What are Museums...are they essential?

Yesterday, in my Intro to Museums class we began to discuss, what museums were and what their purposes are.  At face value this seems to be a simple question.  Museums display artifacts and tell history that people can then come and see, but is that really the right answer?

Most museums are considered non-profits and so have to abide by certain laws and tax codes to get the benefit of not having to pay taxes.  According to the US Tax code museums serve an educational purpose that allows them to avoid taxes.  Just because the government says museums must hold this role, does it mean that museums are limited to that function, should or should not that be the main function of museums?

Many of us in the museum community say that museums are essential to a community, and that the education purpose that they hold is what drives their purpose.  What happens if a museum is not the most essential part of a community though?  Public health, feeding the poor, school education, and so much more might come across and in fact be much more vital to the surrounding community.  How does a museum stay relevant and in business in this type of environment?  One must remember that museums are in fact businesses and that they still have a bottom line to meet at the end of the year.  

Can museums achieve success and relevancy by serving other functions in the community.  In class we discussed other things a museum can do to not only make money but also stay important to the community.  For instance, in a Korean immigrant area of New York City, a house museum devoted to Quakers is being established.  How is this relevant at all to the community it is being places in?  How can it make itself relevant and bring in the funding from its very different community to stay open?  My suggestion was to offer an ESL program.  This way a museum is still acting as an educational institution and is also finding new ways to bring people into it, different grants would also be available to the museum.  

Other suggestions included hosting weekly dinners for low-income families.  Not only would this get people into the museum, but it would also be an opportunity to serve traditional quaker food, serve them in a traditional manner, or at least discuss how the Quakers did things.  The bottom line is that in this economy the museum needs to find new ways to stay sustainable and relevant in the community around it, and maybe some good, hard  thinking outside the box is necessary.  

Can extra, new services also provide additional support and marketing opportunities for a museum?

The End of Beginning

Today, is pretty much what is called the end of the introduction period for first year students.  Today we presented our orientation project at the New York State Historical Society Staff meeting and then ended the day with a President's Reception at the Fenimore Art Museum.  

During our week of orientation we were assigned a project.  The project was to create a promotional video for the Cooperstown Graduate Program based off a bunch of clues.  We received about thirty words and we had to figure out what they referred to and find a way to incorporate them into a video.  Our class decided to base our video off MacGyver  and created Museum MacGyver, the tales of a student as he solves problems and learns about the core values of CGP.  The video wound up coming out great.  Once we figured out what the clues were we went ahead and organized ourselves.  My mine role was to help write the script, which I personally think was quick hysterical.  After the script was done we filmed the video, which allowed me to make appearances in a couple of scenes.  Finally our fantastic editing crew went to work and did something magical, to make the video absolutely fantastic.  When we presented it to the NYSHA staff of maybe 60 or so, they seemed to enjoy it and laughed a lot.

Classes preceded as normal afterwards, and I handed in my first official paper as a Graduate Student.  A short four page paper about Alan Taylors book: William Cooper's Town. I also had the opportunity to dig through some of the Fenimore Art Museum's print collections so I could journal about what I found for my Culture and Collections class.  I worked off of a aquatint from what I think was at least the 1860s or 1870s, showing a picture of the Newark during the War of 1812.

The night ended with a President's Welcome Reception in honor of the first-year students at the Fenimore Art Museum.  The staff of NYSHA, the Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmer's Museum, locals from the community and the President of SUNY Oneonta were all present along with the staff and students of CGP.  It was a great chance to network and talk to different people.  Its also awesome to talk to the president of the university for the second time in a month, something that I never experienced at UConn, you can really tell she personally care about our program and the students. It made for a great night of professional socializing.

Productive Days

Normally, up here in the Cooperstown, we have Professional Seminars on Fridays.  Professional Seminars are days when guests, like different people who work in the museum field, come in and lecture for the day, telling us about their experiences.  Since this was the  first week of classes though, a professional seminar was not scheduled.  Thus, I received a day to be active.

There is nothing like actually being able to get up and moving in the morning and get out for a run.  Cooperstown is actually a beautiful town, with lots of cute and historic-looking streets to run down and soak up some fresh morning air, especially while the weather is still halfway decent.  I promise pictures at a future date, but its unfortunatley raining at the moment, so it is not the best of times to go out and retrace the running route.  

Besides the exercise and getting a few chores done, I also had the chance to go to the library and get some work done.  One of the assignments for next week that I wanted to get done today was for my Culture and Collections class, which involved finding a historic paper print and writing about it.  I decided to start in the library and wander the stacks.  While down in the basement I discovered an old New York register and almanac dating from 1831.  In the front of the book there was a lithograph of Albany's City Hall.  Take the old, well-worn book off the wall, I sat down and studied it for an hour, and tried to decide what story the picture was telling.  

