From a bit different aspect, I would like to ask this question while I
understand that museum is an academic place.  I do not mean to offend
anybody, but I simply would like to know how you would think.

Would you think it's possible to found the museum operating company and
do business like chain-stores or hotels(it must be "profit", but may not
earn much)?
The company need to have skills to develop and operate museums and maybe
in some case, the company may have a responsibility to keep the
excelent standard as a museum. Its clients are not limited to existing
museums,but anybody who would like to give more educational opportunities
to more people.
Or... would not it be needed since each museum can expand by itself?
I am sorry, if it sounds stupid..

Sae Minohara
Japan


>Subject:      Re: "Profit" and "Non profit" museums
>From: N & A POWELL <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>Date:         Thu, 7 Dec 2000 00:10:16 -0500
>
>On Wed. Dec. 6 Lara Anne Taylor wrote
>
>
>>Is there such a thing as a for-profit museum?
>
>Ah, you have touched upon one of my favorite subjects. Yes, indeedy,
>Virgina, there are "for profit museums" of various stripes and persuasions.
>Their variety is just as diverse as non-profit museums. I chaired a panel
>session on this very topic at AAM when it was in Los Angeles.
>
>Having spent nearly 8 of the 25 years of my museum career as registrar of
>the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection in Philadelphia, my eyes were opened to
>this aspect of museums which many colleagues tend to ignore or deny; in my
>opnion, they are the losers, frankly, by ignoring this rich tapestry.
>
>A few points:
>
>1) Many "non-profit" museums, like the Corning Glass Museum, started out as
>"for profit" museums or company collections which were ultimately turned
>into non-profit museums.
>
>2) In the early 1940s, the president/ceo of AAM wrote a book on museum
>management specifically for company museums. ( I would say AAM has strayed
>from it's earlieryorientation.) The book includes advice about collections,
>exhibits, public tours, and management. It was the war years, and people
>were proud of their manufacturing contributions, not to mention proud of
>their history, and they wanted to share this.
>
>3) One list serve writer mentioned a few companies with museums, including
>Intel, Motorola, and Cranberry World.  A few more are Hallmark (contemporary
>photography), Wells Fargo (where their docents present state history to
>thousands of school children each year), and the approxiatemately 1000
>museums/collections listed in the NACAM directory (National Association of
>Corporate Art Managers).
>
>NACAM focuses on art collections so the history and science/technology
>museums and collections in "for profit" settings lack their own association.
>To their credit. AASLH (American Association for State and Local History)
>has begun to recognize and rectify this need.  Also, Museum News ran an
>article about corporate museums earlier this year.
>
>4) And, not all "for profit" museums/collections are actually run for
>profit, as confusing as that may sound.
>
>For example, the CIGNA Museum is in a service department in the company, not
>a spin -off into a nonprofit foundation or entity. It comes under general
>services, a department managing services available to all employees of the
>company, such as payroll, purchasing, food services, printing, etc. The
>CIGNA Museum is not a "profit center" in the company.
>
>5) The CIGNA Museum officially began in 1925, earlier than many, if not
>most, museums in the USA. As INA, the Insurance Company of America, founded
>in 1792, the company was collecting and preserving its materials from the
>beginning. So CIGNA, an international insurance company, is over 200 years
>old when you trace its business roots.
>
>Its growth and development parallel the country's, an observation made by an
>astute Japanese visitor. And lest one think insurance is a dull and boring
>subject ( I did, until I learned its history),  pirates, fires, theft,
>earthquakes, hurricanes, ocean going ships, etc. are hardly dull aspects of
>life, but are what P&C, or property and casualty, insurance companies work
>with routinely.
>
>Who insured astronauts, the Manhattan Project, Disney Land, theatres, early
>museum collections, and 17th, 18th & 19th century homes, churches and
>businesses? INA and other insurance companies. By the way, early insurance
>company records are great historical research tools. Some archives, like
>CIGNA's may be open to researchers.
>
>6) Myth: company museums have pots of money. Wrong. "For profit" company
>museums cannot apply for grants. Most have to justify everything they do
>internally in order to find internal sponsorship and funding. They do not
>have pots of money but they do have over-stretched staffs, same as
>nonprofits.
>
>
>7) Company history for a business as old as CIGNA is community history. It
>can give employees a sense of context, place, pride, and belonging.
>
>
>8) Keep in mind that the general public that comes through the doors of the
>"non profit" museum is the same general public that goes through the doors
>of the "for profit" workplace.
>
>How are they going to have money to come visit our museums if they don't
>have a job? And what about that job? How does its story fit into the picture
>of our local and national history and economic well-being ( or lack
>thereof)?
>
>Companies use their art and history collections for a variety of purposes,
>including education. Enlightened corporations like to have their curators
>work with employees and contemporary art, to encourage employees to learn to
>"think out of the box."
>
>I'm not saying that anything and everything associated with corporations or
>companies is hunky-dory. But to those who are tempted to dismiss corporate
>museums and collections because they are situated in a "for profit" setting
>and they think these museums inevitably must be manipulated tools of a
>marketing department, that would be a gross generalization and
>misunderstanding of these colleagues.
>
>Now we'll see if any fur flies in reaction/rsponse to what I've written!
>
>Nancy Powell
>Ex Dir., Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion
>Former registrar of the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
>
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