Speaking as a museum visitor - notecards and postcards are something I
always look for in museum giftshops. I not only maintain excellent
relations with my mother-in-law by sending her a short note :) but if
the postcards are the correct size I will often get some to put into my
photo album along with any other pictures I took. Usually there is no
chance of getting a photograph, particularly of items on display, that
would be as good as one of the postcards.

I would also go with non-glossy writing surfaces on the notecards and
postcards. Regular ballpoint (such as you would find in most hotel
rooms) smears on the glossy cards.

Speaking as curator - I don't want people taking photographs in the
gallery. If there are nice postcards, they won't be tempted. Visitors
routinely ask us for pictures of things in the museum, the museum
building, or local shots of the town (an overlooked tourist item here).
I also sometimes buy postcards / notecards because they give me ideas
for ways we could display items or because they show regional variation
in the way things were made (e.g. baskets or moccasins)or because they
give me ideas for notecards / postcards that we might want to copy or avoid.



--
Lauraine Armstrong
Curator of Collections

Northern Life Museum                    tel: 867-872-2859
PO Box 420                              fax: 867-872-5808
Fort Smith NT X0E 0P0
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"If people concentrated on the really important things in life - there'd
be a shortage of fishing poles." Doug Larson

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