Behind the exhibit
Subtitle: displaying science and technology at world's fairs and museums in the twentieth century
By: edited by Elena Canadelli, Marco Beretta, and Laura Ronzon
Series: Artefacts: Studies in the History of Science and Technology -- volume 12; Artefacts series -- v. 12
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 263
ISBN-13: 9781944466220; 9781944466237
Subjects: Science; Exhibitions; Technological innovations
Other titles: Displaying science and technology at world's fairs and museums in the twentieth century
Description: "As part of the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press Artefacts Book Series, Behind the Exhibit: Displaying Science and Technology at World's Fairs and Museums in the Twentieth Century brings together museum curators and historians who tackle the problem of how to display science, technology, and history to the public in ways that engage as well as educate. The case studies within show how, during the course of nearly a century, world's fairs and museums became public spaces for the representation of scientific discovery and technological innovation in relation to national rhetoric, use of history, and the challenging idea of modernity. The essays cover how science and technology have been presented at world's fairs, exhibitions and museums in the United States, Europe, Russia and Japan from the end of the nineteenth century to 1970. What emerges is a study of the tension between basic science and technological applications, the multi-layered role of history, the appearance and disappearance of artifacts, and the search for a balance between entertainment and education."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Smithsonian Institution Copyright 2018
Table of contents: title: Series preface / Bernard Finn; title: Introduction / Elena Canadelli, Laura Ronzon, and Marco Beretta. Nineteenth-century legacy: history and heroes : Lavoisier and the French chemical heritage at the Musée Centennal of the Paris World Exhibition (1900) / Marco Beretta; title: Telegraphs and national heroes: a case study of telegraphy as a mirror of national branding / Tina Kubot. Rethinking science display: interwar exhibitions : The quest for the technological soul of a nation: the Catalan forge and the display of politics (1914-1949) / Jaume Valentines-Álvarez; title: From instruments of science to instruments of history: Andrea Corsini and the birth of the Museo Galileo / Francesco Barreca; title: History of the CNR artifacts collection: from the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago to the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan / Claudio Giorgione; title: Astronomy between solemnity and spectacle: the Adler Planetarium and the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago (1933-1934) / Pedro M.P. Raposo; title: Built in thoughts rather than stone: the Palais de la découverte and the 1937 Paris International Exposition by Andrée Bergeron / Charlotte Bigg; title: Science versus technology: the Exhibition of Universal Science in E42 Rome and the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan / Elena Canadelli. Postwar exhibitions: what is the role of artifacts? : North American world's fairs and the reinvention of the science museum in the 1960s / Arne Schirrmacher; title: The rise, fall, and unexpected rebirth of Russia's Buran shuttle at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements, 1988-2014 / Cathleen Lewis; title: National and international expositions and the origins of the national Apollo 11 artifacts collection / Allan A. Needell; title: Presenting the past, present, and future of technological innovation: the Japanese Pavilion at Expo '70 as a discourse on science and technology policy / Nobumichi Ariga. Conclusion : Science and technology in the twentieth century exhibitionary complex / Robert Friedel. About the contributors; title: Index.