> Date:    Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:12:05 -0500
> From:    Michelle Zupan <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Docent sharing
>
> Erin,
>
> One solution we used in Golden, Colorado was not to share docents, but
> to share groups.  There were 3 or 4 museums and historic sites within
> walking distance (1-2 blocks) that participated in this.  When a large
> class (or an entire 4th grade) wanted to make a tour reservation, the
> groups were split between the institutions (20 kids per site per tour),
> then rotated the groups through so that every site had every group in a
> manageable number. You could work with the local fire department, the
> water works, or other places to set something like this up if there
> aren't any other museums to work with.
>
> Michelle

Ripley, Ohio (pop. 2000) does something like this.  There are four museums:
 the village history museum, the John Rankin House (home of abolitionist
John Rankin), John Parker House (home of abolitonist John Parker) and the
Tobacco Museum.  (The Tobacco Museum comes in for its share of jokes, but it
is a history museum as well, and regardless of how people feel about tobacco
today, it played an important role in our nation's history.)  Large school
groups rotate in order to see the different museums.  At the Rankin House
itself, they have to be divided again, as the house is very small (four
rooms downstairs, two tiny rooms upstairs).  While half are inside the
house, the others are hearing about what they see outside the house.  Those
members of the Board of Directors who are available help out with
extra-large groups.  The teachers themselves are invaluable in making
everything work out:  once when we had about 100 kids, a teacher took one
group, sat under a tree and read them Underground Railroad stories until
they could go through the house.

Susannah West
Ripley, Ohio

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