At 08:40 PM 7/12/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear List:
>                I am looking for annual attendance numbers for small to medium
>sized museums focusing on military history.  Please let me know your square
>footage of exhibit area, and location in the community (urban, suburban,
>rural, military installation, etc.)
>        Thank you for your assistance.
>
>Wayne Hart, Director
>Museum of Valor
>[log in to unmask]

Mr. Hart:

We have had an average of 12,000 visitors each year over the past five
years.  We may not be a good comparison for you, however, as we focus on the
navigation aid/life-saving activities of the Coast Guard rather than its
wartime role as a combat arm.

Our museum is a former U.S. Coast Guard Lifeboat Station (1939-1972).  The
main building is a three-story structure, but we have exhibits only on the
first and second floors that total about 2,000 square feet.  Of these, one
gallery --approximately 400 square feet-- is devoted to the history of the
Coast Guard in this area of Southwestern Washington.  Two other exhibit
spaces --one on shipwrecks (200 square feet) and one on local history (400
square feet) also necessarily have information about local Coast Guard
history as the organization and its personnel have been so important in the
history of the area for almost the entire period of Euroamerican activity
here.  The main building itself and the grounds (which are surrounded by
steel pilings sunk to keep out tide waters) are themselves an "exhibit" that
we interpret with signage, a model, and guided tours.

I hope this is helpful.

Bill Hanable
Director, Westport [WA] Maritime Museum
>
>
William S. Hanable