I agree with Greg, "do not touch" signs, like locked doors, only work on basically honest people. Since your site is docent led, there is no substitute for the personal reminder and a vigilant eye. I would argue that most of what your museum can do to mitigate against destructive visitor behavior is based on sound exhibition and tour/program design and vigilant and creative educators. But this thread is about signage and others have made personnel related suggestions.
I think any preventive steps you take should be based upon two questions. What LIKELY behavior do you want to prevent and what types of bad behavior are you willing to put up with. Of course we don't want visitors to poke at an antique chair to see what it's filled with or trace their fingers across a credenza to check for dust, but lets face it, if that's the worst that happens to your artifacts during their exhibition your museum is leading a charmed life. Artifact rotation and regular conservation measures can mitigate most of this minor touching. If you wanted to prevent ALL of this kind of poking, you would put everything behind ropes or under vitrines. Otherwise people WILL touch. They will. Get used to it or put things out of poking distance.
You want to prevent the truly destructive forces let loose in your museum. I think these can boil down to two types. Rambunctious groups (mostly, but not just kids usually in packs) and people who use the furniture for its original purpose, not realizing they are parking their butt on a 200 year old divan. The former can only be prevented by diligent staff, parents, and chaperones and creative educators and exhibition designers. Signs will not work, and indeed may exacerbate, people who do not exhibit some base level of decorum and proper museum behavior. How to deal with this type of behavior is for another thread.
For the people that sit on artifact chairs and set things down on antique furniture absent mindedly, gentle signs and reminders will help. For chairs I have often seen museums simply tie a ribbon or rope across the seat. It can go left-to-right between arm rests or top to bottom from chair back to seat. The important point is that is should prevent a casual sitter from sitting without hurting the sitter or the chair. Putting replica food, silver, pewter ware or some other period appropriate props provides a gentle, visual cue that this piece of furniture is part of the display not a useable counter top.
There are some things you can do to help prevent this kind of absent minded destruction. The two I see transgressed the most would be 1) the lack of appropriate furniture. If the only seating you provide on a 30 minute or longer tour are chairs that are artifacts, people WILL try to sit in them. Provide some sort of seating at mid points in your tour, especially if your visitor-ship skews older. People need to sit.
2) The other mistake I see a lot of museums, especially house museums, make is that they don't maintain a separation between the functional areas and exhibition areas of their site. Visitors should know, without asking or being told, when they are in an exhibition area and when they are in a functional area like an ante-room, museum store, or class room. If you use antique furniture or reproductions to put your cash register and brochure rack on, don't be surprised if people set their stuff down on an artifact that looks just like it in an exhibition area. And don't put out chairs that mimic the period and style of your artifacts and do put them in neutral, not exhibition areas. Make it as easy as possible for the visitor to distinguish artifact from furniture without signage.
If you have a hands-on room, interactives, or demonstrations, make sure it is clear when the visitor can touch and when they can't. In this instance signs are a must. Don't let the visitor try to figure out on his or her own what they can touch and what they can't.
If you choose some sort of immersive, experiential experience at your museum that erodes this distinction between function and exhibition, that is fine. But be prepared for an exponential increase in destructive visitor behavior and plan for it in advance.
Can you tell I am off work today? I seemed to have rambled on....
Matt White
On Jun 18, 2008, at 10:43 AM, Jackson, Gregory wrote:
I have found that, at best, “do not touch” signs are only a gentle reminder. Some people will touch regardless – they can’t help themselves. The same people, I’m sure, that touch the paint to see if the “Wet Paint” sign is really telling the truth. If velvet ropes aren’t an option for you (or something similar), a psychological boundary may help. Just position the objects so it is a little awkward for a guest to reach them. Many people will avoid touching if it is very obvious that they are doing so.
Greg
Pottsgrove Manor Historic Site
I just opened a new exhibit in which there are several pieces of furniture on display as well as glass, ceramics, artwork, etc. All of the small, fragile items are under vitrines but the furniture pieces are simply on risers. When reviewing the exhibit with our docents, they expressed concern that I did not have “do not touch” signs on the furniture. I’ve used these signs in the past but I am wondering about their effectiveness. I’ve observed both at my museum and at others, that some people will touch regardless of signage. I’ve also noticed that most larger museums I’ve visited do not have these signs at all. Our museum experience is guided tour only and the docents are trained to remind visitors not to touch items on exhibit. The new exhibition can be self-guided but the vast majority of the time there will be a docent in the room with the visitor.
I’d like to hear about other’s experience with “do not touch” signs and whether they work or just clutter up an exhibit and have little effectiveness.
Heidi Campbell-Shoaf, Curator
Museum of Frederick County History
Historical Society of Frederick County
24 East Church Street
Frederick, Md. 21701
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