Moral lessons and reforming agendas : history museums, science museums, contentious topics and contemporary societies

Contemporary discourse casts museums as socially responsible (Janes and Conaty 2005), as organisations with the capacity to sustain societal health (Anderson 2005; Sutter and Worts 2005: 132) and improve the human condition. Similarly, the American Association of Museums 2002 study, Mastering Civic Engagement, presents museums as sites that can exert greater influence in society, as places where values are generated and as incubators for change (American Association of Museums 2002: 9). Interestingly, the desire to improve the human condition, to act as sites for the formation of values and incubators for change, appears reminiscent of the older and now unacceptable moralising and reforming treatise.