to translate the students' request from their tutor. They need to learn the technical terms (in English) that apply to museums. They are learning colloquial English through interaction with the museum staff, the visitors and the families they are staying with, but NOT the important words and concepts that are specific to museums.

In the few minutes I was there I managed to make a start, explaining, in English, the difference between conserving and restoring an artefact, making five words the students have learned today - the verbs: conserve; restore and the nouns: conservation; restoration and artefact. It helped that those words are almost identical in French.

I have been asked to go back tomorrow and teach them some more vocabulary. This is where I need help. I can make a start from my general knowledge but I need a list of words that relate to the work of museums and definitions of them. Any links suggested would be appreciated. A glossary of museum-speak would be ideal.

Thank you.

Og

 

[cloudy]

here are a few basics. I tried, but couldn't really find anymore, sorry.

 

[Vermilion]

-Collection
-Catalogue
-Exhibition
-Case (Does this count as colloquial?)
-Mount (as in mount an exhibition or mount a piece)


Will add more as, and when, I think of them
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[Vermilion]

OK - had a brain storm - these students are going to need the types of material from which things are made right? found some fairly comprehensive lists which may help.

metals
alloy
bronze
brass
copper
gold
iron
silver

ceramics
china
earthenware
clay
fritware
porcelain
stoneware
terracotta
glazed

stone
alabaster
gemstone
basalt
granite
limestone
marble
sandstone



fabrics
brocade
cotton
linen
muslin
silk
velvet


other materials
crystal
fur
ivory
leather
glass
wood
jade
paper
plastic


processes
carved
embroidered
enamelled
lacquered
woven
glazed
decorated
inlaid
Painted



Different sorts of painting and precious stones spring to mind as well, eg-
oil painting, watercolour, gouache, drawing, charcoal, print, lithograph etc etc or
ruby, diamond, emerald, sapphire, opal, pearls etc etc

Hope that sparked some ideas
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ETA: might also be useful to teach them the English names for various countries if they don;t know them, as well as generalised descriptions of time periods and styles, -eg- Victorian, Georgian, Elizabethan and Oriental etc...

 

[neonlyte]

Here is a Museum and Gallery Glossary - mostly dealing with conservation (and from Australia so make allowances

http://archive.amol.org.au/recollections/7/index.htm

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks for the links and suggestions.

I have made a list, also with hints from my journalist daughter, that should start the French students thinking.

All I have done is list the words, saying whether they are nouns, verbs, etc. and I'm leaving it to them to find out what they mean.

It should keep them busy for a few days trying to discover the difference between a restorer and a conservator and between primary and secondary sources.

Og

 

[Huckleman2000]

Hopefully you included on your list of essential museum nouns, "Gift shop".

 

[oggbashan]

Hopefully you included on your list of essential museum nouns, "Gift shop".

They know that already. They have spent several hours as Gift Shop assistants.

The museum is very small. There are two full-time members of staff and several volunteers. The Gift Shop is an area behind the entrance window and any gifts have to be sold through the window. It means no shoplifting.

Last year the Gift Shop increased its takings by 70%, general museum paid admissions were up 50%; and school visits up 90%. So far this year the Gift Shop has continued to improve, as have admissions but school visits were down until today when one school has booked a visit every week for the next three months...

Og (who is an unofficial friend of the museum, not even a volunteer)

 

[oggbashan]

Glossary delivered.

Had to exercise my French more than I have done for several months because I showed the students some of my collection of French revolutionary newspapers from the 1790s, including the proposals for the school system that provided that boys and girls should be taught exactly the same subjects with a couple of variations:

1. The boys should be taught military drill by the National Guard, while the girls are being taught to sew and knit.

2. The girls should be taught about pregnancy, childbirth and raising children while the boys are taught a simplified version of those subjects AND land surveying.

The proposals failed: no money.

Og

 

[Vermilion]

Glossary delivered.

Had to exercise my French more than I have done for several months because I showed the students some of my collection of French revolutionary newspapers from the 1790s, including the proposals for the school system that provided that boys and girls should be taught exactly the same subjects with a couple of variations:

1. The boys should be taught military drill by the National Guard, while the girls are being taught to sew and knit.

2. The girls should be taught about pregnancy, childbirth and raising children while the boys are taught a simplified version of those subjects AND land surveying.

The proposals failed: no money.

Og

heh - they could introduce those reforms today
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