remember too... if they set up a haunted house and grope the kids guess what institutions name will be in the news article?
Thanks Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC
Please check our web site at
http://www.smecc.org
to see other engineering fields, communications and computation stuff we
buy, and by all means when in Arizona drop in and see us.
address:
coury house / smecc
5802 w palmaire ave
glendale az 85301
----- Original Message -----
From: Matey, Joan
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 7:16 AM
Subject: Re: haunted house
Betsy.....
I am a big proponent of community liaisons with your museum but don't think it's a good idea to allow an outside group cart blanche to do a festival on your grounds unless you have a clear plan of what they intend to do ---besides the obvious are they gonna wreck the place ? does the quality of their program meet your standards? -'cause the public WILL associate it as YOUR thing even tho' another organization is doing it.
I would embrace this event whole -heartedly if your museum could have influence on its content and make it match your mission. I developed a very successful program, telling the stories of the seven people who actually died in our historic house. If that is applicable at your site. the public really enjoys the scary reality of that- and many who couldn't care less about those "unimportant" historic figures do suddenly take an interest when the thought that their "energy" remains on the premises and the memories that an historic site holds on to........ (Scaring history into visitors is one way to teach them something)
We sponsor our event - and it is an eerie Victorian setting so we specify school age and up. Visitors tour the house and visit numbered stations where small displays describe the deceased residents and tell their stories....hidden tape recorders with just everyday sounds are very spooky when out of context...(for our era--typewriter typing, 1930s music.....) We are fortunate enough to have an amazing photo taken soon after our benefactor died that looks as close to an image of a ghost as I have ever seen. (And definitely NOT faked--hard to get a board to justify such an expense) So we show that annually ONLY at this event...people gather up the small rack card sized bios on the deceased from each station- some showing photos- and then are invited to guess who is the image in the mysterious photo.
-
I personally believe that it is now the millennium and competition for the public's attention is fierce...every historian's main mission is to teach and preserve (hmmm - or the big debate......to preserve and teach.?) but to make a point- I was asked to do a main feature article in a tasty local magazine on our Halloween event...and I was totally excited about the opportunity. Our bureau chief nipped it in the bud....and I see her point - that particular written publicity in a local magazine could brand our site as the "house with the ghost in it "and the public could lose site of the rest of the story - that we are an 1843 house preserved inside as it was in the Depression Era with significant associations with African American history, Florida politics and the Temperance Movement etc etc. For that same reason - I refuse annual pleas to print our ghost photo in the newspaper or to sell copies of it - even though we could make a mint. People who hear of it have to come HERE to see it.
So ----- much to weigh in the balance...could be good a good annual event if it meets your misson somehow...nice community sharing ...careful not to be known only for this event...good publicity...if you stay out of it except to lease them your grounds you could have tons of unwanted requests and need a policy on who gets to and who doesn't-----couid get squirrelly.......hmmmmm
Joan Matey, Site Manager, Program Developer
The Knott House Museum
301 East Park Avenue
Tallahassee, FL
(850) 922-2459
[Matey, Joan]
-----Original Message-----
From: Stanford, Karin
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 8:48 AM
To: Matey, Joan
Subject: FW: haunted house
Thought you might be interested. You might want to respond with the Knott House experience. Karin
-----Original Message-----
From: Issaquah Historical Society Info [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 5:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: haunted house
We haven't done any quite so grand in scale, although we did allow the use of our rental facility for a small theatrical production. The group was looking for a location to do Of Mice and Men, and the depot freightroom fit the bill for them. There was a lot of resistance from some longtime members, and a number of headaches for me. But, it did bring a lot of people into the space who otherwise would not have come, and we did make a small income from it.
Here are my random thoughts in no particular order:
--collaborations with other community organizations are a good thing
--anything of this scale is bound to have unforeseen headaches
--will it bring you publicity and/or funds such that the headaches are worth it?
--does the group have anything to do with our mission? could we make the event relate to our mission (for example, having a docent or volunteer story teller tell old ghost stories from your area, or any gruesome or grisly story that kids might like - if that doesn't seem to be too controversial).
Hope this helps - I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have to say on this topic!
Erica
Erica S. Maniez
Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
425/392-3500
[log in to unmask]
www.issaquahhistory.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Santa Fe Trail Center
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 11:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: haunted house
Our staff has been approached by a local organization which wants to run a haunted house on the museum's grounds, NOT in the museum proper. I have been asked to see what others in the museum field are doing about non-standard use of the facilities. None of the activities will take place in historic structures and, at this time, we are not considering details such as insurance. What we would like to know is, do other sites allow the use of their grounds like this? What happens when items such as "tombstones" are left on the lawn for a week? Does the idea of scaring children conflict with our mission as an educational facility? We would get lots a free publicity and, hopefully, lots of people to the museum that might not otherwise come. BUT, this is not what a museum stands for (the organization has already rejected our suggestion of a historical themed fun festival). Even though this would not be our event, we would be connected with it. Of course, this all has to go through our Board of Directors but we on the staff would like to have some idea of what we think is appropriate.
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Betsy Crawford-Gore, Curator
Santa Fe Trail Center
Larned, Kansas
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