World's Best small museums?

3. RE: World's Best small museums?

Recommend

Guy Hermann

Posted 05-04-2022 04:17 PM

Janice-

Thanks for the reply. I am actually asking this question on behalf of a board member for what is, in his mind, a "small" museum.

He would like his museum to be a "great small museum," but hasn't as yet told us exactly what he means by that.

The museum size I suggest is about the size of the board member's museum. To my mind, it is what I would consider a fully functional, but still small, museum. That is one with staff for collections, exhibits, and programs, and a facility with spaces for most of those activities.

You're right though, the museum I described would statistically be a medium sized museum. And of course, all museums are great museums!

I'd like you and others to think back to the small (or medium) size museums that really stick in your memory. What was the quality that made that museum great? An exhibit? An artifact? A program? The museum building? A particular staff member?

When I asked myself that question, the first answer that popped up was the Mountaineering Museum in Golden Colorado. What made it great was the quality of the permanent exhibits. Beautifully executed. Rich in artifacts. Grounded in stories. All in a surpassingly small space-less that 1,000 SF?

Next up was the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol, CT. Great collection! Thousands, literally, of clocks and watches on display. Completely overwhelming, but the best collection in the world and much of it inches from your nose.

And to round out my qualifiers, a tie for the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Concord Museum, both for online programming. I find myself signing up for the online programs at the Concord Museum at least once month. Concord brings in smart, interesting, famous-in-their niche people and sticks to their one hour format. EDM broke out during the pandemic, leveraging the TV series to expand their online presence to the tens of thousands.It has become a gathering place for fans from around the world.

Sorry! Way too much information. But still interested in your great small (or medium sized) museums and what makes them so.

Thanks

Guy

--------------------------------------

Guy Hermann

Museum Planner

museumINSIGHTS

860-857-7363

Museum Insights helps museums plan for long-term growth and change. Our transformative strategic master plans, pre-design architectural plans, operational feasibility studies, and capital project plans result in sustainable museums that people love and funders support.

www.museuminsights.com

Original Message

Original Message:
Sent: 5/4/2022 3:25:00 PM
From: Janice Klein
Subject: RE: World's Best small museums?

I don't really understand why you're doing this, but...

Assuming there are about 30,000 museums just in the US and that 75% of them fall into the general description of small, that means there are about 225,000 small museums. Anyone who works with these museums will tell you that they are all great, primarily by preserving the culture and history of their communities.

If you need more information about small museums, try talking to the pros - the Small Museum Administrators Committee of AAM, the Small Museum Community leadership at AASLH, the Small Museum Association, every individual state museum association.

Your size definition could use a bit of research, too. What you've defined is a medium-sized museum. Here's a start, from the AASLH Small Museum community:

What is a Small Museum?

The majority of museums in the United States are considered small and include historic house museums, history museums, art museums, historic sites, general museums, and much more. Our definition is simple, "If you think you're small, you're small." We welcome any and all interested in our mission of making America's small museums the very best they can be.

In 2007, the Small Museums Committee created a working definition of a small museum:
A small museum's characteristics are varied, but they typically:

Have an annual budget of less than $250,000.
Operate with a small staff with multiple responsibilities.
And employ volunteers to perform key staff functions.

Other characteristics such as the physical size of the museum, collections size and scope, etc. may further classify a museum as small.

Stay safe,

janice

Janice Klein

EightSixSix Consulting

SMAC-AAM Board Member

jkhm116@g mail.com

Original Message:
Sent: 5/3/2022 10:11:00 AM
From: Guy Hermann
Subject: World's Best small museums?

We are developing a list of the "great small museums" in order to understand what qualities make a small museum a great museum.

This will, of course, be a challenging list to put together. We would love to have nominations from the field.

To keep it simple, please include the name of the museum, its location (or URL), and the specific quality or qualities that make it "great."

