ABSTRACT
The distinguishing feature of making history in the museum is the act of collecting. Most other forms of historiographic practice are intent only on the capture of evidence; once it has been used, its preservation becomes a matter for others - archivists, librarians, family members. Historians working in museums must not only work with and through material and oral evidence, but also take responsibility for its long-term survival. It is a commitment which can be both enabling, in that such responsibilities give effective curators opportunities to think more carefully about the evidence they are dealing with, yet disabling because if acquisition and collection management processes are seriously flawed, very little of solid worth can be achieved. It is useful to consider how our understanding of the past has been
constructed by historians and to compare this with the different ways in which curators in the history field have also constructed histories through their approaches to acquisition of evidence.
