Museum People Make the Worst Museum Visitors

I always loved being a museum professional. There's something special about being so close to the past every day. You touch it. You preserve it. You teach about it. I loved being a museum professional, until read an article entitled "Museum Professionals Make Terrible Visitors."

I had observed this phenomenon but didn't attribute it to solely being a "museum person." But it is true,  museum people really do make the worst museum visitors. If you are a museum person, that article will make you laugh.  

I found myself committing many
museum sins mentioned in the article. I definitely did very little real shopping in gift shops and sometimes find myself in awkward angles that visitors are never meant to be in to get the best possible view of an artifact that I want to see. (Sorry, Franklin Institute, but I couldn't sleep for a month prior to your exhibit knowing I would get to see King Tut's liver casket. I wasn't about to not get to see the details up close.) 

I'm glad that someone pointed out the behavior of museum people. You can't fix a problem you don't know
exists, right?




Worst Offenses of Museum People in My Experience:


-Not being open to learning new information. Many museum people don't go to museums to learn something new. They are more interested in seeing how someone else is interpreting history. They feel that they already know a lot about the subject and end up being more interested in the displays, pamphlets, artifact handling, etc.

-Correcting guides or unfairly expecting them to speak on something they are not prepared to speak about. Sometimes I think self proclaimed history buffs feel the need to defend their title when they visit a museum. They try to point out wrong facts and try to contradict the guides and displays every way possible. If you are a museum professional, you know that this behavior is not only unprofessional but these people typically reference old research and popular history sources. 

Professionals understand the interpretive nature of history and aren't so quick to judge research based on what they see in a museum and understand that not every person is prepared to speak upon every subject. Although, occasionally professionals expect everyone to know about some obscure research so-and-so is doing. Some of these people will also "hijack" tours from guides.         

-Not buying from the shop. This one is mentioned in the article and I am guilty. Many museum people go into gift shops, see a book they are interested in and go home and buy it on amazon. I am guilty of this only because I typically wait a few months before buying a book to make sure I am still interested. I have started viewing this differently. When you buy from the shop and it is more expensive than what you'd pay online, we should think of the extra cost as a donation to the site. Maybe we need to set up some museum people code where if we see a few books we like in their gift shop and plan to buy them online later, we will all add an extra few dollars to the donation bin.

-Not staying where you should be or touching things you shouldn't. Working at a museum is hard, you have to watch a lot of things at the same time. We have people at our sites sneak upstairs without a guide. I have heard every excuse, but most frequently things like "I used to work here" or "I've been here a million times." I assume the best of people but if something breaks on one of my tours or goes missing, it's my responsibility and ultimately we need to remember this when we are at other sites. 

 

I have encountered bad museum manners numerous  times but I think the worst offense I ever encountered was when I was giving a tour and speaking on the education habits of the Quakers in the area in the 1700s. A man flat out in the middle of my tour stated "That's not how they did it in Philadelphia, "Do you have research on this?" and other remarks.

First, I thought it was rude that he spoke without asking permission first. But secondly he said this with such a condescending tone and with such accusation that it was frankly embarrassing for me in front of the other guests. I felt like the research question was silly--we're a museum--they didn't just tell me to make things up. And while some guides may carry their research with them on tours, I certainly don't.

If this man was truly interested in the research I had on this topic, he could have asked me privately at the end of the tour and I would have happily forwarded it to him. If this man was just trying to show off and make the guide uncomfortable, he succeeded.

I find that reenactors and other museum people can be the worst offenders of "correcting guides" even though we know it is unfair. What is truly remarkable is that with all of the bad mannered things visitors do at our site, this is one of the most insulting. I can handle visitors not listening and accidentally using our model privy. I am only slightly irked when someone strays from a tour and I have to make everyone wait while I track them down. But correcting the guide publicly is just rude, makes you look like a jerk, and makes the rest of the guests frustrated.  I was lucky in that the other guests made it apparent that his interruptions were uncalled for.





 
What is the worst museum offense you've ever seen committed or committed yourself? Was the offense committed by a museum person? 

**All photos taken on the Becuna and the Olympia at Penn's Landing.  


 

A Second Summer, A Beautiful Fall

We are having a beautiful fall. The leaves are beautiful and the weather, warm.I've been doing a lot of things and have visited a lot of places. One of the downsides to being a blogger is that you sometimes feel the need to record instead of just enjoy. I believe this week cured me of that.

I had 4 posts planned out and was upset that I was away so much that I didn't get a chance to write. I had a ton of fun and took 400 photos over the week.  I couldn't believe how effortlessly these posts were going to write themselves. I did all of the fun things you're supposed to do in fall.

