Download or read book Stability for a Small Historic House Museum written by Alexandra Mackay Cox and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A museum exists and is defined primarily by its collection. It is therefore important for a museum to manage its collection effectively while preserving it for long-term use. The size and scope of the museum's collection will determine the complexity of its policy. As such, all museums, including small ones, need a well-defined Collection Management Policy (CMP). This policy outlines what and how to collect, defines the development and use of the collection as well as procedures for the care of the collection, the loaning of items and removing of items from the museum's collection. The Trinidad Museum, a small non-profit museum located in Trinidad California, has no such written policy. The mission of the Trinidad Museum is to collect, preserve and display the history and natural history of Trinidad. Because the Trinidad Museum lacks a CMP they have no standard procedures documenting on what, why and how the museum collects. This has, and without correction will continue to create administrative, legal and ethical problems. The goal of this project is to create a CMP for the Trinidad Museum. Evaluating the problems and needs of the Trinidad Museum the CMP will outline the museums purpose, the acquisition of items, the removal of items, loans, care of the collections, inventories and insurance. This document will provide the Trinidad Museum with a set of organized procedures to follow and a more stable foundation for museum management, which will also allow the easy transition of museum staff over time in the future.
Download or read book Historic House Museums written by Sherry Butcher-Younghans and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996-02-08 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historic house museums can be found in nearly every city in the United States and Canada. These are the homes of the earliest settlers, statesmen, frontiersmen, great writers, artists, architects, and industrial magnates. These are the places, carefully saved and preserved, that represent a cultural heritage. Despite their popularity, it is not uncommon to find museums that are in poor repair, their collections neglected and their staffs grossly overworked. Many are run by well-meaning and hard-working volunteers who have little or no professional training. Often they survive on shoestring budgets and are able to present only limited programs. Serving both as a hands-on guide and reference, this book examines these problems, offering practical advice and solutions which can be easily implemented. Its useful "lessons" include governance, where to find help, care of collections, conservation, security, and interpretation--all designed to increase the professionalism of the historic house museum.
Download or read book Reimagining Historic House Museums written by Kenneth C. Turino and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-09-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creating tours, school programs, and other interpretive activities at historic house museums are among the most effective ways to engage the public in the history of their community and yet many organizations fail to achieve their potential. This guide describes the essential elements of successful interpretation: content, audience, and methods.
Download or read book Historic House Museums in the United States and the United Kingdom written by Linda Young and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-12-13 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historic House Museums in the United States and the United Kingdom: A History addresses the phenomenon of historic houses as a distinct species of museum. Everyone understands the special nature of an art museum, a national museum, or a science museum, but “house museum” nearly always requires clarification. In the United States the term is almost synonymous with historic preservation; in the United Kingdom, it is simply unfamiliar, the very idea being conflated with stately homes and the National Trust. By analyzing the motivation of the founders, and subsequent keepers, of house museums, Linda Young identifies a typology that casts light on what house museums were intended to represent and their significance (or lack thereof) today. This book examines: • heroes’ houses: once inhabited by great persons (e.g., Shakespeare’s birthplace, Washington’s Mount Vernon); • artwork houses: national identity as specially visible in house design, style, and technique (e.g., Frank Lloyd Wright houses, Modernist houses); • collectors’ houses: a microcosm of collecting in situ domesticu, subsequently presented to the nation as the exemplars of taste (e.g., Sir John Soane’s Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum); • English country houses: the palaces of the aristocracy, maintained thanks to primogeniture but threatened with redundancy and rescued as museums to be touted as the peak of English national culture; English country houses: the palaces of the aristocracy, maintained for centuries thanks to primogeniture but threatened by redundancy and strangely rescued as museums, now touted as the peak of English national culture; • Everyman/woman’s social history houses: the modern, demotic response to elite houses, presented as social history but tinged with generic ancestor veneration (e.g., tenement house museums in Glasgow and New York).
Download or read book New Solutions for House Museums written by Donna Ann Harris and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This substantially enlarged and expanded second edition of New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Houses provides advice for historic site stewards that have concerns about the financial sustainability of their historic house museum and its relevance to its local audience. Seven new case studies have been added for the second edition. The new case studies reinforce the book’s central argument that not every historic house museum, whether founded 100 years ago or last month, can be sustained long-term. Three of the new case studies are from diverse historic sites, showcasing how African American, women, and other minority-focused historic sites are pioneering new ways to commemorate their histories and interpret fascinating stories to visitors, with the end goal of creating financially sustainable historic sites that are relevant to their audience. New interviews have been conducted with the ten existing case studies from the first edition to bring them up to date. The new edition adds two new reuse options to the eight introduced in the first edition. This chapter describes how to identify and implement a reuse decision, costs and advisors needed, and tips on decision making. There is a new chapter-long interview with Tom Mayes, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, on recent legal and ethical issues facing historic sites. Another new chapter provides advice on the essential role of the historic site’s Board of Directors as the decision maker for any reuse exploration. The second edition of New Solutions for House Museums contains a new introduction to the second edition, an updated conclusion, bibliography, and index.
