Five years ago, I worked for a museum that offered
behind-the-secenes tours on Museum Day.  The charge
was the same as for regular admittance to the
museum.  The curator (me) gave the tours.  They
were 45 minutes long and included a look at our
research facilities and our exhibit studio.  I
explained how we chose and accessioned objects
for our collections, how we conducted research for
exhibits, and how exhibits were built.  We didn't
take people into our storage areas as the groups
were too large for me to keep an eye on everyone
(group sizes varied but were sometimes as large
as 25 people).

If I could have made changes, I would have kept
groups down to 10 people and made the tours at
least an hour long.  People were so interested
in the curatorial side of museums that 45 minutes
was never enough time to show them everything and
answer their questions.

Belinda Nickles
Museum Consultant

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