INTERCOM is the International Committee for Museum Management that is part of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

INTERCOM focuses on ideas, issues and practices relating to management, governance and leadership within the context of museums.

The Evolution into INTERCOM: Intellectual Roots, Institutional Formation, and Leadership (AI generated)

1. From Museum Administration to Museum Management

The emergence of INTERCOM (International Committee for Museum Management) must be understood within the broader post-war evolution of the museum profession. After the foundation of ICOM (International Council of Museums) in 1946, museum work progressively shifted from custodial and scholarly functions toward questions of governance, public accountability, ethics, leadership, and organisational strategy.

By the late 1970s and 1980s, museums worldwide were facing profound transformations: expansion of public roles, growing professionalisation, financial constraints, and increasing societal expectations. These developments created the conditions for museum management to emerge as a distinct field of professional reflection within ICOM.

2. Intellectual Foundations and Key Figures

Stephen E. Weil (USA): Founding Chair and Intellectual Catalyst

Stephen E. Weil is widely recognised as one of the central intellectual figures behind modern museum management thinking and is formally documented as the Founding Chairman of INTERCOM. His papers, held at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, explicitly refer to his role as Founding Chairman of ICOM’s International Committee on Museum Management.

Weil’s writings in the 1980s and 1990s decisively reshaped museum discourse. He articulated the now-classic transformation of museums from institutions that are “about something” to institutions that are “for somebody”. This conceptual shift reframed museums as public-serving organisations accountable to their communities, laying the philosophical foundation for management practices centred on mission, governance, ethics, and impact rather than collection-building alone.

His work provided the intellectual bedrock upon which INTERCOM’s mission was constructed, linking management not merely to efficiency, but to public value, responsibility, and purpose.

Key references

• • Weil, S. E. (1990). Rethinking the Museum and Other Meditations. Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Weil, S. E. (1997). “The Museum and the Public.” Museum Management and Curatorship, 16(3).
  • Weil, S. E. (2002). Making Museums Matter. Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Smithsonian Institution Archives, Stephen E. Weil Papers (reference to Founding Chairman of INTERCOM).

Patrick J. Boylan (UK): Governance, Professionalisation, and ICOM Reform

Patrick J. Boylan played a pivotal role in shaping ICOM’s governance framework and advancing the professionalisation of museum leadership. Although not an INTERCOM founder, his influence was structural and systemic: he was instrumental in promoting professional standards, training, and the recognition of specialised expertise within ICOM.

As editor of Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook—one of ICOM’s most widely used professional manuals—Boylan helped consolidate management as a legitimate and necessary field of museum practice. His work on museum training curricula and professional development reinforced the rationale for international committees such as INTERCOM, dedicated to leadership, administration, and institutional strategy.

Key references

• • Boylan, P. J. (Ed.). (2004). Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook. ICOM, Paris.
  • Boylan, P. J. (2004). “The ICOM Curricula Guidelines for Museum Professional Development.” Paper presented at the ICOM General Conference, Seoul.
  • Boylan, P. J. (2017). “International Council of Museums (ICOM).” In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (4th ed.).

John G. McAvity (Canada): Institutional Consolidation and Ethical Governance

John G. McAvity represents a crucial phase in INTERCOM’s consolidation and operational maturity. Strongly associated with INTERCOM’s early organisational infrastructure, he served as editor of the INTERCOM Newsletter and played a central role in communications, coordination, and governance.

Beyond INTERCOM, McAvity served as Chair of ICOM’s Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, situating him at the intersection of museum management, ethics, and legal responsibility. Through this dual engagement, he helped reinforce INTERCOM’s role in supporting the implementation of the ICOM Code of Ethics from a management and governance perspective, rather than as a purely curatorial or academic concern.

While McAvity is not strongly represented through monographic publications, his impact is traceable through committee leadership, conference organisation, newsletters, and advocacy work.

Key references

• • McAvity, J. G. (Ed.). (1997– ). INTERCOM Newsletter / Bulletin de l’INTERCOM.
  • INTERCOM, ICOM Korea General Conference Programme (2004), listing McAvity as Programme Chair.
  • ICOM documentation on the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs.
  • Government of Canada Heritage Portal, INTERCOM archival records (INTERCOM-L listserv).

David Fleming (UK): Museums, Management, and Social Justice

David Fleming contributed to museum management discourse by foregrounding the social and ethical responsibilities of museums. As Director of National Museums Liverpool, Fleming advanced a model of museum leadership explicitly linked to social justice, civic engagement, and institutional change.

Key references

• • Fleming, D. (2012). “Museums for Social Justice: Managing Organisational Change.” Routledge.
  • Fleming, D. (2014). “Creating the Modern Museum: the Museum of Liverpool.” Opuscula Musealia.
  • Fleming, D. (2018). In Heritage and Peacebuilding. Cambridge University Press.
  • ICOM Online Library, “David Fleming: Museums and Difficult Issues”.

3. Formal Recognition of INTERCOM within ICOM

Although INTERCOM’s intellectual and organisational activity predates its formal status, it was officially recognised as an ICOM International Committee in 1989, during meetings held in The Hague. This milestone marked the institutional consolidation of museum management as a core professional domain within ICOM.

This dual chronology—early activity linked to Stephen Weil in the 1980s, followed by formal recognition in 1989—explains apparent discrepancies in INTERCOM’s “founding date” across sources.

INTERCOM’s history mirrors the evolution of museums themselves: from inward-looking institutions to outward-facing organisations accountable to society. Its intellectual foundations, institutional milestones, and leadership reflect a sustained effort to define museum management as an ethical, strategic, and public-oriented professional practice within the global museum community.