Hello all:  The North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting is a 37-year-old institution that has only been under professional management for its last 8 years.  Although we have gone through a number of phases in our existence, we are entering a new one of significant growth and change.

The North Star Museum is a regional history museum that takes as its topic the history and traditions of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting in the upper Midwest (which we define as the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa).  Although we do like to think of ourselves as a history museum, we do rather specialize in Scouting, but use it as a lens through which to view the past.  Therefore, we think that other speciality museums might have much to teach us.

We are looking to gather more information about these types of museums.  Of particular importance to us are the following issues:  how do you find, keep and engage your audiences; how do you serve a diverse geographical audience; how are your membership programs structured, and do you have different membership programs for nearby and far-off members (think Smithsonian Associates and National Associates program); what is your average yearly visitation, and to what can you attribute your numbers (proximity to other attractions, a robust program, large local population base to draw from, or other reasons).

We are willing to contact any museums you might recommend and get answers to all of our questions ourselves.  But we'd welcome your suggestions about which institutions to contact.

Thanks for your help!

Claudia

Claudia J. Nicholson
Executive Director
North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting
2640 Seventh Avenue East
North St. Paul, MN 55109-3103
651-748-2880
[log in to unmask]
www.nssm.org

=========================================================
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).