Hi, John. A travelling trunk is a great idea, particularly for a new museum,
looking to build a new audience. I used to use one for travelling to
schools, promoting my small museum. Essentially, it can be whatever you feel
would work for you. In our case, it was a refurbished steamer trunk. It
contained artifact reproductions and photographs used to tell the story of,
in our case, the history of cosmetology (tailored to children as these were
for elementary schools). Nothing conservation-sensitive, rare or original
was used in this off-site trunk. We also had a travelling trade show
exhibition we could use at beauty schools, and cosmetology trade shows. It
also contained reproductions, but had a small Plexiglas case of some
original pieces (which were common-use items). For special exhibitions, we
would take along "Can you guess what it was used for?" machinery. These
small exhibitions were instrumental in helping us to develop our audience. I
hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Robin Le Van
Missouri Humanities Council

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of John Hale
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 10:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Medical/Scientific Travelling Trunk


Good Morning!

I am a member of a committee that is working on establishing a
medical/scientific discovery center in my hometown.  Members of this
committee have put forward the idea of having a medical traveling trunk.
This trunk would go to all the elementary schools in the county.    Neither
I, nor the Archivist, who is also a member of this enterprise, have had any
experience with traveling trunks.  Can anyone give us any ideas or examples
of the contents of a traveling trunk?  I can be contacted on or off list.
Thank you.

John C. Hale II
Archives Technician & Curator of the Log Cabin Medical Museum
Scott & White Hospital Archives
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(254) 771-8208      (254) 771-7667 fax