Leicester Companions to Museum Studies

The Leicester Companions to Museum Studies series focuses on the publication of new collections that globally shape, overview and reflect contemporary thought and practice. The series welcomes proposals from prospective editors, wherever they may be, who seek to meet the series’ objectives:

• To produce edited volumes for students, professionals, researchers and others who wish to obtain an overview of contemporary thought and practice in the fields of museum, gallery, heritage and curatorial studies.
• To edit volumes composed entirely - or almost entirely - of new work. This new work includes writing that seeks to survey, curate and summarise an area of interest; it may, but need not be, work that seeks to innovate. The series will also consider the inclusion of previously published work where this work might currently be viewed as obscure, inaccessible, or only published in a foreign language.
• To shape volumes with a strong editorial vision that include a substantial and authoritative introduction that reflects on the content of the book and the book’s subject. It is expected that all books in the series will have a strong sectional structure and include section introductions.
• To embrace the Leicester vision for inclusive and egalitarian engagement. Contributions to the series may seek to criticise, deconstruct or analyse established or hegemonic positions, hierarchies and/or practices, though it is not a requirement to do so. The series will not seek to sustain them.

The series is the latest iteration of the Leicester Readers in Museum Studies, launched in 1994 under the editorship of Professor Susan Pearce, the then-Head of the Department of Museum Studies. Each volume in the first series of Readers had as its basis the study packs of published materials produced by the Department for students in the late 1980s. It was determined that each volume should have a strong editorial vision, expressed in a significant introductory essay and in section introductions. Professor Eilean Hooper-Greenhill followed Sue Pearce as series editor. In between 2007 and 2019, Simon Knell became editor of a newly designed and more thematically diverse second and third series, inviting editors from outside the Leicester department.

If you have an idea for a book that you think would be appropriate for the series, please contact the current Series Editor, Sandra Dudley ([email protected]), to discuss further.