Years ago, they had wonderful barrels where you could sniff at the
contents at the Phoenix Museum of History, you might try them and ask
how they prepared that interactive exhibit.  

            

Melanie LaBorwit
Education Coordinator
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
2401 12th St. NW
Albuquerque, NM  87104
phone: (505) 724-3600
fax: (505) 724-3596
[log in to unmask] 

www.indianpueblo.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Roberta Adams
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 4:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] smells in exhibitions

We once used "scratch and sniff" stickers placed on interpretive
postcards
that accompanied an exhibition. We chose selected works, produced the
postcards in house, attached multiple stickers (roses, coffee,
chocolate,
etc.) and placed the postcards into brochure racks with each painting.
Visitor reactions were very positive - adults and kids. This method
allowed
visitors to decide if they wanted to "sniff" and it was an unusual
interactive experience not often found in a museum setting! I don't
remember
the company we used, but we received them as plain stickers on a roll.
Here
are two companies that deal with printed scents. Have fun with this.
http://www.promobrands.com/scratchnsniff.htm  
http://www.print-a-scent.com/

Roberta Adams
Screaming Hearts Studios
Connecting the Museum to the Community

________________________________________
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf
Of Rainey Tisdale
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] smells in exhibitions

This subject has come up on the list before, so we don't need to do a
full-fledged revisiting, but I'm investigating incorporating smells into
an
exhibition. We are a small museum with a very tiny exhibition budget, so
I
can't go the route of a company like Scentair or Intercontinental that
sells
machines and custom scents. 

If anyone has come up with practical, low-budget ways of working with
smells, please contact me. I've been talking to the Boston Children's
Museum, which is doing some work in this area. I've also seen the
Exploratorium's squeeze bottle method for Garden of Smells, and an
exhibition designer diagramed a sippy-cup method for me. I'd like to
know
what other methods are out there, particularly how you control the smell
so
it comes out when visitors want to smell it but stays contained the rest
of
the time and--most importantly--is tamper-proof. 

Also, I've been investigating cheap ($15-25/bottle) sources for buying
atypical stock scents (smoke, body odor, wig powder, etc.). I found
Demeter
Fragrances, but I'm wondering if there are others out there. And if you
have
used this simple method of spraying cotton balls with scented oil or
perfume
and placing the cotton balls inside a container with a hole in the top,
I'd
to know how long I can expect the scent to last. I want to find ways to
keep
maintenance to a minimum.

Any advice, either on- or off-list, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.


Rainey Tisdale
Director of Museum Collections and Exhibitions
Bostonian Society
206 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02109
617-720-1713 x24
617-720-3289 Fax
www.bostonhistory.org

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