Design historians frequently find their interest in a particular subject prompted by archival materials, or begin their research with collections of designed objects supported by online databases. While these are the raw materials, the primary sources of the design historian’s work, they are also deserving of attention in their own right. This Virtual Special Issue is comprised of twelve articles drawn from past issues of the Journal of Design History’s Archives, Collections and Curatorship section, drawing out key themes and highlighting ongoing dialogues between academic design historians, curators, librarians and archivists. This Introduction seeks to contextualise these within the wider discipline of design history, and to draw connections to scholarship beyond the Journal of Design History itself. Articles under the first heading look at archives, while articles under the second consider collections of objects. The third section turns to the related challenges of presenting design historical research to public audiences. This Virtual Special issue also offers a reminder that as both the processes and products of design move into the digital sphere, it is pertinent to ask what this means for the ways in which design historians, students, and the general public will engage with design history in future.

中文翻译：

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档案、收藏和策展：《设计史杂志》虚拟特刊，2019 年

设计历史学家经常发现档案材料激发了他们对特定主题的兴趣，或者从在线数据库支持的设计对象集合开始他们的研究。虽然这些是原材料，是设计史学家作品的主要来源，但它们本身也值得关注。本虚拟特刊由 12 篇文章组成，这些文章选自《设计历史杂志》的档案、收藏和策展部分的过去几期，勾勒出关键主题并突出了学术设计历史学家、策展人、图书馆员和档案管理员之间正在进行的对话。本介绍旨在将这些内容置于更广泛的设计史学科中，并与《设计史杂志》本身之外的学术建立联系。第一个标题下的文章着眼于档案，而第二个标题下的文章考虑对象的集合。第三部分转向向公众展示设计历史研究的相关挑战。本期虚拟特刊还提醒人们，随着设计的过程和产品进入数字领域，有必要询问这对设计历史学家、学生和公众参与设计历史的方式意味着什么在未来。