Viewpoint

An Agenda
for Scholarship

John Yaldwyn

Since the formation of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in mid-1992 from the combined National Museum of New Zealand and National Art Gallery, there has been growing concern among New Zealand and overseas natural scientists, cultural heritage scholars, and art historians that scholarship and research at the Museum has all but ceased.

We have all accepted that the development of "day one" public displays for the opening of the new waterfront building in Wellington in February 1998 would absorb almost the whole of existing research capacity. However, in spite of this, there is still a clear need to reach beyond the short-term objectives of the opening programme so that the credibility of the museum as a "national" scholarly institution will survive up to and beyond the 1998 opening.

Scholarship, research and publication had always been high on the list of duties of the National Museum ever since its formation in 1865. Other responsibilities of course were displays of natural and cultural objects, the provision of information and identifications to the public, and the provision of advice on natural history and culture to respective New Zealand governments.

During the 117 years up until 1992, the museum published hundreds of manuals, catalogues and guides to the marine and terrestrial animals and plants of New Zealand, and to Maori and Pacific Island art and culture. Perhaps the best known series in this period was the 17 bulletins and monographs on Maori life and culture by staff member Elsdon Best, published between 1912 and 1982, many of which are still in print and still very much in use.

During the last five years, the museum's research work has resulted in 168 publications on New Zealand's natural environment alone, with many other publications on cultural heritage, cultural conservation, displays and exhibitions as well. The National Art Gallery and the art history staff of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa have published in the same period some 35 exhibition catalogues, booklets and guides. This range of scholarship and publication has dropped away significantly since 1992, with "day one" needs, loss of curatorial staff, non-filling of vacant curatorial positions, and the closure of the National Museum's three publication series (Records, Bulletins and Miscellaneous), being the obvious causes.

It is generally understood that the new board of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa asked the museum's administration to explain why the museum was involved in science, scholarship, research and publication at all. The chief executive, Cheryll Sotheran, assured the board and staff that scholarship and research had always had an important place within the museum, were essential to underpin the museum's exhibitions, added depth and currency to the museum's education programmes, and increased public understanding of New Zealand's natural environment and cultural heritage. In conjunction with management, the board then commissioned a review of scholarship and research at the museum to identify and clearly set out their responsibilities for these activities under the new Museum of New Zealand Act (1992).

The review was planned late in 1993 and announced publicly in January 1994, submissions were called for nationally and internationally, a review panel was appointed and met in Wellington in May, and its report to the board was released in July. Everybody involved, from the board with its need to know, through the museum's administration, the writers of submissions (a total of 340 from New Zealand and overseas), the review panel, and the board again for releasing the report publicly as soon as it was available, must be congratulated on their speedy action and clarity of thought.

The possible reduction, or even cessation of serious scholarship and research programmes at the museum had had a distinctly demoralising effect on many curatorial and collection management staff members during the latter half of 1993 and the first half of 1994. This state of uncertainty is now over, and the report has provided the board with the direction and advice it had requested.

Amongst others, the review panel included Dame Patricia Bergquist, Professor of Marine Zoology and Assistant Vice-Chancellor at the University of Auckland; Sir Neil Cossons, Director of the Science Museum, London and Sir Tipene O'Regan, Chair of the Ngai Tahu Trust Board and a past member of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery and Museum, and it was chaired by Dr Margriet Theron, MoRST.

The terms of reference of the panel in brief were to:

• examine the museum's research programmes over the last five years
• review the quality and quantity of the museum's research
• review the relevance of current research programmes to the museum's goals, to customer expectations, and to the long term needs of the museum
• evaluate the contribution of museum staff to national and international research projects, and to government research funding priorities
• examine the museum's methods of setting research priorities and evaluating research results
• examine the resources available within the museum to support scholarship and research
• make recommendations on the future role of scholarship and research within the museum

The report, An Agenda for Scholarship, goes a long way towards meeting the challenges of the future for scholarship and research at the museum in its 82 pages of tightly argued discussion and recommendations.

My personal condensation of its advice to the museum's board outlines the main points that may interest the New Zealand scientific and cultural community. Under the heading "Spirit and Purpose" the report advises that the museum should accept the central role of scholarship and research in all that it does. Specifically, it should publish and regularly update its policy for scholarship and research as part of each corporate plan and statement of interest issued. The museum's research activities should be maintained throughout the development phase of the waterfront building up to and beyond "day one".

The museum should reflect the human environment of New Zealand in three streams -- Maori, Pakeha, and the interaction of these two. In other words, research in the museum must reflect its established bicultural policy. The museum should maintain and develop strong links with all the varied communities of people it serves within New Zealand and those that come from overseas as tourists. The museum should ensure that the results of its research are made available as widely and in as many ways (media releases, information brochures, joint publications etc.) as possible. Research fellowships for trainee curators and research leave for senior staff should be introduced.

The report invites the Minister of Cultural Affairs to make sure that at least one member of the board has expertise in each of the Museum's main collection areas (natural environment, Maori, history, Pacific, archaeology, and art). Within the staff structure of the museum the respective responsibilities of curators, collection managers, and technical support staff should be clarified.

Turning to collections and research, the report advocated that one of the major research themes of the museum should be the "biodiversity programme", the national effort to identify and document the flora and fauna of New Zealand. There should be a bilingual policy developed for displays and some publications to complement the established bicultural policy. The role and purpose of the museum's art collections, particularly the fine art collection, should be clarified and clearly defined. Further staff and funding should be provided to support the level of scholarship necessary to both develop "day one" exhibitions and maintain ongoing research programmes. Each of the long-term research programmes within the museum should be separately planned, staffed and budgeted.

In planning, evaluating, and providing resources for research in the museum, the report insisted that all research carried out should come within the museum's stated policy and corporate plans, and that there should be a "research leader" on staff. Research priorities and monitoring should involve people from outside the museum as part of a research advisory group. The museum should explore avenues for outside research funding, including lottery and Public Good Science Funds, government and commercial contracts. Finally the museum board should embrace the opportunities provided by the government's increased commitment to science. Specifically they should play a full part in the consultation process leading up to the establishment of the Public Good Science priorities to the year 2000/2001.

All of this is very strong advice involving great change in some museological mind sets, but essential for the healthy survival of internationally respected scholarship and research in our national collection holding institution, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Dr John Yaldwyn was Director of the National Museum of New Zealand 1980-89, and is now an Honorary Research Associate of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.