Hi. I’m a junior and majoring in chemistry and archaeological museology. I enjoy both because I like learning science. I want to tell you about a class I take in the latter major. The class is taken by students who want to be a curator. You can get knowledge like how to manage a museum, preserve works in a museum, and plan exhibitions, events, and other programs. I’ll introduce two of things I learned in the class to you.
First, I learned how to replicate works, and I also made a replica of a fossil. Replicating this fossil took several weeks and I realized it was more difficult for me to replicate works than I expected. The replica I made was quite different from the appearance of the real thing. The fossil has a hole and strange colors. I considered also came to understand that the replica in museums are made by curators who have very high skills and they observe a work carefully to copy it precisely when they replicate something. The professor said actually, they do not make these replicas this way now, but I thought these replicas I saw were fake until I learned about them, so this experience made my thoughts improve in terms of being a skilled curator.
Second, I learned how to take pictures. I learned illumination and angles of taking pictures. Furthermore, I gained detailed knowledge about cameras and lights. It was difficult to use lights because the subject was exposed to too much light and became white or had a large shadow on only one side. However, I am especially not familiar with cameras, so it was hard for me to make full use of a camera, but I worked with the other students and took some good pictures.
In museology, we are learning various things while also gaining practical experience by physically performing some tasks. We are supposed to visit several museums and hear from the curators during this summer vacation. I’m looking forward to doing it.

こんにちは。私は化学と博物館学を専攻している三年生です。今回は博物館学の授業について話します。この授業は学芸員になりたい人がとる授業で、私たちはこの授業で経済論や保存論、(展示)企画などの学芸員になるために必要な知識を学びます。私がこの授業で学んだ2つのことを紹介します。
1つ目は、レプリカの作り方を学び、実際にレプリカを作りました。レプリカを作るのには数週間もかかり、私が予想していたよりも作るのが難しかったです。私が作ったレプリカは実物とは程遠く、穴が開いてしまったり、色が変になったりしました。博物館においてあるレプリカはとても技術が高いと改めて感じ、また学芸員の方たちは似せるためによく作品を観察していると気付きました。教授は実際今、この方法は使われていないと言っていましたが、ここで習うまでレプリカは偽物だと思っていたので、この経験は私を学芸員的視点からすると自分の考えを向上させました。
2つ目は、作品を良くみせるための写真の撮り方を学びました。光の当て方や作品を取る角度から学び、カメラや照明ついての深い知識も得ました。作品に光が当たりすぎて真っ白くなったり片側だけに影が大きくついたりと照明の使い方が難しかったです。しかし特にカメラに関する知識が皆無だったので撮影にかなり苦戦しましたが、他のメンバーと協力して良い写真を撮ることが出来ました。
博物館学ではこのように様々なことを、体を使って体験しながら学んでいます。夏休みにはいくつかの博物館を見学し、実際に学芸員の方々からお話を伺う予定です。