Examining Museum Collections Through a Network Lens. A Case Study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum

Astrid Brixy¹, Mona Dietrich², Tim Weyrich³

¹ Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
² Philipps-Universität Marburg
³ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)

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[Examining Museum Collections Through a Network Lens. A Case Study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum]

Abstract

Museums shape our perception of history and culture. In order to understand object accessions and the composition of museum collections, it is necessary to analyse the collectors from whom the objects were acquired. What were their interests and motivations? What understanding of art and collectable objects still shapes our understanding of culture today? Two influential museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Met) and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A), were selected as examples from the large number of museums and museum objects. We were able to determine donation trends and structures as well as donors central to the network. We also identified gaps for further research, especially in the field of biographical and provenance research.

Citation Style: Display Alpha ACM SIGGRAPH IEEEtran Publication

Examining Museum Collections Through a Network Lens. A Case Study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Astrid Brixy, Mona Dietrich, Tim Weyrich.
Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften, 11, 25 pages, 2026.Astrid Brixy, Mona Dietrich, and Tim Weyrich. Examining museum collections through a network lens. a case study of the metropolitan museum of art and the victoria and albert museum. volume 11, April 2026.Brixy, A., Dietrich, M., and Weyrich, T.2026. Examining museum collections through a network lens. a case study of the metropolitan museum of art and the victoria and albert museum. vol. 11.A. Brixy, M. Dietrich, and T. Weyrich, “Examining museum collections through a network lens. a case study of the metropolitan museum of art and the victoria and albert museum,” vol. 11, Apr. 2026.

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