Collections of textiles--historic costume, quilts, needlework samplers, and the like--have benefited greatly from the digital turn in museum and archival work. Both institutional online repositories and collections-based social media sites have fostered unprecedented access to textile collections that have traditionally been marginalized in museums. How can curators, interpreters, and collections managers make best use of these new opportunities? To answer this question, the author worked with sites including the Great Lakes Quilt Center at the Michigan State University Museum, the Design...

Collections of textiles historic costume, quilts, needlework samplers, and the like have benefited greatly from the digital turn in museum and archival work. Both institutional online repositories and collections-based social media sites have fostered unprecedented access to textile collections that have traditionally been marginalized in museums. How can curators, interpreters, and collections managers make best use of these new opportunities? To answer this question, the author worked with sites including the Great Lakes Quilt Center at the Michigan State University Museum, the Design...

Engaging audiences through costumed staff at museums and historic sites is one of the most effective ways to interpret the past for a public used to multimedia presentations on their TVs and computers. Here, David Allison, who has worked at several museums known for effective enactments, provides: -the fascinating stories of three large living history museums as they adapt to changing audience expectations. -a solid overview of the types of interpretation that living history museums use. -best practices (and practices for you to avoid) from the reams of data and studies compiled by evaluators...

Engaging audiences through costumed staff at museums and historic sites is one of the most effective ways to interpret the past for a public used to multimedia presentations on their TVs and computers. Here, David Allison, who has worked at several museums known for effective enactments, provides: .the fascinating stories of three large living history museums as they adapt to changing audience expectations. .a solid overview of the types of interpretation that living history museums use. .best practices (and practices for you to avoid) from the reams of data and studies compiled by evaluators...

Wondering what a museum director actually does? About to start your first director's job? Looking for guidance in starting up a museum or working with a museum director? Hugh Genoways, Lynne Ireland, and Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko have taken the mystery out and put common sense and good guidance in. Learn about everything from budgets and strategic planning to human resources and facilities management to collections and programming. They also help you tackle legal documents, legal and ethical issues, and challenges for today's 2.0 world. Case studies and exercises throughout help you review and...

In this how-to guide, practitioners at cultural heritage venues share their experiences in building sustainable relationships with their geographic and demographic communities. The volume includes practical discussions of activity types that museums can employ to build relationships with their communities including education, advocacy, co-creative, while serving as a community asset and resource. Case studies include direct application of successes and lessons learned with an emphasis on small to medium sized institutions with limited staff and budgets. Highlights include: -Thematic...

In this how-to guide, practitioners at cultural heritage venues share their experiences in building sustainable relationships with their geographic and demographic communities. The volume includes practical discussions of activity types that museums can employ to build relationships with their communities including education, advocacy, co-creative, while serving as a community asset and resource. Case studies include direct application of successes and lessons learned with an emphasis on small to medium sized institutions with limited staff and budgets. Highlights include: .Thematic...

Since its publication in 2008, Exhibit Makeovers has been a useful do-it-yourself handbook for museum staff and volunteers. Exhibit Makeovers is a workbook that provides grounding in interpretive principles, how-to-advice, step-by-step guidance, and moral support for in-house exhibit planning and design. The revised and expanded 2nd edition preserves the supportive tone and easy-to-follow steps that make the original Exhibit Makeovers so user-friendly. Significant revisions--especially in the technology arena--and additions make this new edition a must-have addition to any museum's toolkit: -...

Since its publication in 2008, Exhibit Makeovers has been a useful do-it-yourself handbook for museum staff and volunteers. Exhibit Makeovers is a workbook that provides grounding in interpretive principles, how-to-advice, step-by-step guidance, and moral support for in-house exhibit planning and design. The revised and expanded 2nd edition preserves the supportive tone and easy-to-follow steps that make the original Exhibit Makeovers so user-friendly. Significant revisions--especially in the technology arena--and additions make this new edition a must-have addition to any museum's toolkit: -...

This cutting-edge new book is the replacement for Folklife and Museums: Selected Readings which was published nearly thirty years ago in 1987. The editors of that volume, Patricia Hall and Charlie Seemann, are now joined by C. Kurt Dewhurst as a third editor, for this book which includes updates to the still-relevant and classic essays and articles from the earlier text and features new pioneering pieces by some of today's most outstanding scholars and practitioners, to provide a more current overview of the field and addressing contemporary issues. Folklife and Museums: Twenty-First Century...