My Name is Daniel Uncles.  I am a senior majoring in American Studies at
Penn State University.
Currently I am interning at the Boal Mansion Museum and Columbus Chapel in
Boalsburg Pa.  I am trying to define professional museum standards and see
how our museum measures up to these standards.  My first question is: Are
there widely accepted museum standards? IF so how do you follow them?
Let me tell you about our museum.  The home was built in the 1790's and
added onto in the 1890's.  The museum includes a home; three outside exhibit
rooms, and the Columbus family Chapel.  The Chapel contents come form the
Columbus Castle in Asturias, Spain and were inherited in 1908 through a
Columbus family connection.  Among the contents of the chapel are an
Admiral's Desk, which belonged to Christopher Columbus, European oil
paintings and statues from the 14th through 17th centuries and two pieces of
the True Cross, which were given to the Columbus family in 1817 by the
Bishop of Leon in Spain.
The Museum contains the original furnishings, papers, portraits, tools and
weapons of nine generations of the Boal Family, who were instrumental in
building and shaping the central Pennsylvania region.  We have many needs
spanning form preservation to presentation.  Every aspect of how our museum
is run must be reviewed and reconsider, from docent training and the tour
script, to displays and security.  If you have a historic house museum do
you run programs at your site?  Do you let people sit on the furniture?  Do
you have a strict tour script, or do you have several scripts for varying
groups?  Do you have items that have been removed from display when their
monetary or research value outweighs their display value? (Especially if
they are not "shown" on the tour)  Do museums keep rare books on
bookshelves, or do they lend them to the local archives?  How can you best
cope with climate control and security when you have almost no budget?  How
can you better approach fundraising?  If anyone can help that would be
greatly appreciated, even if you recommend a book we should purchase.
Please respond to the list or personally at [log in to unmask]





                                  Thank You




                                  Daniel Uncles

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