Quite a few mueums are trying some variation of this. A few that come to mind
are the Strong in Rochester NY, the Smithsonian's Museum of American History,
Montreal's interesting archaeological museum, the Canadian Museum of
Civilization and the National Aviation Museum here in Ottawa. We have also
experimented with "open houses" last summer and are planning to have our
collections storage site open to the public all day every day next summer.
There are lots of other museums trying the same thing.

What makes them work? Hard to say, as they're all so different. I do NOT
pretend to be an expert, but I think the following are factors:

1. Orientation

I think visitors have to understand WHY all this mateial is put on display and
WHY there is a very limited attempt to display the material in an attractive
setting.


2. Organization

I believe that traditional ideas of thematic organization of the material ought
also to apply to open collections storage, otherwise it all starts to look like
a little dog's breakfast and the visitors become frustrated and/or bored.


3. Layered information

Different kinds of visitors have differing information requirements and this
holds as true for open collections storage as for other exhibits. I think you
must associate SOME limited information with each artifact (more than an
accession number!) so that the casual visitor can tell what it is - but I think
you also have to have readily available information in depth, possibly arranged
in layers. This can be achieved through labels or readily available binders,
cards or computer displays.

Bear in mind that you get some pretty serious students visiting such
collections and they will need some kind of a place to work.


4. Live interpretation

While expensive, it is a great asset to have people in the area who can not
only answer a visitor's questions, but who can help stimulate their interest.
"Do you see that cigar? That's the one Winston Churchill was smoking when the
photographer Karsh yanked it out of his mouth and snapped his famous portrait",
etc., really makes such exhibits more interesting and gives each visitor the
illusion of having shared a precious secret that no other visitor knows.


5. Positioning

I think it is also important for open collections storage to be logically
linked to the thematic flow of exhibits and galleries, or they may become
irritating.


Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum