As the director of a small museum (and friends with a number of people who
have already responded here) I would like to throw two questions into the
fire (a mixed metaphor, but appropriate for the expected reaction):

What do we really want our visitors to "learn"?
How much does mis-information from docents matter?

I have identified two things that I want every visitor to learn at this
museum.  [For those interested: 1) There are many different groups of Native
Americans in North American, all with different material culture and
traditions.  2) Indians are still alive and practicing their culture] Our
exhibits are designed to reinforce those two ideas.  Most of the exhibits
can be summarized in one or two sentences [e.g., People are most familiar
with northern Plains beadwork designs and think all Indian beadwork looks
like that.   Woodlands beadwork designs are very different]

I don't expect anyone to be able to be able to get a degree, pass a course
or even write a paper based on the information provided by any exhibit text,
let alone from an enthusiastic, but not professionally trained (e.g. with a
college degree in the subject matter) docent.

I do hope that visitors will be excited by the museum and inspired to learn
more (from directed reading in our extensive library or elsewhere)

When I hear a docent share an interesting anecdote that may or may not be
exactly true, particularly about individual objects in the collection, I am
encouraged by the sense of personal enthusiasm the docent is conveying.

Only when I hear a docent tell visitors something that is wildly out of line
do I know I need to do more training.

[Begin the fireworks]


Janice Klein
Director
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
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