The art of curating: Paul J. Sachs and the Museum Course at Harvard

Abstract

From 1921 until 1948, Paul J. Sachs (1878-1965) offered a yearlong program in art museum training, 'Museum Work and Museum Problems', through Harvard University's Fine Arts Department. Known simply as the 'Museum Course', the program was responsible for shaping a professional field 'museum curatorship and management' that, in turn, defined the organizational structure and values of an institution through which the American public came to know art. Conceived at a time of great museum expansion and public interest in the United States, the 'Museum Course' debated curatorial priorities and put theory into practice through the placement of graduates in museums big and small across the land. In this book, authors Sally Anne Duncan and Andrew McClellan examine the role that Sachs and his program played in shaping the character of art museums in the United States in the formative decades of the twentieth century

Contents

Introduction -- Paul J. Sachs: from the art of business to the business of art -- Origins and contexts of the Museum Course -- The Museum Course -- Students -- Later years and legacy.