Borderlands matter in the Museum

In the last decade, many museums that were established in the 20th century in the United States by immigrants from Scandinavian and Nordic countries have become increasingly concerned with broadening their audiences. In cities such as Seattle and Minneapolis, efforts to do this have varied from offering cocktail hours and culinary conferences in striving to appeal to people who may not identify as Nordic or do not think of museums as places they would normally visit. These efforts stem from the growing expectations museums face of demonstrating how they serve a public benefit and support social values at play in society at large, but they also stem from the demands museums face of providing results of annual growth to their financial stakeholders. As leaders of these museums explain, they can no longer attract paying visitors with heritage collections and volunteer staff. But how does the revitalization and augmentation work when a very particular heritage is under a museum’s auspices?