Are university collections and museums still meaningful? Outline of a research project

Abstract

The contemporary significance of university collections and the changing role of university museums has not been the subject of thorough scientific research. This paper presents the outline of a research project to be carried out during the next few years, which seeks to place these and other topics in the perspective of recent developments in public universities in Western Europe in general, and Portugal in particular. The communication also presents the results of an inquiry among Portuguese u-museums and collections (listed in the appendix) and a number of European u-museums, aimed at establishing a context for the research.

A investigaçâo museológica sobre a importância das colecçôes universitârias e sobre o papel contemporaneo dos museus universitârios é ainda escassa. Esta comunicaçâo pretende esboçar um projecto de investigaçâo, a desenvolver nos próximos anos, que tem corno objectivo principal abordar estes tópticos no contexto das imiversidades pûblicas europeias e, em particular, no caso português. A comunicaçâo apresenta igualmente alguns resultados de urna pesquisa previa, conduzida em 2000, em Portugal (apêndice) e num numero restrito de museus universitârios europeus.