ABSTRACT
In 1889 Henry Flower addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science on the nascent topic of ‘museum organisation’. In it, he identified a central tension that continues to be a source of considerable consternation today: the purpose of collections that are on display and those that are not. The continued anxiety surrounding how much is displayed versus how much is held in reserve is perhaps most evident in the recent spate of sales from museum collections, frequently legitimised by claims that the material was ‘in storage’. This chapter considers persistent assumptions about the inertia of stored collections that are revealed in these moments of de-accessioning. It also examines the issue historically to enquire where such suppositions might come from and how we might better advocate a more holistic view of museums that transcends the idea museums is solely a form of exhibitionary media.
