Book Review: WHY THE MUSEUM MATTERS by Daniel H. Weiss 🏛️

Split into three sections—the history of the US art museum, the museum’s role in society, and Weiss’ vision for the future of museums—WHY THE MUSEUM MATTERS is an interesting read for anyone eager to understand how museums function and how cultural institutions can persevere and evolve in the coming years.

Authored by Daniel H Weiss, president and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), and former president of my alma mater, Lafayette College 🙌, this short book is clearly written by a knowledgeable representative of the museum field who is also a proponent of the museum’s role as a cultural heritage steward. As a museum employee myself, I found the first and final sections to be most interesting. The second section (on the role of the museum) shared a lot of the business aspects of museum life, aka what I experience in my day to day, so while not revelatory to me, it could be really interesting to the average museum-goer and reader. The first section on the US art museum history was easily my favorite of the three sections, though Weiss’ vision for the future of museums was also interesting if not particularly groundbreaking.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

😘 Thanks to @netgalley and @yalebooks for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was thrilled to already see it in our Museum Store.

A very important book for our times. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Why the Museum Matters
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 out of 5 stars

This non-fiction title presents a fascinating story of the universal art museum and its role in modern society. Weiss guides his readers through the history of museums, from ancient collectors to the first institutions in Rome and London to more contemporary issues. He speaks about those institutions as places of education, entertainment, and essential elements of every larger city.

Weiss is the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so many points and examples in his book are specific to that institution or the American museums only. Still, he writes captivatingly, giving lots of information about museums and collecting in general. This book is very informative while still accessible. It’s an excellent position for enthusiasts of non-fiction and those who would like to learn more about museums as cultural institutions.

A powerful reflection on the universal art museum, considering the values critical to its history and anticipating its evolving place in our cultural future.

Museums are so important. With a degree in Art History museums are essential to our culture and I found this read from Daniel H. Weiss intriguing. This book is read in sections; short history of the museum, collections, controversies, governance structure and finally values of the museum. I appreciated the conversation regarding museums dark history and how historians can do better.

To capture an audience this book needs many more photos. The writing is formal and well done but photos would offer relief from facts after facts after facts.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Yale University Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

A detailed insight into the history of museums and a strong reminder of how important they are in sharing what has been learned over centuries and reflecting ways in which we are all interconnected. A fascinating read. Thank you to Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a great start—I learned a lot, and my only wish was for more space to expand on the encyclopedic museum’s vast history. The chapters felt like rushed surveys, but ended with me craving more, so I would say they were successful.

But soon I grew disappointed. Art institutes have become increasingly subject to political fire in recent years, and it would be difficult to talk about museums now without mentioning it. The author’s treatment of recent controversies are generally careful and on the conservative side, but some perspectives really rubbed me the wrong way. The BLM Movement reads as the “beginning of the end” for The Intellectual. Which is weird. Every single cautionary tale around “cancel culture” he explores involves a valid critique and offered solution from people of color and/or women exclusively, which the author deems as a disproportionate reaction and therefore invalid. He doesn’t have to agree with their solutions, of course But most times, the solution he offers in its place does not do enough, or is to do nothing. I think the biggest problem, among the many, is that he fails to acknowledge that his own opinions, rooted in enlightenment thinking and an investment in the marketplace of ideas, is not a neutral one.

What I liked about this book:
- does not deny the history of looting and cultural appropriation involved in founding museums
- has an academic and scholarly tone but still manages to ease readers into being comfortable with lots of dates and names
- I can easily follow the flow and transitions into different eras or schools of thought

What could be better:
- I wish there were more illustrations to break up the wall of text.

A very important book for our times. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This didn't end up being quite the book I expected to read, which is both good and disappointing, lol.

I expected more (any) pictures--and maybe there are, in the final product, but there weren't in the ARC. The book also definitely read more academic than expected, despite disclaimers it's written for the layperson. But, I did geek out a bit over the history of the museum; I was a European Studies major in college, and seriously contemplated getting a certificate in Museum Studies from my local state university. I feel like I got that (to a small degree, anyway) with this read!

The author brought up a lot of interesting points, and fleshed them out well. (I wasn't sure at points, especially on the hot-button topics, but those ended up going better than anticipated. Yay!)

