Renowned art historian Carol Duncan will speak on pioneering librarian
and museum director John Cotton Dana at the Newark Museum on Wednesday,
April 22nd at 2:00 pm. An afternoon tea and book signing will follow.
Carol Duncan is professor emeritus of art history at Ramapo College in
New Jersey. An expert in the history of museums in the United States,
she is author of numerous books and articles. Her most recent work is
entitled "How to Have A Museum With Brains": John Cotton Dana and the
Making of A Democratic Culture in America (Periscope, 2009).
In this critical study, Duncan examines the work of John Cotton Dana,
best known as the director of the Newark Public Library from 1902 to
1929 and of the Newark Museum from 1909 to 1929. She is particularly
interested in the tension between Dana "the democratic idealist who
fought the powerful upper class of his city" and Dana "[the] ideologue
who advanced upper-class agendas." Dana himself was "convinced that he
could serve the cultural interests of all classes without compromise" --
a conviction that Duncan questions.
In the course of eight chapters, Duncan discusses the young Dana as a
man "struggling to throw off a detested New England upbringing and
remake himself as a free-thinking intellectual;" the professional Dana
whose modernization and democratization program reshaped American public
libraries; and the established Dana who "endeavored to create a
progressive museum [as] an equivalent to his reformed library." Much of
her book is devoted to his career as the director of The Newark Museum,
where he "staged exhibitions ... that challenged conventional
distinctions between art, craft and industrial design" and where he was
"determined to establish the museum as a force within the new consumer
economy."
This book is a welcomed addition to the scholarship on John Cotton Dana
and The Newark Museum. Unlike earlier biographies, which have been
celebratory in tone, this one situates the man in his times and adds
significantly to the existing studies of the Progressive Era. It should
make the man and his institutions better known to a wider audience and
it should encourage all thinking individuals to reflect seriously on the
role of libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions in the
democratic world of today.
The Newark Museum is pleased to have Professor Carol Duncan speak to its
diverse constituencies about the innovative work of its founding
director during its centennial celebrations. And we invite you and your
colleagues to attend this important event.
William A. Peniston, Ph.D.
Librarian
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Office: (973) 596-6625
Fax: (973) 642-0459
Email: [log in to unmask]
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