ABSTRACT
Museums are unique spaces to talk about death because of their acquisition histories, types of collections on display, public engagement events highlighting these collections, and are less formal and less restricted than a traditional learning environment. This chapter presents a combined personal reflection with theoretical and practical discourse about the distinctive role that museums and collections have as a resource for learning specifically about death, and then more broadly about life. An overview is presented here of how curation and collections research, exhibitions, and public engagement can contribute in specific ways to death studies. Debate about the display of human remains and objects made from human materials is also discussed due to the significant increase in debate in the published literature, ethical frameworks, and on social media.
