Hi all;

I just did a search of the Museum-L archives, and while this topic did
come up in July 2003, it appears not to have generated much discussion. 
I hope folks don't mind if I try to bring it up again...

My institution is moving to a new home this fall, away from our
highway-side location to a new purpose-built facility in our city's
downtown.  During the course of fund-raising, a local company donated an
historic house that is next door to our new building.  Now, we're being
faced with coming up with a plan for appropriate use of the house.  The
local historical society will be using one of the rooms to store their
files, but nothing has been committed to for the rest of the house. 
Suggestions that have arisen include using the space to interpret the
history of the house, the history of downtown Medicine Hat, the history
of the company that donated the property (not my favourite option!),
space to elaborate on specific elements of our permanent gallery, a base
from which to operated historic walking tours of the downtown, office
space for one or more staff members (causes some difficulty with said
staff being removed from the main facility).  Also suggested has been
rental of the property for meetings and special events, as well as
programming opportunities such as Christmas exhibits.

Any further thoughts on appropriate uses for an historic home attached
to a museum?  Something we're overlooking?  I should note--as things
stand, there is no designated funding to support operations of the
house, so anything we do has to come out of our regular operating
budget.

Thanks for you suggestions,


------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB   T1A 5E6
(403) 502-8587
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