Intangible Cultural Heritage in Collections: Describing ICH in Collections Documentation

Authors:

• Katarina Volchek, Museology Graduate Program
• Chair: Meena Selvakumar
• Laada Bilaniuk
• Sven Haakanson

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Abstract:

As museums practices evolve, many collections departments are beginning to center source communities in their work. Much of this work includes opportunities to incorporate aspects of intangible cultural heritage within collections work and documentation. The purpose of this thesis is to describe how museum collections staff are using intangible cultural heritage to document collections. Using a case study design, qualitative interviews were conducted with four museum professionals. Additional, complementary documentation was sourced from the museum’s websites, strategic plans, and toolkits. The interview results suggest incorporating ICH requires source communities’ participation, involves supportive and engaging relationships with these communities, and requires time and resources from both the museum and the communities. In addition, ICH is often included through specific projects that help record intangible documentation alongside tangible knowledge and often result in modifications to terminology. The implications of this research further highlight the growing movement to center source communities in museum work, in particular emphasizing the need to further include source communities in collections work.