A museum is a place where artifacts are stored and displayed. They are often open to the public, and their collections can be used for research. Many museums specialize in certain areas of history or culture, such as natural history or local history. They may also have interactive exhibits or educational programs for students and visitors. Some museums also have gift shops and restaurants. Museums can be found in cities, towns and villages throughout the world. The word “museum” is derived from the Greek term mouseion, which meant seat of the Muses. The word was later translated to Latin as museum, and the first modern museums began in Europe during the 1600s. The British Museum and the Louvre are examples of early modern museums. Museums can be categorized as private, nonprofit, or government-run. Private museums are owned by individuals or organizations and receive funding from donors. Most of these museums are nonprofit, and the profits they earn are invested back into the organization. Government-run museums are operated by federal, state, or local governments and receive funding from appropriations from the legislature.
The mission of a museum is to collect, conserve, display and interpret objects of cultural or historical importance, and to provide education through the presentation of these objects. These objects are often artifacts, but may also include artwork and buildings, or items such as musical instruments, books and coins. Museums can be dedicated to the preservation of a particular type of object, such as a ship or an airplane, or they may be devoted to a particular theme, such as science, natural history or cultural heritage.
Some of the most famous museums in the world, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Louvre in Paris, France, began as private collections. In the late 1800s several new types of museums began to appear, including those built in a style that re-created a town or neighborhood, such as Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and London’s Natural History Museum.
Museums are a great source of information about the past, and many provide guided tours for visitors. Some of these museums are very large, such as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, which is home to a vast collection of natural and cultural history specimens. Others are very small, such as the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, which displays art from artists that descend from multiple nations and tribes of the Southwest.
In addition to the curator, archivist and registrar positions common in most museums, there are also positions for educators, fundraising, volunteer coordinators and security staff. In larger museums, the duties of these different positions are usually divided amongst several staff members, who each perform a variety of tasks as needed. The responsibilities of museum staff vary by size, but most museums follow certain standards and procedures established by major professional organizations such as ICOM. The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has also formulated a set of policies that guide museum operations.