ABSTRACT
Museums interpret lifeways and thereby provide a framework for the self-regulation Bennett describes. The museum sector in the United States is notable for its conservatism, including orthodoxy attributed in part to policies that privilege the past over the present, objects over their users, or isolated acts over social processes. Curating and interpreting current or past socio-cultural behavior is a form of advocacy, which therefore may be considered traditional museum practice. In developing the exhibition, museum workers conducted audience research to better understand how potential users considered the ecologies and biology of the region, currently and in the past. The role of private and public funders in directing policy is under-theorized in contemporary museology but, in many organizations, the expressed or implied wishes of funders are too-often used to curtail, self-censor or redirect museum activity. The New Museology prioritized the social function of museums, particularly regarding inclusion and access.
