We don't have an admission fee for the Museum, but since I know most of the regulars, it's pretty easy to give a special welcome to members who bring guests.
What do our members get? Well, there's the traditional fuzzy/warm good feeling that they are supporting the Museum, which is self-funded except for the county picking up the tab on my salary (I'm the only staff person in this building); they get the Muse letter (our quarterly newsletter, moving to an every other month schedule shortly) as soon as it comes off the press, while everyone else has to wait three months before it goes to the website for all, and we have occasional members only events, one of which is tomorrow's annual membership meeting.
You may wonder how we manage without an admission fee. We have a research library for folks coming in to do research, and for a small museum, it's an excellent resource. Many out of staters come in to do family genealogy and are amazed at how much we can offer. The photocopier is on an honor system at fifteen cents a page, and you wouldn't believe how often we find five, ten, twenty and fifty dollar bills in it, and you know they didn't go through that much paper... it's their way of saying thank you for research assistance that excels. I'm fortunate to have a volunteer who knows the library inside out and is around several days a week. He's almost enitrely to credit for these thank yous.
I'm getting carried away, but thought someone might want to hear about how the tiny museums manage with no admission fee. It can be done!
Holly Wilhelm Mills
from home, but at work, Director
Amherst County Museum and Historical Society
Amherst, Virginia
County dates from 1761
Our website: http://members.aol.com/achmuseum/index.html
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