Small museums: they tend to get overlooked in the grand scheme of planning weekend activities or scenic bypass tours. But they can and do provide a unique look at local history, up-and-coming artists, and little known stories of local regions. As a bonus? They often have pretty stellar community activities for every season.
Family time is important and precious; when you only have so many hours a week away from an office or a job, every second counts as a treasure. And small museums recognize this. They often focus on creating meaningful connections with visitors and providing information about the collections in individualized ways to get visitors, who may be from out of town or just passing through, to come back again and again for the human element.
Small museums often don’t have a large staff to pull from to work with the public while also working with the collections so most of the people you’ll run into are volunteers or docents, people from the community who have an interest in the material and being involved in the community. They are the perfect ambassadors for the collection because they bring that human element home even further by being able to pull information from the collection and provide it in a way that creates connection. Sometimes, they’re even great sources of local lore and history.
For families, small museums are the jackpot: they don’t take a whole day to get through but provide something for everyone without a huge price tag usually. Historical societies, local art galleries, smaller art museums, even a local college’s exhibits, can provide hours of educational entertainment that may have you exploring new ideas or seeing the world around you differently. Talk to the staff and volunteers, find out what makes it special to them, and before you know it, it’ll be your go-to destination when friends or family come to town.
For a family with limited together time, one way to both get involved with and enjoy a small museum is to volunteer. It may not sound like a whole bunch of fun, but once you get into the project (sorting magazines, assisting with maintenance of an historic house, playing a role in a living history museum) it’s more fun than you’d think. You can practice for weeks before hand as a family, sorting magazines or catalogs at the house, coming up with personal histories based on the time period you’ll be working with, and even going around and trying on vintage and antique clothing to get into character. These activities increase the fun of volunteering and help enhance the educational opportunities that small museums offer all visitors and guests.
What’s your favorite small museum? What made it special? Share your stories and anecdotes in the comments, or follow us on Facebook!
fun with museums 