1993 in Riga (Latvia, a former part of USSR). In
1994, the Norway government purchased the private
Preus Fotomuseum (Preus Museum of Photogra-
phy), which had opened in 1976; since 2001, it is
known as the Norsk Museum for Fotografi-Preus
fotomuseum, in the city of Horten. Launched in
1998, the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
was the first and only photography museum in
Greece. In February 2000, the Finnish Museum of
Photography opened at the Cable Factory in Hel-
sinki. In about two decades, the number of
museums related to photography in the world has
more than quadrupled.
New Technologies and Their Impact on
Museums
Along with their traditional missions of collecting,
conserving, and exhibiting, museums at the end of
the century moved toward the massive task of digi-
tizing their collections, Although rife with problems,
including obtainment of copyright and the expense
of equipment and staffing, this area will inevitably
became more and more central to most museums’
missions. New technologies have also allowed for so-
called virtual museums to offer countless photo-
graphs through the World Wide Web. The American
Museum of Photography is a virtual museum that
can only be visited on the Internet, at (http://www.
photography-museum.com/). However, museums as
we have always known them remain vital institutions
for conserving, protecting, and selecting photo-
graphs, and educating the public in various ways.
YvesLabergeSeealso:Conservation; Internet and Photography;
Museums: Canada; Museums: Europe; Museums:
United States
Further Reading
Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean.Museums and the Interpretation
of Visual Culture. London: Routledge, 2001.
Lent, Max, and Tina Lent.Photography Galleries and
Selected Museums: A Survey and International Directory.
Venice, CA: Garlic Press, 1978.
McDarrah, Fred W., Gloria S. McDarrah, and Timothy S.
McDarrah.The Photography Encyclopedia. New York:
Schirmer Books, 1999.
Robertson, Bruce. The South Kensington Museum in context:
An Alternative History. http://www.le.ac.uk/museumstu
dies/m&s/robertson.pdf (accessed May 19, 2005).
Ross, Max. ‘‘Interpreting the New Museology.’’Museum
and Society2 (July 2004) 84–103.Websites
The Alinari Museum. Florence (Italy). http://www.alinari.
com/en/museo.asp (accessed May 19, 2005).
The American Museum of Photography (a Virtual
Museum). http://www.photography-museum.com/ (ac-
cessed May 19, 2005).
Culture, France. Photo. http://www-texte.culture.fr/Patri-
moineMonumentsJardins/Photographier/c687 (accessed
May 19, 2005).
International Council of Museums (ICOM). Working
group on photographic records. http://icom-cc.icom.
museum/WG/PhotographicRecords/ (accessed May 19,
2005).
Muse ́e de la Photographie (Charleroi, Belgium). http://
http://www.museephoto.be (accessed May 19, 2005).
Muse ́e international de la Croix-Rouge. Geneva. http://
http://www.micr.ch/index_e.html (accessed May 19, 2005).
The Muse ́e Suisse de l’appareil photographique [The Swiss
Camera Museum at Vevey, Switzerland]. http://www.
cameramuseum.ch/f_basis.html (accessed May 19, 2005).
Muse ́e de l’Elyse ́e, Lausanne: un muse ́e pour la photogra-
phie (Switzerland). http://www.elysee.ch/ (accessed May
19, 2005).
Muse ́e de l’Holographie. Paris. http://www.museehologra
phie.com/museeFR.htm (accessed May 19, 2005).
Muse ́e Nice ́phore Nie ́pce, Chalon-sur-Saoˆ ne, France.
http://www.museeniepce.com (accessed May 19, 2005).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Collections of Prints, Draw-
ings, & Photographs. http://www.mfa.org/artemis/col
lections/pdp.htm (accessed May 19, 2005).MUSEUMS: CANADA
In terms of Western civilization, Canada is a very
young country, with the birth of the Confederation
as recent as 1867. Photography as a young medium
parallels Canada’s youth as a country and the
enthusiasm with which the medium has been ac-
cepted and collected is evident from the holdings in
various Canadian museums.
National identity in Canada is very much depen-
dent on its cultural institutions and their ability to
provide a cohesive force across great variances inMUSEUMS