October 18, 2001
MacDonald to join Burke Nov. 1
Next month the Burke Museum will be welcoming a new director. Author and anthropologist George F. MacDonald, currently the CEO of Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, joins the Burke Nov. 1.
“We are delighted to have George MacDonald as the new director of the Burke Museum, said Michael Halleran, divisional dean for arts and humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. “His extensive experience in the museum world and his professional interest in native Northwest culture make him uniquely qualified for this position. The museum will flourish under his leadership.”
Born in Ontario, MacDonald earned his doctorate at Yale. His early career, in archaeological and ethno-historic research, began in British Columbia and Alaska. He spent nearly 20 years at Canada’s National Museum of Man, which – under his leadership – became the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
MacDonald has been actively engaged in museum construction during his career. Involved in the planning of a new building for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, he pioneered the concept of a museum devoted to intercultural understanding in a facility that is itself a global village. In Melbourne, MacDonald was charged with the task of overseeing the construction of an innovative new museum facility, the Melbourne Museum.
The Melbourne Museum’s building incorporates information technology as a basic element of its structure. It features a network linking it to the two other Melbourne area museums, which form Museum Victoria. MacDonald is a long-time proponent of technology in museums. At the Canadian Museum of Civilization he implemented multimedia programming – including 3-D interactive tours, an IMAX theater and a photo archive on the museum’s Web site.
“I see the Burke Museum as a wonderful collection of natural and cultural historical material with a great staff to interpret it to the public,” MacDonald said. “Getting a new facility of the right size and character is the current challenge. It should probably evolve its own solution that is appropriate to its University role as well as to new publics as a state museum, including virtual visitors.”
The author of more than 150 publications, MacDonald has written extensively about the native cultures of the Pacific Northwest, the changing role of museums in a global context and issues ranging from repatriation of native artifacts to information technology in museums.
