Open Forum

New Orleans example of how to keep local visitors coming back from my on-line book www.museums-economicdevelopment.com  please post your examples in the interactive section. 

Exhibit changes require significant effort, but they do not necessarily require extraordinary amounts of cash. The Hermann-Grima House, a historic house in New Orleans, Louisiana, offered toursduring the Christmas season. One year, the staff decided to decorate the house as it would have appeared on a 19th-century wedding day. From the museum's collection, they retrieved a wedding dress, examples of appropriate gifts, special tablecloths, and trousseau clothing, all laid out near the festively decorated bridal bed. They set the dining room table with china and food appropriate for a

wedding reception.

The exhibit was highly successful. Several bridal magazines featured stories about it, providing the Hermann-Grima House with free publicity all over the southeastern USA.

For their next effort, the museum tried a funeral display. The house was decorated as for a family in mourning. A funeral tour showed mannequins in mourning clothes, special dolls for children, and refreshments for guests. The exhibit, a serious historical statement, was based on two years of research. But the out-of-pocket costs were less than $200, primarily for black cloth.