I admired the changing leaves. Ran through a corn maze. Observed the migratory birds in their flight. Collected the fall harvest. Roasted marshmallows on breezy night. Went camping, sailing and hiking.   

I couldn't wait to get home and write those posts.

My computer took hours uploading my files off of my camera card. It was so slow I couldn't really do much while they were uploading, including write. The next day I try to open my files, but every time I opened one, my computer would freeze. After one more day of trying, I decided I was just going to upload them, sight unseen based upon the thumbnails.

I try to upload to the internet, and it doesn't work. It doesn't work a second time. I have to upload each image individually. So here is my photo post, in no particular order. And next time I think posting will be very easy, I know better.

A cloud pretending to be a sail.

September Sketchbook Challenge: Homes and Hideaways

The theme of September's Sketchbook Challenge is Homes and Hideaways. I had been meaning to finish a sketch I had started of McPherson's barn in Gettysburg.  On July 1st, the barn was used to shelter Union soldiers from artillery fire and wounded men after the battle. The farm was destroyed during the battle.

 The painting is tiny, about 4 1/2 inches square and was painted on scrap watercolor paper. 

Ridley Creek Civil War Reenactment at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation

This weekend I found myself staring down some sheep. Sheep look nice and fluffy. At night, we are told to count them hopping jovially over a fence. When you look at a sheep, it conjures up relaxing pastoral images. Until you have to give them their medicine, that is.




This weekend, I went to the Civil War reenactment at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation in Ridley Creek State Park to help give tours in the farm house.

This event is one of my favorites as it is local and the scenery is unbeatable for bringing the past to life. I was originally upset that I might have missed this event because I was planning on attending the 150th Chickamauga in Georgia as I hadn't been there in over 5 years but the plans fell through.

I offered to assist with the tours as I normally did. Unfortunately, I have been sick. I have had a terrible cough, angry running nose and little energy. When I woke up on Saturday morning the only thing I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I might have, if it wasn't for the sheep deworming that I had promised to take part in.

I stood there at 10 AM in the muddy sheep stall, wearing my mothers boots with my dress and holding a syringe full of medicine. Sheep are heard animals. They are soft and fluffy but they also have horns and hooves. I didn't think much of those until the wrangling began. Once the sheep were aware that something was amiss, they fiercely ran in circles, knocking everything out of their path.

The guy I was assisting, had a pretty good technique in cradling the sheep and getting them to open their mouths to take the medicine. But catching each sheep was a challenge. With every new sheep it was like the running of the bulls. The sheep took off, one even pounced against the wall near where I was standing like a ninja sheep, with all fours very close to my head. The medicine I was giving must have tasted terrible, as the sheep were very keen on spitting it back at me. Regardless, we finished in good time and the sheep forgot about it seconds later. Sunday's deworming went much smoother as my friend Jeff lent a hand and we both got to laugh at the new, exciting experience.

After that the tours went as good as can be expected, I had limited voice and a harsh cough. But the guests were very interested and engaged. On Saturday, about twenty soldiers from the local military base came out to visit.

   
The battles were phenomenal. As always the fighting is over great terrain, around walls, fences, hills and barns, very close to the spectators. The reenactors gave a very emotive performance with specialty scenarios which included robbing the farmhouse and caring for the wounded.  The house display was fantastic, as always.

It was a great event and I'm glad that I went, especially because I was sick. I got to learn new things, see a lot of friends I haven't seen in awhile and enjoy the great weather instead of just staying in bed.

Hearth Cooking Workshop with Mercy Ingraham

This weekend I had the great fortune to attend a hearth cooking workshop with cooking legend, Mercy Ingraham.

The nice fall day was perfect for gathering around the fire and cooking some hearty, cool-weather Colonial food. It's a funny feeling being a guest in your own kitchen (well a kitchen I cook in often enough.) But it was a real treat to get to see a master at work.

It was only minutes before the guests dug in and cooked. The scents in the air were fantastic: a smoky winter soup with sweet potato pie, stewed apples, and roasted pork.




 It was nice to see pie crust made, because I mess it up almost every time. We were lucky to have a pie making pro there as even Mercy admitted to the occasional store bought crust. I learned that I shouldn't worry about the lumps of butter/lard in the crust as that helps make it flaky.  I also learned a fancy pie crust trick, where after you roll the crust out on the table, you can wrap it around the rolling pin to transfer it into the pie pan.  
  

Co-cooks

Busy cooks.

Sweet Potato Pie

Soup with bread and grated cheese.

I am hoping to try making pies this fall and using my new pie crust knowledge. I still could use more tips.