Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (1939-1991) opened in 1939 as a free-of-charge museum, with a small fee only charged for admission to the planetarium performace. This free museum admission only lasted about a year.
I believe a small fee was charged from then on, primarily to prevent the homeless (called hobos back then) from staying in the museum all day, particularly to take advantage of the air-conditioning in the Summer months (a problem many public libraries still have today). Buhl Planetarium was the first public facility in the city, and possibly the state, to be constructed with air-conditioning.
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://incline.pghfree.net >
* Public Transit:
< http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >
--- On Thu, 1/13/11, Frances Allshouse <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Frances Allshouse <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Old Museum New Admission Fees
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Thursday, January 13, 2011, 9:34 AM
> Hello everyone,
>
> There was a discussion here about a month ago on the pros
> and cons of museums charging admission fees.
>
> The board of directors that governs the museum where I am
> the director recently voted to begin charging a small fee
> for admission. This comes after more than 30 years of
> running admission free.
>
> Does anyone out there have experience with a situation such
> as this? I'd love to hear what benefits and drawbacks
> you witnessed when your museum or site began charging
> admission.
>
> Thanks!
>
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Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
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