I would suggest "Starting Right: A Basic Guide to Museum Planning" by Gerald George and Cindy Sherrell-Leo and Gail Lord's book on Manual of Museum Planning.
Dawn Scher Thomae
Milwaukee Public Museum

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Margaret M
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 10:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: looking for basic info on building a museum


I'm on the board of my local historical society, and we're considering
expanding our museum. Currently, we have a house museum and a library
(hosted in a separate building). We have our wish list of features,
but it's become clear to me that I don't know nearly enough about
building a museum or addition. Our big decision is whether to build an
addition or to renovate an existing historical structure.

I've worked with a group dedicated to historic preservation, so I know
a fair amount about that process. I suspect that the difficulty of
renovation is being overstated (as it usually is), but since I don't
know much about museum requirements, I can't convince people
otherwise.

Does anyone have suggestions for good textbooks on the subject? (Even
better would be something I could access via the web, but experience
tells me that I'm not likely to find good, detailed information
available free.) Also good would be any handbooks about how to go
through the process of expanding a museum's physical structure.

I strongly suspect that this organization is not ready for expansion
(for example, we don't even have strategic 1-year, 5-year, or 10-year
plans), but without some outside authority to back me up, I haven't
been too successful at slowing down the rush.

Unless you want to post to the whole list, I can take suggestions
off-list. I'll compile a list and then post it to Museum-L.

-- 
Margaret
[log in to unmask]

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

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