Many interesting things to contemplate here. Would I revisit? Probably not. However, it still merited a read, for sure, and is a great starting point for ongoing discussion about the importance of museums.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Why the Museum Matters is the latest in the 17-volume “Why X Matters” series from Yale University Press. The series aims to justify the existence in today’s public sphere of disciplines and topics ranging from writing and architecture to the Constitution, the New Deal and baseball. Daniel Weiss is the President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and brings considerable gravitas to this discussion in an era when museums are facing a number of challenges including financial, structural, political, and of course the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

Weiss starts with a selective history of the art museum, emphasizing key museums throughout history and how they reflected the culture in which they grew. The modern American art museum, as a center for education, community building and culture, is a very different animal than Nebuchadnezzar’s collection, which featured looted sculptures from conquered countries, or the early Greek museums in the 1st century BCE which aimed to create a shared history and identity by putting their own artistic achievements on literal pedestals. Contemporary museums relate more to the museums of the social equality and educational aims of the Enlightenment (even as controversies over looted items like the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum exist).

Weiss identifies four central purposes for today’s art museums: as places where people can learn, experience, grow, and simply see beautiful things; as forums for ideas and dialogue, including about issues that are politically, culturally and historically challenging; as community resources; and as a vehicle for creating shared identity and culture. Museums are challenged on many fronts today, many of the challenges relating to an anti-intellectual and small government climate. Weiss proposes that the only way out is through - instead of pulling back on controversy, museums should go deeper by engaging meaningfully with their community and its members, creating shared governance with a variety of stakeholders, and to work to meet the needs of the present day while also embracing a preservationist view.

There is a lot of food for thought in this book, and I hope it is used in Museum Studies classes as well as in the board rooms of museums of all sizes.. I think the book might be particularly useful in communities which don’t have easy access to legacy museums, and are struggling to make their local museums relevant in the face of decreased funding and politicians who don’t understand that attendance is not the only measure of a museum’s success.

Thanks to Yale University Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an eARC of this book for review from the Yale University Press via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Full disclosure: I DNFd this at 51%.

• The Brief: The first half of the book explores American art museums, the history of their development, and their place in public life.
• The scholarly style, structure, and language choices make it difficult to recommend to the casual reader. It may be beneficial to emerging museum professionals, as the chapters on the historical development of modern museums provide a good number of reference sources for further study. Beyond that, the casual dismissal of public expression makes it rather disappointing for the head of an institution designed to serve the public.

Why the Museum Matters is a brief introduction to the cultural influences that shaped the development of art museums and the roles those museums have today. It is organized into three parts: A Selective History of the Art Museum; Why the Museum Matters; and New Directions. The ethics of encyclopedic collecting, a term used repeatedly by the author, were addressed in three short paragraphs at the end of Chapter 4: A Place of Consequence. In other sections, the author briefly touches on the specific repatriation case of Parthenon frieze at the British Museum but misses other opportunities for this discussion such as his visit to the Nefertiti bust at the Neues Museum in Berlin. He also mentions slave owner Elizabeth Vassall Fox admiringly, without addressing how she gained the wealth she then used to support fledgling museums. All of these decisions added up were concerning to me, but I was determined to power through in the hopes of finding a new primer for emerging museum professionals.

Chapter 5: A Forum for Ideas changed my mind. The author attempts to present himself as objective, but his language betrays him at times. For example, on page 76 he uses the term Cancel Culture as a synonym for liberal politics. In this chapter, the author advocates that museums should be a place to learn and persuade. Then he uses the social movements that began in 2020 as an example of threats to just that discourse rather than inspirations for new conversations. His argument doesn’t acknowledge that by ostracizing those have who only recently acquired the power of a voice through technology, he is ignoring the systematic pain, harm, and victimization which has led to modern call out culture. In fact, he uses quotation marks around the word harm in his text, thereby implying it isn’t the lived reality of millions. He describes this as a private and individual experience when it is experienced by so many people that it must be considered a public issue. Finally, he equates protest over the exploitation of the black pain to "behavioral racism" without understanding that racism is defined by systematic oppression – a power not available to the protesters by virtue of our society’s structure. This is when I stopped reading. I could no longer overlook the biases of the author.

“At its best, the museum should be a place that celebrates artistic achievement, while also embracing the idea that cultures are both diverse and interconnected, with an almost infinite variety in how we experience beauty, creativity, and excellence.”

It is important, at times, to pause and reflect on those institutions that add value to our lives. Places, such as museums, that provide a sense of connectedness and meaning through the lessons and solutions sought and found by those who came before us. Those who are otherwise an ocean or sunset or millennium away. Through their objects, with which we are invited to commune, we are reminded that these others sought beauty as we do, felt the need to understand the divine as we do, and hoped to learn their place in the cosmos as do we.

