[NHCOLL-L:1976] Re: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Ironic Quotes from Bioscience

[Diane Gutenkauf]

I've been lurking on this list, especially this thread, for a while now. What strikes me the most is the peculiar sense of deja vu I'm having. 

Members of the Curators Committee of the American Association of Museums wrestle with many of the same feelings...especially those of making our collections more relevant to others so that others will buy in and support them. 

I'm beginning to feel that perhaps it's not what our collections are (teapots, paintings, or pressed plants) but rather how we present them. 

I'm reading some interesting research conducted by The Field Museum. The paper is: Gyllenhaal, E.D. 1998, Communicating behind-the-scenes research to museum visitors: Evaluations of temporary exhibitions at The Field Museum,  _Current Trends in Audience Research and Evaluation_ 11:15-24. 

The (very) short summary is that most visitors to a particular component of the exhibition "Spiders" paid more attention to components about collecting or sorting spiders (and the live spiders) than to the components about spider collections and research. They understood the person portrayed in the exhibit was a researcher but didn't get it that the person was a museum employee. 

Thoughts from his concluding paragraph (paraphrased): Visitors were interested in spider scientists and their work but far fewer were naturally curious about _where_ spider scientists work  and who paid their salaries. 

"If this is generally true, then communicating to visitors that researchers work _here_, at the Field Museum, will always be a challenge."

The Field Museum conducted other studies about how visitors view behind-the-scenes activities but it's unpublished. Sorry, I don't have answers, just more food for thought.

Diane



Diane Gutenkauf
Manager, Interpretation & Exhibits
The Morton Arboretum
4100 Illinois Route 53
Lisle IL 60532
630.719.2461 (v)
630.719.2433 (f)
dgutenka at mortonarb.org


>>> "cholewa" <chole001 at umn.edu> 06/25/03 09:15AM >>>
Amateurs (in the good supporting sense) are starting to fill a void with the
creation of the Private Biological Collections group!  The NSCA and SPNHC
are both good organizations which should become more active in preserving
systematics and systematics collections if WE become more involved with
them.  If we all just sit back and say this group or that group isn't strong
enough then we will fail.  Furthermore we must become advocates for
systematics in our own institutions and community as well.  When asked to
make a presentation at the local garden club or summer school program don't
send a grad student, give the presentation yourself!  Encourage tours of
your facilities by the alumni society, classes, etc.  Yes it's work but
given the alternative ...

____________________________
Anita F. Cholewa, Ph.D.
Curator of Temperate Plants
J.F. Bell Museum of Natural History
University of Minnesota
St. Paul  MN  55108  USA

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/herbarium/vascularplantpage.htm