ABSTRACT

The need for change has been the focus of museum policy in Europe, as well as in Iceland, since the latter part of the twentieth century. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, amendments were made accordingly to laws and regulations and the system of national heritage was restructured. The National Museum of Iceland, the principal museum in the period and the subject of the study, subsequently experienced radical changes. The article includes a narrative describing the events leading to the changes by focusing on its organizational legitimacy influenced by different groups of stakeholders, especially archaeologists, which became a growing and influential profession in the period. By debating its legitimacy, the stakeholders claimed the museum was out of date. The study shows the importance of legitimacy models to explain the dynamic interaction between professional public organizations and their relevant professions and how organizational change develops based on such interaction.

摘要

自 20 世纪下半叶以来，变革的需要一直是欧洲和冰岛博物馆政策的重点。20世纪后20年，依法依规修订，重构国家遗产体系。冰岛国家博物馆是这一时期的主要博物馆和研究对象，随后发生了根本性的变化。这篇文章通过关注不同利益相关者群体（尤其是考古学家）影响的组织合法性来描述导致这些变化的事件的叙述，考古学家在这一时期成为一个不断发展和有影响力的职业。通过辩论其合法性，利益相关者声称博物馆已经过时。