Weiss will say that humankind is incontrovertibly interconnected, “bound to each other in complex and inextricable ways.” The essential function of art museums in the United States, he says, is to shape ideas, advance learning, foster community, and provide places of beauty and permanence. They give us an opportunity to genuinely learn about differences and go beyond our own experiences. As perpetual institutions, museums reflect generations of achievement that must not collapse under the “fragility of our certainty at the moment.”

As someone currently studying for a degree in museum education I thought that this would be an interesting and informative read and I was right. The author lays this book out in a way that is easy to understand and allows you to compare it with other literature on the subject; while relating it to the current social-political climate.

With the author themselves being the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art it is interesting to get an insider's perspective specifically one that is willing to accept change while also still being protective of the museum as a source of education.

This would be an interesting introduction to the world of museums, as it contains sections on the history of the museum, going back to Ancient Greece and the Romans, and takes the readers to the modern period while mentioning some of the problems associated with the idea of the museum at each stage of its development.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers.

I have very much enjoyed taking classes in art history. They are a wonderful way to learn about both topics-art and history. Integral to these classes are visiting museums and seeing art works virtually when that works best. Clearly, museum’s holdings offer the material for these classes. A class that I took on museums themselves also examined the role of the museum in society; it can be complex as is also shown in this well written book on why museums matter.

The author is connected to the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. He offers a well thought out look at his topic. Weiss notes the important role that museums have played in society, in part, because they make something accessible to not only those who are very wealthy. He also examines some of the current issues that museums are facing. These are financial and at times ethical.

Readers will find chapters on the antecedents of the art museum, a look at America and museums and, finally, a look at evolving and preserving in order to keep these institutions vital. Weiss is an accessible writer and one does not need previous background to engage with this title. I recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Yale University Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

There is a tone of desperation in Weiss’s book. Its design exudes the chiselled look of confident neo-classicism, but the words are more fuzzy. At its core is the problematic difference between the museum as a perpetual and neutral custodian of the troves of the past, and the museum as the institutional organ of state and corporate ideologies, perpetuating the dogma of elites and empires. In the latter model, the acquisition, preservation, categorisation, and interpretation of the material artefacts of the past takes place to secure discovery, extraction, ownership, and accumulation as guarantees of influence. Even with Weiss’s incisive art historian's prose, the arguments wobble and falter, needing to be relentlessly anchored back in the history of the once laudable enterprise of encyclopaedic knowledge—with its links to power. Ultimately, he capitulates with contradictory dyads, community and universality, excellence and equity, and even diverse stakeholders and ‘us all.’ To be fair, his arguments are stymied by the model of New York’s unprecedented Metropolitan Museum, uniquely embroiled in tax break philanthropy.
The thing about museums, such as London’s British Museum and the Louvre in Paris, is that they evolved with National ambitions to provide public access to the wonders of noble private collectors, always a top-down ‘public good.’ Weiss highlights the US model that built its collections to fit the space, not vice versa. Collector’s hunger for legitimate and meaningful museum content is not without pitfalls, and Weiss’s story is fleshed out with colourful anecdotes, where the Met museum was tripped up by criminals waving certificates of provenance and authenticity. His stories only reinforce the fact that most of the imported artefacts of ancient and formative civilisation were, inevitably, obtained by coercive or duplicitous means from gullible custodians, undocumented, and indicative of gross power imbalance. Occasions, such as Sir Harry Rawson’s British punitive expedition that ransacked the Kingdom of Benin in early February 1897, are only notable because the looting was recorded in the Illustrated London News, the extraction of material also marking the end of Benin culture.
On the societal role of museum culture Weiss pleads moderation. Having debunked exploration and discovery myths, he still digs in his conservative heels, apparently willing to forget again that the museum’s intrinsic nature as an emblem of universal stability is deeply flawed. He defers to the endurance of the Louvre through phases of unrest in Paris, without acknowledging the complex relationship of revolutionary unrest and establishment control that blighted progressive politics in France in the 19th century, using cultural institutions such as the Salon, the Louvre, and subscriptions to the gift of the Statue of Liberty to conflate freedom with order, or as Weiss would have it with common ground, enlarged understanding, and access to beauty. It is unclear how he gets back to these attachments from plunder and partial accounts of violent provenance.
I must say I can’t quite gauge who the book is for, being too haphazard for the specialist audience interested in the details of collections, institutional history, and political intrigues. It could be a Weiss memoir— that could have been enticing, but it lacks the narrative drive that an account of the Met on its own could provide. At its best, it’s a spur for further investigation.

