I asked earlier how many museums are there in the USA & receiving excellent replies. The answer, about 8200 (+) museums (1989 "Museum Count" AAM report). That breaks down to 55% historic sites/musuems; 15% art museums and 15% science related. The remaining 15% are speciality museums. Out of that is the puzzeling questions -- how many of the 8200 (+) are totally not-for-profit; private or public? How many are really "small" museums? Does the various funding make you small, medium or large? How many artifacts (is there a limit?) before you are no longer a "small" museum? 25,000, 150,000 a million artifacts? How large can your budget go before you are no longer a "small" musuem? Would a 2 to 10 million dollar budget be a small museum? AAM states there must be so many paid, professional staff? But how many employees brings the museum into a "larger" museum status? How many visitors do "small" museums have in relationship to large, does attendance determine small museums? Does the population the museum serves? Our budget is approximately $150,000 to $180,000. Two full-time staff, 3 part-time/seasonal. 27,000 artifacts. The museum serves a small, rural community of about 60,000, with the nearest large city about 42 miles away. 19,000 to 22,000 annual visitors. A nonprofit, no local support, no state support, no federal support (except a few small grants). A $3.00 gate admission is charged, and rely on donations, store sales, and memorials. I believe population base, budget, number of artifacts, employees, funding status, etc. determines if you are a small or large museum. This would also include endowments, if a museum had 15 million (+), would it be a small museum? If a museum has not capital investments, no collection these factors may determine what a "small" museum really is. These are simply questions and a survey. Opinions are welcome. Thanks John Martinson [log in to unmask] Work: Fort Walla Walla Museum 755 Myra Rd Walla Walla, WA 99364 (509) 525-7703 (Work) Let's not forget our past