Perhaps one good definition of center vs. museum is that a museum has
guaranteed government funding or a major endowment and a center has to live
in a much more tenuous world of earned income and development? Most of the
vehemence I have seen against centers in various museum forums comes from
either state/county/municipal museums or ones with major endowments. Most
of the support stems from private institutions attempting to attract the
general public and seeking to portray an image of multiple activities.

As for the collecting-defines-the-museum role, as recently as the '50s most
museums (history ones at least) did NOT provide school extension programs,
rarely recruited school tours (some even actively discouraged them as
"improper" for their hoary halls), seldom provided lectures, and could not
imagine such activities as camp-ins, tour programs to other sites and
museums, and internships. Few even had gift shops! Would a museum do those
things? Not if their staffs could help it! A museum was a warehouse for
artifacts, a mausoleum for the detritus of previous generations, the temple
of ancestor worship and the home of academic scholarship.

I too like the term museum, but the Cabbage Patch, G.I. Joe, Ninja Turtle
generations have been stereotyped to think of anything but science museums
as D-U-L-L. We have to change that images, especially in history museums,
but having gone through three museum start-ups, brother (and sister), it is
harder to sell every time.

Keep the sparks flying!

Byron A. Johnson, Exec. Dir.
The Tampa Bay History Center
P.O. Box 948
Tampa FL  33601
Phone: (813) 228-0097
FAX: (813) 223-7021
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