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Travel 101: How can you help small museums survive?
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Entrance to Mary Washington House/Museum Photo/Dolinski
So much of the world’s history is told in short stories, told by community museums, restored homes, and local landmarks. When times get tough, small museums can find themselves in a precarious spot. How can they maintain financial security and protect the exhibits and artifacts they have in their care?
While the curators and volunteers scramble for donations and do whatever creative fund raising they can, here are some ways in which we can all contribute.
Visit the museums and historical spots in your community. There are probably places in your own neighborhood that tourists come to see, and you haven’t been to yet. Take visitors there whenever you can, especially kids. It will give you something to talk about besides homework, and a few nuggets of information will no doubt stick in their minds. Your admission fees will be welcome contributions.
Become a member. Choose a museum or historical home and become a member. Membership fees support the organization, and sometimes are matched by grants. Membership often has benefits such as admission discounts, special events, and invitations to lectures or gatherings.
Do your shopping. When you need birthday gifts, a house warming or wedding gift, or some holiday stocking stuffers, head to your local museum store. You will find a wealth of unique gifts from games, books, caps, or T-shirts, to beautiful art work.
Dine historically. Eat in a landmark restaurant, restored historical monument, or old neighborhood café. If you go to a museum, support their café or snack bar.
Volunteer. With tight budgets, many of the general tasks around a museum or historic home are done by volunteers. You don’t need a degree in art appreciation or history to man the cash register in the store or welcome the visitors. If you volunteer as a docent you will meet people with like interests and welcome people from around the USA and the world. The training provided to prepare you to conduct tours will be as good as taking a class in the subject without having to pay tuition. Many retired people find this a very rewarding activity.
These are just a few ideas to get you started in supporting your local museum. Go over today and see what your neighborhood museum needs.
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