Educational function of Museum in American: A Overall History

Museums has taken responsibilities of social education since they were introduced to the United States from Europe in the 18th century. From the 19th century to the middle and late 20th century, the educational function of American museums had gone through serious evolution, including five development stages:the proposal of aesthetic function, the union with school education, the dispute between aesthetic and educational functions, the recognition from the government towards the educational function of museums and satisfied the multicultural need of public. It reflected the public raised different demands to museum education under different historical backgrounds and showed the important role of the government in building the museum educational function. By sorting the evolution of the American museum educational function, it helps to recognize the drawback and inspire the further improvement of the Chinese museum educational function.