Networks and Museum Collections

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores different methods for constructing and analyzing networks from museum collection data, using a dataset provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a case study. To investigate how the use of different media (i.e. materials and techniques) vary across the collection, networks concerning the media associated with each object are constructed, specifically a two-mode object–medium network and a one-mode network of medium co-occurrence. Within these networks, nodes are ranked by their centralities to identify abundant and important media, which are then considered in relation to museum practices, such as the categorization of objects into separate departments. In order to identify how the media used in the production of the objects change over time, a temporal co-occurrence network is investigated as a multilayer network. Investigating multiple centuries individually as separate layers reveals a change in media use over time. By creating new perspectives on the collection made possible with digital tools and that are less determined by some of the subjective choices concerning the curation and care of the collections, we believe temporal networks of museum datasets can reveal valuable insights on museum collections. Similar methods may also be applied to collections of objects outside of museums, such as archaeological assemblages.