Carol,
What an interesting question indeed! Being open to the public is agreed to
be one of the necessary parts of the definition of a museum. The extent to
and the circumstances under which this happens however are, as far as I
know, very flexible.
In the British Museum, to give a historical example, "Entry was severely
restricted. For many years after the Museum was set up, there was a limit
of sixty visitors a day.(...) as late as 1836 the Principal Librarian, Sir
Henry Ellis, found no difficulty in defending his decision to keep the
Museum shut on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, on the grounds that
it was his duty to keep out 'the vulgar class', such as 'sailors from the
dockyards and girls whom they might bring in with them'." (Hudson, K.,
Museums of influence. Cambridge/New York/Oakleigh, 1987: 23).
Another major museum that had been expressly founded as "public" in 1811,
the Joanneum in Graz/Austria, was only open for two hours each on Thursdays
and Sundays, "however with the exception of children under eight".
In my opinion your museum is open to the public. Nevertheless I am looking
forward to reading colleagues' opinions and experiences.
Fritz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Friedrich Waidacher
# Klosterwiesgasse 44, A-8010 Graz, Austria, Tel/Fax +43/316/826264
# Am Gehag 14, A-8750 Judenburg, Austria, Tel +43/3572/46460,
Fax +43/3572/46481
# Moenchegg 34, A-8742 St. Wolfgang-Kienberg, Austria, Tel/Fax +43/3578/8216
[log in to unmask]
http://www.WebMuseen.de/Waidacher/
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