The HRC thanks Kathleen Craughwell-Varda, Project Manager, Conservation ConneCTion, Connecticut State Library, in Hartford, CT, for volunteering to be a guest author for the following entry and for sharing her insight and experience with our readers.Trying to find reliable sources on caring for historic collections can be difficult, unless you know where to look. The Internet can be a wonderful tool for finding information and resources on collections care. Let me lead you on...
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We can all remember a museum visit where we were unable to find the information we needed or a suitable place to sit and rest our feet when we tired; where we encountered a grouchy salesclerk or endured a dreadful tour; or where we found ourselves in a filthy bathroom or sticky café.Everything in life is about the first impression. When something bad happens it is easy to start pointing fingers. Even worse, we are...
The Museum Forms Book, edited by Kenneth D. Perry, comes under the category of "why re-invent the wheel?" First published in 1980, and now in its 3rd printing, the book is a compendium of all types of forms collected from museums in this country and as far flung as Great Britain and New Zealand. The Museum Forms Book includes sections on collections management, development, education, exhibitions, maintenance and security, and rights and reproductions.In most...
One of my first assignments fresh out of graduate school was to create a student house tour of the Butler-McCook House in Hartford. And the first book I turned to for help was Great Tours!: Thematic Tours and Guide Training for Historic Sites. Great Tours! helps tour writers focus on the material culture and site specific significance of museums--and then turn around and train guide staffs to present the material to the public. The book...
Formative, summative, out-come-based, quantitative, qualitative, post-test, benchmarking ...Is this all jargon, or does it all really do something? Or does everyone do it just to please their funders? As a funder, I can tell you having some sort of measurement strategy in place is an important assessment tool--not just to please the Humanities Council, but for you and your institution as well. Figuring out a way to take a snap shot of your project or...
