>With more communication and education of the runnings and
>functionings of museum, the public would better understand what
>it takes to run a museum.
 
>I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.   The trick is
>finding a medium
 
Many museums are doing this quite successfully.  Their
publications and the local press regularly pick up
accomplishments by or stories about museum research and teaching
staff, new discoveries or publications, or just people stories.
Children's publications and teaching materials echo this
emphasis.  Many people are quite proud of the accomplishments of
the research and teaching people (and other museum personnel) at
local museums where I live, in Chicago.  A surprising number are
known by name or accomplishments.
 
When new exhibits open there are always long articles with
pictures describing how the exhibit was conceived and put
together.  Who helped.  Comments from the communities consulted.
Contextual information about it.  And real enthusiasm from what
used to be a ho-hum press.
 
More and more museums are opening exhibit and even research areas
to public view.
 
More and more museums are regularly offering back-of-the-museum
tours, and events that necessarily expose visitors, often
children, to a side of the museum not normally seen.  Many of
these are done so that the visitor really gets a feeling of being
"at home" and comfortable in a nice way.
 
School children and the public in general have begun to make much
more use of museum libraries and research facilities.  And the
people in charge of those areas are wonderful.
 
Many museums underestimate the public's interest in and
sophistication about science, archeology, and even art.  Limiting
my comments to science, since that is the most obvious case, what
used to be esoteric science is no longer in the private domain of
scientists.  The public knows and cares about non linearity,
strange attractors, the Mandelbrot set, chaos, fractals, and buys
and perhaps reads Hawkings' books, among others.  In part I think
this is attributable to the fact that, given modern computer
graphics -- to say nothing of television specials and movies like
Jurassic Park, the public can visualize many of these things, and
they are just plain more widely accessible.
 
I would be curious, even with my optimism here, to hear what
ideas Mr. Guralnick has about what media are effective in
bringing all the parts of the museum to public attention and
life.
 
Martha A. Mills 71167,[log in to unmask]