Visitor Services

It is always nice to have your ideas confirmed. I've always been a very strong advocate for living history style museums, or outdoor/open air museums. Although I was originally not going to be able to take the class because it was scheduled at the same time as our Research and Fieldwork course, but because I wanted to take it as well as a number of other first years, they rescheduled the class so we can take it now! The book that was our first reading is called Life Stages of the Museum Visitor, by Wilkening and Chung. We read the first three chapters for class last week, and they talked about the different age groups that visit museums, including a breakdown of the different generations and what experiences have shaped their lives. One of my favorite parts was a breakdown of what exactly visitors want in outdoor museums. The top responses were for interactive, engaging interpretations and demonstrations from workers in period clothing...exactly the way I have worked for the last three seasons, and what I believe to be one of the most effective ways of connecting with visitors of all ages. Yay!