research and teaching of history, and there is a considerable overlap between its sphere of activities and those of museums. The 1987 volume brings together 56 papers of varying quality, grouped together under ‘Applica- tions’, ‘Methodology’ and ‘Teaching’ and, even in such a rapidly developing field, a number of these have lost little of their relevance. Michael Greenhalgh’s ‘Databases for art historians: problems and possibilities’ and Will Vaughan’s ‘The automated connois- seur: image analysis and art history’, which provides an early account of the ‘Morelli’ Project, are of particular significance. The 1989 volume assembles 28 rather longer

papers, selected from those given at the Second Annual Conference (1987) and grouped under ‘Methodology’, ‘Education’, ‘Database systems, methods and applica- tions’, ‘Artificial intelligence and expert systems’, ‘ Quantitative analysis’, ‘Demogra- phy, migration and social structure’, ‘Eco- nomy and society’, ‘Political studies’ and ‘Regional data banks’. The main relevance here is for historical museums and their collections.

1992.4.28.1 Museum Economics and the Community, edited by Susan Pearce. 215 x 135 mm, viii -t 222pp., with black and white illustrations. London, The Athlone Press, 1991, 240.00 (ISBN 0 485 90002 5) The Athlone Press, 1 Park Drive, London NW11 7SG, UK.

Second in the series Nezj ~ese~r~~ in Museum Studies, this volume focusses upon the relationship between a museum service and its community, viewed from a range of national and international perspectives, and concentrating upon new work and new political parameters. Part One comprises five papers more or less directly relating to museum economics, while Part Two is wider in its scope and Part Three consists of reviews edited by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill. Peter Johnson and Barry Thomas, in ‘Museums: an economic perspective’, look at museum operations from a strictly economic

perspective, with particular regard for the efficiency with which resources are allocated to, and within, the museum sector. Beamish is used as the focus for their analysis and they discuss the nature of the problems involved rather than propose solutions. This is to a considerable extent inevitable, given the quasi-museum nature of Beamish, and in conclusion suggestions are provided as to future areas of research. Peter Jackson, in ‘Performance indicators: promises and pit- falls’, reviews a number of the conceptual, measurement and behavioural problems of which those who engage in performance measurement and performance review should be aware in their pursuit of value for money.

The essay ‘Sight, disability and the museum’, by Nick Pearson, although strictly peripheral to museum economics today, is important for the opening up of museums and galleries to access by the visually impaired, and he argues cogently that this access should be a right rather than just desirable. Guy Wilson, on the other hand, addresses ‘Planning for visitors’ as a person- al, general survey, based on experience gained at the Royal Armouries, and sets out a systematic approach to planning and organi- zation for action. More sharply focussed on the main theme is Patricia Kell’s essay, ‘Reflections on the social and economic impact of the Fortress of Louisbourg’, and this French colonial fortress partially recon- structed since 1961 has become the major showpiece of the historic parks in Canada.

Part Two is comprised of two essays and in ‘Like a game of dominoes: Augustus Pitt Rivers and the typological museum idea’, William Chapman provides a most welcome account of Pitt Rivers’s typological system of museum organization, backed by a compre- hensive bibliography. Charles Hunt, in ‘The Elepe’s beadwork: a question of legitimacy’, provides an account of the continued man- ipulation of Yoruba beliefs in the interests of European pragmatism, as an example of the relation between words and things which is of particular significance to museums.