I was employed with Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science during the 1980s and early 1990s. At the beginning of my employment, the operating hours for the general public (morning hours were often reserved for school groups) were--
Mon., Tue., Wed.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Thur., Fri.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Sat.: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Sun: 1:00 to 10:00 p.m.
A little later the hours were changed to--
Mon., Tue., Wed.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Thur., Fri.:
1:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Sat.: 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sun: 1:00 to 9:30 p.m.
In June of 1984, the hours changed to--
Mon., Tue., Wed., Thur, Fri., Sun.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Sat.: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
I always thought that a major science museum should have some evening hours. So, in June of 1986, I was successful in my efforts to lobby museum management to resume evening hours on Fridays, when the hours became--
Mon., Tue., Wed., Thur, Sun.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Fri.: 1:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Sat.: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
These public hours continued until Buhl Planetarium closed as a public museum on 1991 August 31. A newer Carnegie Science Center opened on 1991 October 4.
As I said, weekday mornings were often reserved for school groups, so the general public did not have to deal with crowds of young people, particularly during the very busy Spring school group tour season and the Autumn/Winter "Railroad Season."
During "Railroad Season," the four months of the year (November through February) when we displayed our extremely popular Miniature Railroad and Village exhibition, expanded operating hours were implemented--
Mon., Tue., Wed.:
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Thur., Fri.:
1:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Sat.: 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sun: 12:00 Noon to 9:30 p.m.
During the very busy Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday weeks, even greater expanded hours were implemented--
Mon., Tue., Wed., Thur., Fri., Sat.:
9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sun: 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
On other Monday holidays: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://incline.pghfree.net >
* Public Transit:
< http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >
--- On Tue, 12/1/09, Garet Bleddynn <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Garet Bleddynn <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Question on Operating Hours
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:50 AM
> Good morning, all,
>
> I just had some random questions about operating hours that
> I wanted
> to ask. This is not a part of any project or class-related
> activity.
> It's just for my own personal curiosity and education so
> you can feel
> free to e-mail me privately at [log in to unmask]
> unless the folks on
> the list think this will be helpful.
>
> 1. What days of the week and hours are you open?
>
> I know here at the Tennessee State Museum where I am
> interning, the
> museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Tuesday through
> Saturday, the
> museum is open from 10am-5pm. On Sunday, the museum is open
> from
> 1pm-5pm. I know it seems to me this limits families going
> to museums.
> They would have to attend on either Saturday or Sunday.
>
> I remember reading a paper by Dana in our public history
> seminar where
> he commented on museums' operating hours and locations as
> needing to
> correspond with the communities they seek to serve. This
> got me to
> thinking, always a dangerous thing. If museums are trying
> to involve
> the communities, and if we acknowledge that museums are
> competing with
> other recreational activities for time and money, then
> maybe we need
> to review the hours?
>
> If I work Monday-Friday from 8-5, let's examine my
> recreational
> options. That theme park might be open until anywhere from
> 7pm-9pm. If
> I want to go to a movie, I can go to a 9:00pm or later
> showing. If I
> want to browse the web, that's 24/7. If I want to go to the
> mall,
> that's open until, at least, 9pm, even later now that it's
> the Holiday
> hours.
>
> I just had to wonder. I've seen very large crowds for
> after-hours
> events both at the museum and even at the local zoo. What
> do you think
> your visitation might be like if your hours were 12-8?
> Also, what kind
> of staffing issues do you run into with trying something
> like this?
>
> Thanks for indulging a graduate student's curiosity!
> Garet
>
> --
> M. Garet Bleddynn
>
> ========================
> It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to any
> pursuit.
>
> =========================================================
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