Try asking for a copy of the Museum's 'teachers notes', they will often give
you a more detailed explanation of the exhibits.   You may have to ask the
desk staff to contact the education section, and you probably won't get
anywhere on weekends, but it is worth a try.   Otherwise there are always
catalogues, and many museums have audio tours, at least of special temporary
exhibitions, that give detailed introductions to some of the objects.
 Sometimes there are AVs or computer interactives associated with
exhibitions which contain far more information than mere labels _  the
Powerhouse the Art Gallery of NSW & the Australian Museum in Sydney all use
some or all of these techniques to expand on exhibitions.

A difficulty is that all the research (tracking patterns, questionnaires,
physical observation) indicates that visitors spend only a few seconds on
any exhibit, and are unwilling to waste their time reading long labels - or
even hand-outs - so museum media departments are unwilling to allow curators
too many words!  (and when you've seen all the information that goes into an
object file, you realise how frustrating it can be to be restricted to
'African knife ca 1800'.)  Also long labels get in the way of the overall
impact of exhibits, and are actively annoying to many visitors.

A problem with your book suggestion, in any reasonably large collection, is
that you would probably need a shopping trolley, or even a truck to move it
around!

Heleanor F at the Powerhouse Museum
 ----------
From: owner-museum-l
To: MUSEUM-L
Subject: Booklet explaining exhibits
Date: Tuesday, 11 August 1998 10:08PM

Has anyone tried doing a book that explains in more detail each
exhibit in a museum? I'm one of those few who stop and read the
descriptions and spend some time on each display.

What would be really great would be a small pamphlet that follows each
exhibit and goes into more detail about the display. A couple of
examples of the information I would be interested in are: Most of the
time a mask or knife might be identified as African - ca 1800. How
about where in Africa, what is was used for, what tribe, what
materials, how was it acquired, etc.

For another, say a frog. Usually identified with scientifc/common name
and maybe continent. How about a little about habits, size, how
captured/found, common/rare, etc. Or a china cabinet -- what wood,
where/who made, who owned, etc.

It would be great to walk the halls, perhaps match a display number
with the book page, and read further about what was going on in the
display. Obviously, a free pamphlet would be great, but even a cheap
purchase, or maybe buy for a dollar, sell back for fifty cents type of
arrangement could be made. The pamphlet doesn't need to be a fancy
glossy work or art, a simple b/w text would be just as good.

How about it, does anyone do this type of thing -- or why not?

THanks,


I got one them stupid * in my name
Jim Kajpust - Personal Freedoms - Michigan
http://www.concentric.net/~jkajpust