Picking up on the debate about generating support for museums, I believe
that museums have three missions and we must find ways to educate our
patrons about these three missions.  I will start off by saying that
entertaining people is not one of our missions.  I leave that for theme
parks and Hollywood.  However, one of our missions is to educate, and we
can make it enjoyable.  I do not believe that high-tech is the only way to
go.  Just look in the eyes of a child playing with a shell and one will
realize this.  On the other hand look in my eyes when I find a fossil
pecten not in my collection and you will see the child in me! Holding
identification days, behind the scene tours, docent tours, evening and
weekend lectures all go towards fullfilling these missions.  These
activities can enhance a static exhibit hall.  Getting the professionals
out can make all the difference.  Maybe I have been lucky (I don't think
so) but many museum people helped me out when I was still a novice.  These
people were found in places such as the Smithsonian, the American Museum,
and the Carnegie Museum.  It is on account of the help of the curators and
research specialists that I am where I am today (an inspired amateur) and
such a advocate for these institutions.
 
The next mission is research.  The Carnegie used to have a hall which
featured the active research that the staff was persuing.  Unfortunately
that hall has been replaces.  This research can be presented in the pages
of the museum's magazine, lectures by the staff, and in short term
exhibits and rooms where you can watch people working.  The entomology lab
has such a window now and I am constantly amazed by the large numbers of
people who stand there and watch what is going on in the collection.
 
The final mission is one of the museum and staff being stewards for the
collections.  The collections will be around long after we are gone and we
are responsible to see that they are passed on to future generations in as
good as, if not better, condition than they were when we took charge of
them.  This aspect is rarely conveyed to the public.  In old issues of the
Carnegie Magazine there were articles about the collections, about
donations to the collections and the donors.  I believe that this gave
some feeling of shared ownership of the collections to the public.  We
were informing them of what was being added to their museum.  Open houses
also let people in to see what is in their museum.
 
One of the most enjoyable experiences that I had at the Carnegie recently
was the annual identification day.  It gave me the ability to interact
with the public directly.  I was also able to select several drawers of
shells to take out and show to people.  Some were flashy specimens, others
were drab ones that people might find in the pond behind their house.  The
point is that people got to see a part of the collection that is not on
display.  My only regret is that we only do these once a year.
 
We need to reach out to the public and get them involved.  Most will not
be involved to the degree that I am, and that's ok.  What is not ok is to
have people feel that the museum is not theirs.  We also have to get the
boards of directors to realize that these museums have multiple missions
and have them get behind us and support us.
 
Someone decried the new high-tech displays and bemoaned the loss of the
old style exhibits.  I would like to see us strike a balance.  When I had
a mammalian molar once that was difficult to identify, I went down to the
American Museum in New York and compared it to exhibits of teeth and
skeletons in row after row of cabinets.  These are no longer there.  They
have been replaced by newer exhibits which try to educate in a different
way.  Both are valid approached but I agree that to many places are
totally doing away with the "bad" old exhibits to bring in the "good" new
exhibits.  Hopefully a balance will be achieved in museums planning new
exhibits.
 
Well I too have rambled on for a while and will stop here.  Hopefuly, my
thought were not too disjointed, and will be appreciated by others.
 
Charlie
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Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Invertebrate Zoology
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
 
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