Synopses & Reviews
As a small museum staff person, you are responsible for a lot, including areas outside of your expertise or training. You need a quick reference that makes the process of becoming a sustainable, valued institution less overwhelming. The Small Museum Toolkit is a collection of six books that serve as a launching point for small museum staff to pursue best practices and meet museum standards. Each brief volume, written in a friendly tone by experienced museum professionals, helps you define the questions you should be asking, gives you tools to achieve your goals, and guides you where to go for help.
Synopsis
Interpretation helps the public understand our purpose and mission. In this book, we tackle how to orient your organization to be effective interpreters of what you collect; how to tell engaging stories; and how to address difficult issues you may have avoided. We provide a primer in historical research for the non-historian and the do-it-yourself basics for creating good exhibits, tours, and programs on a small museum budget.
Synopsis
Programs, tours and exhibits are the meat-and-potatoes of what most museums do to meet their missions to educate the public. Interpretation helps make small museums compelling so that the public understands that they are more than a repository of dusty objects. This book considers researching and designing exhibits and best practices for sharing the stories with your audiences. It explores how to orient your organization to be effective interpreters of what you collect, including how to tell engaging stories and how to address difficult issues you may have ignored in the past, like slavery, prejudice and privilege. For the non-historian, it also offers a step-by-step primer on good historical research.