On Wed. Dec. 6 Lara Anne Taylor wrote


>Is there such a thing as a for-profit museum?

Ah, you have touched upon one of my favorite subjects. Yes, indeedy,
Virgina, there are "for profit museums" of various stripes and persuasions.
Their variety is just as diverse as non-profit museums. I chaired a panel
session on this very topic at AAM when it was in Los Angeles.

Having spent nearly 8 of the 25 years of my museum career as registrar of
the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection in Philadelphia, my eyes were opened to
this aspect of museums which many colleagues tend to ignore or deny; in my
opnion, they are the losers, frankly, by ignoring this rich tapestry.

A few points:

1) Many "non-profit" museums, like the Corning Glass Museum, started out as
"for profit" museums or company collections which were ultimately turned
into non-profit museums.

2) In the early 1940s, the president/ceo of AAM wrote a book on museum
management specifically for company museums. ( I would say AAM has strayed
from it's earlieryorientation.) The book includes advice about collections,
exhibits, public tours, and management. It was the war years, and people
were proud of their manufacturing contributions, not to mention proud of
their history, and they wanted to share this.

3) One list serve writer mentioned a few companies with museums, including
Intel, Motorola, and Cranberry World.  A few more are Hallmark (contemporary
photography), Wells Fargo (where their docents present state history to
thousands of school children each year), and the approxiatemately 1000
museums/collections listed in the NACAM directory (National Association of
Corporate Art Managers).

NACAM focuses on art collections so the history and science/technology
museums and collections in "for profit" settings lack their own association.
To their credit. AASLH (American Association for State and Local History)
has begun to recognize and rectify this need.  Also, Museum News ran an
article about corporate museums earlier this year.

4) And, not all "for profit" museums/collections are actually run for
profit, as confusing as that may sound.

For example, the CIGNA Museum is in a service department in the company, not
a spin -off into a nonprofit foundation or entity. It comes under general
services, a department managing services available to all employees of the
company, such as payroll, purchasing, food services, printing, etc. The
CIGNA Museum is not a "profit center" in the company.

5) The CIGNA Museum officially began in 1925, earlier than many, if not
most, museums in the USA. As INA, the Insurance Company of America, founded
in 1792, the company was collecting and preserving its materials from the
beginning. So CIGNA, an international insurance company, is over 200 years
old when you trace its business roots.

Its growth and development parallel the country's, an observation made by an
astute Japanese visitor. And lest one think insurance is a dull and boring
subject ( I did, until I learned its history),  pirates, fires, theft,
earthquakes, hurricanes, ocean going ships, etc. are hardly dull aspects of
life, but are what P&C, or property and casualty, insurance companies work
with routinely.

Who insured astronauts, the Manhattan Project, Disney Land, theatres, early
museum collections, and 17th, 18th & 19th century homes, churches and
businesses? INA and other insurance companies. By the way, early insurance
company records are great historical research tools. Some archives, like
CIGNA's may be open to researchers.

6) Myth: company museums have pots of money. Wrong. "For profit" company
museums cannot apply for grants. Most have to justify everything they do
internally in order to find internal sponsorship and funding. They do not
have pots of money but they do have over-stretched staffs, same as
nonprofits.


7) Company history for a business as old as CIGNA is community history. It
can give employees a sense of context, place, pride, and belonging.


8) Keep in mind that the general public that comes through the doors of the
"non profit" museum is the same general public that goes through the doors
of the "for profit" workplace.

How are they going to have money to come visit our museums if they don't
have a job? And what about that job? How does its story fit into the picture
of our local and national history and economic well-being ( or lack
thereof)?

Companies use their art and history collections for a variety of purposes,
including education. Enlightened corporations like to have their curators
work with employees and contemporary art, to encourage employees to learn to
"think out of the box."

I'm not saying that anything and everything associated with corporations or
companies is hunky-dory. But to those who are tempted to dismiss corporate
museums and collections because they are situated in a "for profit" setting
and they think these museums inevitably must be manipulated tools of a
marketing department, that would be a gross generalization and
misunderstanding of these colleagues.

Now we'll see if any fur flies in reaction/rsponse to what I've written!

Nancy Powell
Ex Dir., Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion
Former registrar of the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection

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