How small is small? Let's make it viable. Say budget under $1M. FTE staff 5 or fewer. Size less than 15,000 SF. Or whatever metric makes sense to you.

We will share the list once it is compiled.

Thanks!

Guy

--------------------------------------

Guy Hermann

Museum Planner

museumINSIGHTS

860-857-7363

www.museuminsights.com

AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more

4. RE: World's Best small museums?

Recommend

Ellen Endslow

Posted 05-05-2022 08:07 AM

Janice shares important information and worthwhile statistics. I agree with her characterization that the budget suggested is really a medium-sized institution. Perhaps instead of describing your search for great small museums as those that are "viable" perhaps you might consider instead those that are "thriving."

Ellen E. Endslow

Director of Collections/Curator

Chester County History Center

225 N. High Street

West Chester, PA 19380

610-692-4066 x257

CCHC Linking past to present, to inspire the future.

Engage... Preserve... Educate... Connect... Imagine...

Original Message

Original Message:
Sent: 5/4/2022 3:25:00 PM
From: Janice Klein
Subject: RE: World's Best small museums?

I don't really understand why you're doing this, but...

Assuming there are about 30,000 museums just in the US and that 75% of them fall into the general description of small, that means there are about 225,000 small museums. Anyone who works with these museums will tell you that they are all great, primarily by preserving the culture and history of their communities.

If you need more information about small museums, try talking to the pros - the Small Museum Administrators Committee of AAM, the Small Museum Community leadership at AASLH, the Small Museum Association, every individual state museum association.

Your size definition could use a bit of research, too. What you've defined is a medium-sized museum. Here's a start, from the AASLH Small Museum community:

What is a Small Museum?

The majority of museums in the United States are considered small and include historic house museums, history museums, art museums, historic sites, general museums, and much more. Our definition is simple, "If you think you're small, you're small." We welcome any and all interested in our mission of making America's small museums the very best they can be.

In 2007, the Small Museums Committee created a working definition of a small museum:
A small museum's characteristics are varied, but they typically:

Have an annual budget of less than $250,000.
Operate with a small staff with multiple responsibilities.
And employ volunteers to perform key staff functions.

Other characteristics such as the physical size of the museum, collections size and scope, etc. may further classify a museum as small.

Stay safe,

janice

Janice Klein

EightSixSix Consulting

SMAC-AAM Board Member

jkhm116@g mail.com

Original Message:
Sent: 5/3/2022 10:11:00 AM
From: Guy Hermann
Subject: World's Best small museums?

We are developing a list of the "great small museums" in order to understand what qualities make a small museum a great museum.

This will, of course, be a challenging list to put together. We would love to have nominations from the field.

To keep it simple, please include the name of the museum, its location (or URL), and the specific quality or qualities that make it "great."

How small is small? Let's make it viable. Say budget under $1M. FTE staff 5 or fewer. Size less than 15,000 SF. Or whatever metric makes sense to you.

We will share the list once it is compiled.

Thanks!

Guy

--------------------------------------

Guy Hermann

Museum Planner

museumINSIGHTS

860-857-7363

www.museuminsights.com

6. RE: World's Best small museums?

Recommend

Guy Hermann

Posted 05-08-2022 10:31 AM

Peter-

Punching above their weight is a great way to describe it, although I am not sure how to evaluate the MJT in that context-it is such an outlier in so many ways.

I think what I am coming to is that great small museums focus on doing one thing extraordinarily well. That fits my examples and also perhaps the MJT.

Bigger museums can do lots of things. Smaller museums need to focus.

Thanks for the reply. I am looking forward to visiting the Rabbit Hole!

Guy

--------------------------------------

Guy Hermann

Museum Planner

museumINSIGHTS

860-857-7363

Museum Insights helps museums plan for long-term growth and change. Our transformative strategic master plans, pre-design architectural plans, operational feasibility studies, and capital project plans result in sustainable museums that people love and funders support.

www.museuminsights.com

Original Message

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