Since I work closely with museums and young people, I already know in my heart that museums matter. But this book helped to put it into words!
Excellent account that reminds us to look after and support these cultural entities.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This is a short book, and while it reads like an academic paper, the points the author makes are relevant and crucial to understanding the state of museums and how the professionals working in them think about their roles in society going forward. There's a nice little bit about the history of museums, going back to ancient Greece and Rome, through the Enlightenment and on to the present. The focus is on art museums, specifically American art museums, which makes sense given the author's current position at the Met and that American museums tend to differ from European ones. I felt that the author had a great argument, and I was pleasantly surprised at the concept of museums he envisions in the future. There was also points where the less ethical history (and current issues) of museums was addressed, which I appreciated. Overall, this was a good read, perfect for anyone really interested in museums, though it was a dry read that felt more like homework at times.

This was a very pleasant book to read. I enjoyed reading the persective of the President of the Met. His passion for museums and their purpose of serving communities is inspiring.
I enjoyed reading about the history of the art museum and how they came to be what they are today. I would have enjoyed further discussion on this. I appreciate the insights on how museums are run and all of the behind-the-scenes effort and funding is required for an art museum to be great.
This was an enjoyable read and makes me both appreciate museums more, and makes me want to engage further with the museums in my community. This book is certainly a success.

Daniel H Weiss is currently the president and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in Why the Museum Matters, he makes the case for the museum in 21st century America. Divided into three sections, Weiss presents a short history of the museum as a concept, describes the organizational methods for collections, present brief select controversies, details a typical governance structure and goes into depth with the values, roles and public place of the museum.

This is the latest entry for Yale's "Why X Matters" series where "passionate authors present concise arguments for the continuing relevance of important people or ideas."* And Weiss is definitely passionate having served as President of the MET since 2015 (though it has been announced he'll be stepping down in June 2023). Prior to joining the MET, Weiss was president of Haverford College. Earlier he served as president for Lafayette College, where he also taught Art History. This shows extensive time and experience with leading institutions dedicated to education, while also having experience teaching and engaging with art.

However, from the outset, the book is more limited in its range than might be suggested by the title. Much of its focus is instead describing and detailing the "encyclopedic art museums, particularly in the form envisioned and created in the United States."** And when it comes to examples, Weiss draws from his direct experiences at the MET. This is all the more emphasized when one views the Praise blurbs from the Yalebooks page that are all from these larger art museums.

Considering that Weiss has "[w]ritten this book for the general reader rather than the specialist.."*** the above seems especially frustrating. Weiss strongly feels that museums matter, and I'm in agreement, but this book is both too focused and too narrow. The first section detailing the history and development of the museum condenses centuries into about 40 pages. The heart of the book, section II "Why the Museum Matters" brings up many issues and controversies, but for the ones related to Museum professionals racial insensitivity to the George Floyd 2020 protests reads almost apologetically that those professionals suffered after long careers for momentary lapses. Intention matters, and here Weiss frames these two incidents (Garrels and Christiansen) as representative of our societal division. It is a worthy point for discussion, but doesn't feel well presented. Part III lays out Weiss's beliefs for what museums should do in the present and near future, and this is also the shortest section.

Museums can serve as bastions of preservation, many are strongly committed to education and scholarship and can be an asset to their communities. However what gets into a museum, how much it costs and who pays for it, as well as who the museum is for and who is represented by its staff, collections and programming are all questions or debates taking place without easy answers or solutions. Weiss rightly points out that it is all a process, and policies need to be regularly reviewed and adjusted.

Weiss excels when recounting decision processes tied to controversies at the MET or when making the case for transparency and museums being "at [their] best when it is supported by a pluralistic society that values true diversity and its community."****

For the specialist, students in museum studies or those involved in museum governance would all find ideas and content to consider, discuss and debate. For the general reader, they'd be better served by books focused on specific museum issues, such as female representation in art in Catherine McCormack's Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies or a more in-depth work such as Mary and Edward Alexander's Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums .

*“Introducing Yale’s ‘Why X Matters’ Series.” Yale University Press London Blog, 6 Apr. 2011, https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2011/04/0....

**Introduction, Kindle reader location 87.

***Introduction, Kindle reader location 94.

****Location 1594.

this was a beautifully done nonfiction book about why we need museums, my parents and grandparents always took me to a museum when I was younger so I've always had a love of museums. This was a beautifully done book that I thoroughly enjoyed going through this story. Daniel H. Weiss does a great job in telling the story and it left me wanting to read more from Daniel H. Weiss.