David,

My first thought is to ask how you came to define a museum as a "place of
leisure"?  Some of us, I think, would say that a museum is potentially a
center for research -- if set up to do that, and a center for education.

Bill Hanable
Westport Maritime Museum


-----Original Message-----
From: David Sharron <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 6:51 AM
Subject: Research Center and Place of Leisure


>Greetings everyone on this Tuesday morning,
>
>I am a history student writing a thesis on how museums attempt to
>strike a balance between being a center of research and a place of
>leisure especially when it involves archival materials (manuscripts,
>letters, photographs, audio media, etc.).  In exploring this subject,
>and please understand that I am in the very early stages of this
>work, it seems that publicly promoting one's institution as a
>research center is secondary to its function as a place of leisure.
>
>If you could please enlighten me on how you approach this at your
>institution and further direct me to some literature on this topic, I
>would appreciate it tremendously.  Also, any information on the
>subject of archival materials in a museum setting would also be a
>great help.
>
>You can write me personally at [log in to unmask] or if you
>would like to discuss this on the list, I will be looking there too.
>
>Thanks again.  Enjoy your week.
>
>David Sharron
>Graduate Student
>University of Windsor
>
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