After about an hour I finished up my writing and went t go print out some journal articles to read for my American Cultures class.  While CGP and SUNY Oneonta, have a great collection of online resources, I still found myself logging onto my UConn web account and looking up some journals that way.  I find that UConn's site is definitely more user friendly and also seems to have more resources readily available, but that;s probably because its a much bigger institution.    The UConn web log-in is a one time deal, you start the session by logging on and then you can navigate through different gated research sites, the Oneonta website, requires to you login every time you move to a different database, which is much more time consuming and my main issue.  Besides that, UConn's website is a little better formated and has easier interfaces established, so its much easier to find basic information quickly.  I found though Oneonta had a lot of what I was looking for the information was easier to get to on UConn's page.

Cooperstown Graduate Program....Learning about museum studies

CGP Graduate Class of 2011

Today, marks the end of my first week of official classes at CGP.  It has been a great week, filled with really interesting discussions, which has made me sure that choosing to go to this program was the right decision.  I've talked about "Culture and Collections" and "Research and Fieldwork" already.  Today, I attended two more classes: "Introduction to Museums" and "American Cultures I."  Both classes provided very stimulation conversation and debate, among a group of people who were all very passionate about what they talked about, which made the experience very cool.

Our major project in the Intro to Museums class involved working with the Oneonta World of Learning (OWL).  OWL is a group of mothers in Oneonta looking to create a children's museum in Oneonta, NY.  Our job is to research and investigate the feasibility of the project, then offer informed advice about whether the museum should be built, and if so, how much money is going to be needed, where the money may come from, what things will need to be included, etc.  I find, since this is a largely financial investigation that my background in Accounting will probably come in very handedly.

In American Cultures we talked about the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.  We discussed why and why not we thought it was a success, what our opinions were of it, and the troubles faced by museums addressing the issues of American Indians. It was a very interesting discussion.  Part of what I personally thought was wrong with the museum was that it was created my a large variety of different tribes, all contributing to the final exhibition space, and each group had an identity that they wanted portrayed.  The museum was focused more on what the tribes wanted displayed and talked about and less focused on what the audience was interested in seeing.  According to the readings that we did, it seemed that there was a more   internal instead of external focus.  A museum is a business, it should be focused on bringing in people and appealing to the public, not just forcing ideas of there.

Both classes today we had intense discussions about what the purpose of a museum is and what a museum should or should not be doing or be responsible for.  It got me thinking more and more about different aspects of museums, which was awesome.

  

What is Museum Studies and Why am I Studying it?

According to the Smithsonian's Website Museum Studies "the field that encompasses the ideas and issues involved in the museum profession—from the practical, day-to-day skills needed to operate a museum to theories on the societal role of museums."

To me Museum Studies is a program of learning that focuses on preparing students to work in a professional museum environment. It is the study and understanding of museum education, material culture, exhibit development, and museum management. A museum studies program should train students to be able to take on different roles in museums, and still understand different departments that they will interact with. It should allow students who work in smaller museums, to do all the cross-departmental tasks that are required of them.

Why did I choose to study Museum Studies as a 22-year-old who not only got a degree in History, but also one in Accounting. Quite frankly, when I was in High School and bored a teacher of mine suggested that since I loved History I should volunteer at a Local Museum. The curator there was really nice, and since the museum was so small I had the chance to try out a bunch of different things, and the experience was a blast.

When I got to College, I took up Accounting with History, because it seemed like a practical back-up, but as graduation grew closer, I realized I owed it to myself to try to follow the dream and do what I learned I loved. So instead of accepting the Accounting job, as crazy as it sounds, I started Grad School. My theory is that we spend much of our waking lives at work, why not make it as enjoyable as possible. Besides, there are so many museums that do not have good business people in them, especially accountants. A museum is just like most other businesses, it need a well-trained and organized finance department.

Soon I discovered the specialty of exhibit development, which allowed me to combine both my interest history and accounting, while being allowed to be creative. I could use my history knowledge to creatively form an exhibit that would interest visitors, while using accounting skills to manage a tight budget.

Really to me Museum Studies is about following a dream and having the chance to combine and use all the skills that I have gained so far, while trying to entertain and educate a larger public. Museum Studies is also about the public, and finding a way to educate and interest them in history, science, art, or numerous other things.

End of Week 1: Introduction to the CGP experience

Well, my first week as a student in the Cooperstown Graduate Program has come to an end, and boy was it a busy first week. I arrived in Cooperstown, NY, population about 2,500, last Saturday, making the move from Connecticut to NY for two years.

I grew up in a town, with a population of 40,000, so coming to Cooperstown, which has a population that is about 5% that size is an adjustment. The town, however, is beautiful, and I live next to the Farmer's Museum and the Leatherstocking Golf Course, so when i look outside every morning I see both sheep grazing in the fields and hear golfers teeing off.

This past week was know as Orientation week. We were shown the basics of the program and had the opportunity to get to know the other students in our class. The CGP (Cooperstown Grad Program) is a small, exclusive program so there are a total of 17 students in my class, and only about 30 in the entire program. That means you have little choice about meeting everyone, and better be able to get along with them all.

The first week consisted of us learning about all the resources available to students, the NYSHA library, Farmer's Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, Baseball Hall of Fame, and SUNY Oneonta main Campus. Not only are there many organizations working closely with the program, but there are so many great people all around the town that have been welcoming and more than ready to help answer questions and let students be involved in the community and the museums.

More to come!