If we can have a museum that looks back on bygone interaction technologies, why not museums that look back on other things? For example, well before Freud, people were theorizing about how the mind works. How about a museum of Paleopsychology?
The possibilities are endless. There could be museums for Paleochemistry, with wings devoted to Paleogastronomy and Paleozymurgy (for those museum-goers who want to learn about the history of dining and distilling), museums of Paleogeography and Paleocartography (special bonus: maps of a flat world are easier to exhibit!), of Paleoexobiology and Paleoufology, of Paleocosmetology (just what did those Egyptian women put on their faces?), and a museum of Paleosynectics, so we can learn about how people used to invent things.
Some museums could be a bit meta, like the museums of Paleopaleoanthropology and Paleopaleoichthyology, where you can learn about the histories of how people used to study ancient peoples and ancient fish.
Turning it around a bit, you could see what people used to think the future would be like, by visiting the museum of Paleofuturology (I suspect there already is one of those). And of course there would be the ever popular museum of Paleoerogeny.
It’s possible that people had these sorts of museums in earlier times. To find out, we’d probably want to visit the museum of Paleomuseology. 🙂
I know you’re having fun with your “paleo-” words, but how would a “museum of paleopsychology” (for example) differ from a “museum of psychology”? Do the paleo- museums only look at prehistory or very early cultures? Perhaps I need the museum of paleoetymology to answer this question.
Maybe a paleolibrary for all the paleonovels.
Sharon: The distinction is as follows. A “history of psychology” museum would most likely contain only those cultural artifacts that are recognized by today’s culture as within the scope of our modern concept of psychology.
A museum of psychology would most likely not, for example, include ancient shamanistic practices or the Greek concept of the “genius” spirit. Both of those concepts would be appropriate for a museum of Paleopsychology.
I knew you’d have a good answer 🙂
The science museum in London is mostly paleoscience, something I’d never really experienced in a science museum here in the U.S.