Comment: Scholarly research is flourishing but curators’ ability to judge an object’s quality is not

It has long been fashionable to lament the decline of scholarship in UK museums. And it is true that in some museums, particularly those funded by local authorities, concentration on outreach, combined with cuts, has tended to marginalise scholarship. But in university and national museums research is alive and well; indeed, more and better research is done in museums now than ever before, with results that are visible in the quality of their exhibitions, long-term displays and publications. Re