Museums preserve and exhibit cultural, artistic, historical and scientific artifacts. In doing so they provide an insight into our past and help us better understand human history, wonder and tragedy. They also serve as a source of inspiration for our future.
The word museum has classical origins, derived from the Greek muzeon, which was originally used to denote a place of philosophical discussion. It was later revived in Europe to describe collections of curiosities, such as Ole Worm’s collection in Copenhagen and John Tradescant’s collection in Lambeth (which became the Ashmolean Museum).
Today museums are not just places to view objects from our past, they are active players in our communities. They provide a forum for informal learning through a wide range of activities and interactions, including exhibitions, education programs, public events, partnerships with schools, research, and digital outreach. In doing so they contribute to the economic well-being of their host cities and regions.
The personal meaning that visitors gain from the transformative experiences offered by museums is essential for their psychological wellbeing. It is through such experiences that museums can support feelings of a sense of connection and belonging, appreciation and harmony with humanity and the natural world.
To achieve this, museums must find ways of consistently and genuinely providing their current museum users with the meaningful experiences that they are seeking and need. This means that museums should be focused on the experience itself, rather than merely counting their visitors.
A museum must be able to offer an experience that is relevant and of value for all of its visitors, especially those with a less socio-economic background or in remote areas. In order to do this, they need to be open and accessible to all people.
As a result, museums need to be more inclusive and diverse in terms of both their staff and their audience. To accomplish this, they must actively reach out to their communities and work to make their facilities available to them.
Similarly, museums must also work to expand their outreach in terms of the artifacts that they are preserving and exhibiting. They must be willing to accept a more global perspective, while at the same time honoring the local culture, traditions and history of their visitors.
As museums strive to meet the challenges of our times, they need the support of their visitors, members and donors. After all, a museum is a nonprofit entity that relies on its visitors, supporters and members to fulfill its mission of educating and inspiring audiences. A membership can pay for itself in as few as three annual visits. It’s a small investment for such a valuable service, and one that should be made with pride.
To keep the doors of America’s 17,500 museums open and their collections safe, it takes a lot of employees and countless business partners to provide everything from printing services to dinosaur-glue. It also requires the cooperation of governments and local businesses that want to keep their cultural institutions alive and flourishing.