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The Minnesota Historical Society’s Local History Services helps Minnesotans preserve and share their history. This blog is a resource of best practices on the wide variety of museum, preservation, conservation, funding, and non-profit management topics. We’re here to help.
Relocating Museums
By: grabitsdm | November 17, 2009
The November-December issue of Museum from American Association of Museums carries an interesting article about how some museums are moving from their roots to "greener pastures" of larger populations, better buildings, fresh start, etc. In August 2008 this blog community briefly looked putting ourselves where people are bound to be (see: Getting in the way). That's still an important consideration, but actually moving a facility to another place takes the discussion to another level.
Although the article does not mention any museums in Minnesota that have moved, the article does talk about the Mount Horeb (WI) Mustard Museum moving to the wealthy Madison WI suburb of Middleton and renaming itself the "National Mustard Museum." The museum is doing so to place its organization on better financial footing and provide more access to people. However, the author, Joelle Seligson, states that the "public love for museums is tied to their sameness, the sense that they will preserve and protect what they hold and remain in place for posterity." The Mustard Museum will no longer be in the same place anymore.
In Minnesota there are examples of moves, too. For example Fort Belmont in Jackson was originally established in 1958 to take advantage of the traffic on US Route 71 south of town. When I-90 was built in 1974, much of the tourist traffic seemed to disappear. Fort Belmont completed a relocation to a site visible from I-90 a couple years ago. Neither the original attraction nor this one are on the actual site of the historic Fort Belmont. But, this is an example of an institution that is placing its facility where people are anyway.
Still, relocating an entire facility is a costly and extraordinary endeavor. In considering a move, how might an organization balance the "public love for museums ... that they will ... remain in place" with the public's feet? If traffic has migrated from its historical location, must also the historical organization also migrate in order to be where people are? How should a historical organization balance financial considerations against mission which is so often tied to place? (History Where It Happened)
Although the article does not mention any museums in Minnesota that have moved, the article does talk about the Mount Horeb (WI) Mustard Museum moving to the wealthy Madison WI suburb of Middleton and renaming itself the "National Mustard Museum." The museum is doing so to place its organization on better financial footing and provide more access to people. However, the author, Joelle Seligson, states that the "public love for museums is tied to their sameness, the sense that they will preserve and protect what they hold and remain in place for posterity." The Mustard Museum will no longer be in the same place anymore.
In Minnesota there are examples of moves, too. For example Fort Belmont in Jackson was originally established in 1958 to take advantage of the traffic on US Route 71 south of town. When I-90 was built in 1974, much of the tourist traffic seemed to disappear. Fort Belmont completed a relocation to a site visible from I-90 a couple years ago. Neither the original attraction nor this one are on the actual site of the historic Fort Belmont. But, this is an example of an institution that is placing its facility where people are anyway.
Still, relocating an entire facility is a costly and extraordinary endeavor. In considering a move, how might an organization balance the "public love for museums ... that they will ... remain in place" with the public's feet? If traffic has migrated from its historical location, must also the historical organization also migrate in order to be where people are? How should a historical organization balance financial considerations against mission which is so often tied to place? (History Where It Happened)