"Some docents and shadows have also come up
with gentle, humorous, and gracious phrases to correct the inevitable
occasional offenders,"
Could you give some examples?
Heidi Campbell-Shoaf, Curator
Historical Society of Frederick County
24 East Church Street
Frederick, Md. 21701
www.hsfcinfo.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Cait Dallas
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 11:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Roping Off Chairs/Furniture
We tour guests through 3 historic buildings filled with original
furnishings - and largely without barriers. We do have 3 rooms with
original carpeting that we need to preserve and have inset a small area
of alternate flooring to which guests are restricted. But, for the most
part, we've approached the issues of preservation, security, and crowd
control without using ropes, signs, or plexi-glassed doorways. Instead,
we limit our tours to groups of 10 guests (with the possibility of tours
embarking every 15 minutes through the day). Each group is led by a
docent and followed by a shadow. Guests are asked not to sit, lean, or
touch during their orientation. During the tour, it is the shadow's role
to monitor guest behavior and discourage sitting, etc. We do have many
elderly folks as guests and have folding chairs stashed in closets
throughout the buildings for the shadow to pull out as needed. Docents
and shadows have found that by positioning themselves strategically in
each room, they can discourage guests from attempting to sit in the most
likely areas. They've become quite adept at spotting likely sitters and
leaners and acting preemptively to discourage those behaviors, by
offering a folding chair. Some docents and shadows have also come up
with gentle, humorous, and gracious phrases to correct the inevitable
occasional offenders, so we've shared those with the volunteer
docent/shadow pool in training and refresher sessions. The docent/shadow
system has worked extremely well from a preservation perspective. It
has the added bonus of doubling as a great open hours security system,
and in enabling us to respond quickly and effectively to tour guest
medical emergencies.
- Cait
Cait Dallas, Curator of Collections
Ten Chimneys Foundation
P.O. Box 225
Genesee Depot, WI 53127
Phone: (262) 968-4161 ext 202
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Melissa de Bie
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 9:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Roping Off Chairs/Furniture
We have a 150 year old house furnished with contents from the original
family. I put up little "Please Do Not Sit" cards on all the seating
and
beds. Our docents wear gloves and only handle a few educational pieces
and
they use the "This is a museum..." as part of their tours so people
understand the techniques we use and can be a part of it. Occasionally
we
get problems, so we put a folding chair behind all of the doors in case
someone has to sit down. The docents don't use the chairs that much,
but
they're there just in case.
Melissa de Bie
Collections Manager
Rock County Historical Society
P.O. Box 8096
Janesville, WI 53547
www.rchs.us
608-756-4509
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