{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.026972624798711754, 'fraction_numerical': 0.010466988727858293, 'mean_word_length': 4.9879518072289155, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
IHS vol 38 no 149 may 2012:IHistS7.qxd

instance, tells the story of museum developments in Belfast, Cork and the universities (in Belfast, Cork, Galway and Dublin). It addresses the contribution of antiquarianism to the development of museums, the early and later history of the National Museum of Ireland, and the creation of the National Gallery of Ireland. We also get an insight into the origins of the private collections in Ireland that later went into public institutions. This chronological and institutional approach, underpinned by reference to published histories and archive research, is also adopted in the other sections. With this in mind, the book title is, perhaps, a little misleading. I don’t think a single volume (even one that attempts to focus on culture, identity and education) can encompass the story of Irish museums from 1790 to 2000. Reference to late-twentieth century developments is lacking. Despite this, what is provided is well told. A further challenge, which has not been met in this volume, is in-depth application of the rich academic literature on the concepts of culture, identity and learning to this history. Although some key texts are referred to, the wider museum and heritage studies literature is not. For instance, ideas articulated by international scholars in museum studies (such as Sharon Macdonald’s A companion to museum studies (2006)) have not been critically applied. Nor has the literature on culture or identity, which has been explored by others at length and applied to other aspects of Irish culture in some depth. In Irish museum studies we need to bring together these different areas of interest to allow us to critically review the significance of the museums around us. Those in the field of Irish heritage studies have applied critical scholarship to the expressions of heritage, with the example of museums often a substantial part (for example, Mark McCarthy’s edited volume Ireland’s heritage: critical perspectives on memory and identity (2005)). Such recent work, that places the Irish museum experience in its social and political context, can only ever be a contribution to this wide-ranging and complex story. The wealth of the field of Irish museum studies lies in the potential for researchers, working in museums and universities across Ireland and elsewhere, to bring momentum to this area of academic scholarship. Bourke’s book, both in what it provides and what it lacks, demonstrates this potential.