It is our policy not to mark individual donations with
anything but their number.  When we have someone
sponsor a large project -- like a new building in our
Street of Shops -- we do put up a small plaque on the
outside of the building near the door.  We design it
and hang it, so it is exactly what we want.  We never
allow donors to make their own plaques, though many
request that.  We also named a gallery after the
primary donor a few years back.  Those kinds of
plaques, when done tastefully, don't bother me too
much.  As long as there aren't too many of them around
the building.  We recently had someone who wanted a
plaque in his own honor in the stacks in the library
near an archival donation.  Odd.  We told him it
wasn't our policy to place plaques in storage...

We have recently had a rash of people asking to have
their loved ones memorialized in our exhibits, which
we do not allow.  The porch of our museum is made up
of engraved bricks that are sold as a fundraiser -- we
have pointed them in that direction for those kind of
requests.  We call that campaign "Children in Time."
It is actually pretty neat.  We had someone propose to
his fiancee on a brick.  She responded on a brick that
was placed next to his.  They held their wedding
ceremony on our grounds a year later!

I really cringe when people with a potential donation
call and ask if it would be OK to permanently affix a
plaque on Grandpa's tuba...

Kim

--- Jay Heuman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Betsy,
>
> Sadly, I don't think you'll find it is 'standard
> museum practice' not to
> mark individual donations this way.  Some museums
> plaster donor names on
> the outside of buildings, the inside of galleries,
> wall labels,
> café/restaurant and shop names, etc.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jay Heuman
> Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator @ Joslyn
> Art Museum
> . . . only until Wednesday, July 23rd
>
>
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Museum discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>   On Behalf Of Santa Fe Trail Center
>   Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 10:48 am
>   To: [log in to unmask]
>   Subject: Plaques
>
>
>   Dear Museum Folk,
>
>   Please forgive me if this has already been
> discussed.  I am completely
> inept at searching the archives.
>
>   Other than a few plaques that were put up on the
> walls of the building
> when our museum was built, we have had a policy of
> not putting donors
> names on any other buildings on the site, donations
> or exhibits.  We do
> have an area in the foyer for donor lists and
> recognition, etc.  Now we
> have a possible donor who would like to sponser a
> major project for a
> historic building but is hinting that a permanent
> plaque would be nice.
> Our Director has stated that we could put one in the
> foyer with the
> others.  What are the policies for other historic
> museums out there,
> particularly in regard to plaques on or in front of
> historic structure?
> We would like to be able to say that it is "standard
> museum practice"
> across the county not to mark individual donations
> in that way.
>
>   Also, hope you all have a wonderful July 4,
> holiday or not.
>
>   Betsy Crawford-Gore, Curator
>   Santa Fe Trail Center
>   Larned, Kansas


=====
Kimberly A. Kenney, Curator
McKinley Museum
800 McKinley Monument Dr. NW
Canton OH 44708 * 330-455-7043
"Let us ever remember that our interests are in concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war."  --25th United States President William McKinley

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