Download or read book Anarchist s Guide to Historic House Museums written by Franklin D Vagnone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these days of an aging traditional audience, shrinking attendance, tightened budgets, increased competition, and exponential growth in new types of communication methods, America’s house museums need to take bold steps and expand their overall purpose beyond those of the traditional museum. They need not only to engage the communities surrounding them, but also to collaborate with visitors on the type and quality of experience they provide. This book is a groundbreaking manifesto that calls for the establishment of a more inclusive, visitor-centered paradigm based on the shared experience of human habitation. It draws inspiration from film, theater, public art, and urban design to transform historic house museums while providing a how-to guide for making historic house museums sustainable, through five primary themes: communicating with the surrounding community, engaging the community, re-imagining the visitor experience, celebrating the detritus of human habitation, and acknowledging the illusion of the shelter’s authenticity. Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums offers a wry, but informed, rule-breaking perspective from authors with years of experience and gives numerous vivid examples of both good and not-so-good practices from house museums in the U.S.
Download or read book Preventive Conservation for Historic House Museums written by Jane Merritt and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preventive Conservation for Historic House Museums describes the care routines that a historic house should practice to protect the site and its collections from damage, wear, deterioration, and catastrophic loss.
Download or read book New Solutions for House Museums written by Donna Ann Harris and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2007 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A generational shift is occurring at historic house museums as board members and volunteers retire while few young people step forward to take their place. These landmarks are also plagued by serious deferred maintenance, and many have no endowment funds. What will happen to these sites in the next ten years, and what can be done to assure their continued preservation for generations to come? In New Solutions for House Museums, Harris examines possible options and provides a decision-making methodology as well as a dozen case studies of house museums that have made a successful transition to a new owner or user.
Download or read book Building Museums written by Robert Herskovitz and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable tool for renovating and building small and midsized museums, written for those who preserve and interpret our cultural heritage.
Download or read book PLANTING SEEDS OF CHANGE written by Maegan Pollinger and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the use of gardens and agricultural spaces at historic house museums, and the potential these spaces have for supporting positive change. At the turn of the twenty-first century, house museums grappled with a crisis of limited funding and ever shrinking visitor capacity, which continues to affect the success of these spaces today. I argue that garden spaces can provide interpretive revitalization, community relevancy, and increased income for historic house museums that can positively support a house museum. By surveying house museums throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I show that garden spaces provide a tool for house museums to gain stability amidst crisis.
Download or read book Interpreting Historic House Museums written by Jessica Foy Donnelly and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2002 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Respected museum professionals discuss contemporary issues and successful programs, and offer practical guidelines and information, up-to-date references, and lively illustrations in this wide-ranging volume. Interpreting Historic House Museums captures the big picture and important details. Its scope and accessbility will make it useful and relevant for both students and practicing professionals.
Download or read book Financial Fundamentals for Historic House Museums written by Rebekah Beaulieu and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first of its kind to offer a discussion of financial management particular to historic house museums, this book is a vital resource to preservationists, staff, volunteers, and board members of historic houses. A reference tool that is accessible in approach yet comprehensive in scope, this book takes you step by step through securing and managing a historic house museum for years to come. In straightforward language, utilizing case studies from historic house museums, and providing sample documents to get you started, Financial Fundamentals for Historic House Museums guides you on how to: Incorporate as a tax-exempt organization Find historic property designation options and successfully apply Understand contributed income opportunities and raise money Create sustainable earned income opportunities Understand basic accounting and financial planning to ensure the future of your historic house museum.
Download or read book Interpreting Historic House Museums written by Jessica Foy Donnelly and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Museum professionals will find much useful advice on how to make historic house museums best fulfill their function of teaching the public for whose visits they're designed. The contributors, all with experience in managing a house museum, describe techniques and issues that broaden the interpretation and presentation of historic houses to include gender issues, the landscape context, furnishings, access, tours, theme-based tours, communication with visitors, and the role of historic house museums in education. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Making Historic Properties Accessible written by Thomas C. Jester and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Historic House Museums written by Laurence Vail Coleman and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an insightful guide to historic house museums for both visitors and museum professionals. It offers an overview of the history of American house museums and explores how they present the past to the public. Through a series of case studies, readers will learn best practices for preservation, interpretation, and visitor engagement. With beautiful photographs and practical advice, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the preservation of America's cultural heritage. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book Development Strategies of Historic House Museums written by Emily D. Wise and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: What makes a house museum successful? Historic house museums are a vital integration of basic education for students throughout the country. These museums' fiscal well being must be sustained if they are to educate children and adults alike. By conducting case studies of two historic house museums' operational and development strategies, their successes and challenges are explored. This research considers the testimonies of key house museum constituents including staff, current and former board members, and volunteers of a house museum located in a large Midwestern city, and one in a small rural Mid-Atlantic Southern city. Primary document sources and published accounts were also analyzed as data. Through these interviews, patterns of performance are identified and each institution's histories are told. By discussing each museum's relationship to supporting organization and operational context areas of success and challenge are explored. By ensuring participant testimonies and institutional identities would remain anonymous, they were offered opportunities to candidly recount their stories and consider why their museums were successful and in what areas they might need improvement. Research data findings revealed current and past strategies for corporate sponsorship, foundation support, grants, individual donations, memberships, rental fees, government support, and public recognition. After analysis of findings, they were contextually interwoven to construct an overall picture of what a historical house museum is and might be in the United States. This research demonstrates how two house museums were successful in sustaining their educational and cultural missions, and explored their importance, successes and potential vitality for sustaining institutions with value to future generations.
Download or read book Fundraising for Small Museums written by Salvatore G. Cilella and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2011 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This brief manual is designed specifically for people running the thousands of small museums and historic sites across the U.S. and Canada. These smaller institutions tend to lack funding and professional staff, so this book is meant to help the busy administrators perform their job of fundraising better and more efficiently.
