Dear Listers,

We are looking for advice and first hand accounts on how to handle security concerns in historic house settings.

One of our sites is an 1886 Jail and Sheriff’s residence.   It is next door to our main site and is not regularly staffed.  It is handled as a guided tour, usually by volunteer docents.  We limit the number of people on the tour to a comfortable 10.  In doing a complete inventory of the exhibited items it has been found that a couple are missing and so we are rethinking our procedures and policies when it comes to the tours themselves.  

Along with retraining docents and having them position themselves differently in rooms, and do the tour in a different order which will help with them being able to see all visitors at all times, does anyone have any suggestions?   We do not want to completely block off all rooms (some already are) as the space is already cramped and we feel it will take too much away from the experience we are trying to put forth.  We don’t want to encase all items either, since it is an immersive environment.

We are also wondering how others go about confronting a visitor that you have seen take something.  Since it is usually a volunteer leading the tour, we want to be able to tell them exact procedures and what to say if the situation arises.

Thanks for all the suggestions.


Janean Mollet-Van Beckum

Curator of Collections and Exhibits
Washington County Historical Society 
320 S 5th Avenue, West Bend, WI  53095-3333

(262) 335-4678  x121
www.historyisfun.com

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