Museum Studies & Museology in The Books Store

Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect A City’s Landmarks is the largely unknown inspiring story of the origins of New York City’s nationally acclaimed landmarks law. The decades of struggle behind the law, its intellectual origins, the men and women who fought for it, the forces that shaped it, and the buildings lost and saved on the way to its ultimate passage, span from 1913 to 1965. Intended for the interested public as well as students of New York City history, architecture, and preservation itself, over 100 illustrations help reveal a history richer and more complex than the accepted myth that the landmarks law sprang from the wreckage of the great Pennsylvania Station. Images include those by noted historic photographers as well as those from newspaper accounts of the time. Forgotten civic leaders such as Albert S. Bard and lost buildings including the Brokaw Mansions, are unveiled in an extensively researched narrative bringing this essential episode in New York’s history to future generations tasked with protecting the city’s landmarks. For the first time, the story of how New York won the right to protect its treasured buildings, neighborhoods and special places is brought together to enjoy, inform, and inspire all who love New York.

Reshaping Museum Space pulls together the views of an international group of museum professionals, architects, designers and academics, highlights the complexity, significance and malleability of museum spac, and provides reflections upon recent developments in museum architecture and exhibition design.

Various chapters concentrate on the process of architectural and spatial reshaping, and the problems of navigating the often contradictory agendas and aspirations of the broad range of professionals and stakeholders involved in any new project.

Contributors review recent new build, expansion and exhibition projects questioning the types of museum space required at the beginning of the twenty-first century and highlighting a range of possibilities for creative museum design.

Essential reading for anyone involved in creating, designing and project managing the development of museum exhibits, and vital reading for students of the discipline.