This paper offers a long-term perspective on the debate on managerial transformations in the public sector: how public sector organisations actually arrived at such changes, what processes, discourses and practices are transformed and how. This is investigated through archival research and a longitudinal analysis of 100 years of the administrative histor y of an Italian museum. Taking a historical perspective allows us to account for organisational changes that occurred over time, including major reforms in the governance structure and the dynamics of some core managerial features. Such an approach enables a more in-depth, empirically grounded and historically aware discussion on the so-called rise of managerial issues in the public sector.
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