There must be a university museum at Penn State whose staff could help. The last time I visited this museum, years ago, it was more of a curiosity although I am sure it has developed further. Ross Weeks Jr. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Uncles" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 6:45 PM Subject: Help defining professional museum standards > 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 > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).