Posting for 9/18 posted on 9/13

After reading what has to be said, it is enlightening to know that museums are working to fulfill the needs of its patrons in order to make sure that the exhibits will fit in within the community in which they are based.
Museums should work hard to become more socially aware of their surroundings through being self-conscious of their collections and what they do in order to bring people into them. They can do what they can in order to help the community around them. In order to do this, museums are working to be more inclusive to all cultures around them. We see the examples of the Native American museum and the African American museum which are used to get more people interested in these different cultures. This also shows that there is less of a draw only towards white people and their wants and needs.
It is really good to see museums work to bring more people into their doors through offering a lot of programs in their buildings for the community, like creating indoor playgrounds and having areas for latchkey kids to come in and enjoy the facility and learn about things while waiting for their parents to come home.
It is also good to see that museums are being more multi-use facilities in order to help community members feel more a part of their community through allowing people watching, being polling places, and childcare facilities. Thus museums are doing what they can to become a larger part of their community so people will not be afraid to come and use the facility for many different things. It would seem that if museums did not do these programs, less people would come into them because the museum would not be a part of the community.
Another use I see to be really important for museums is helping people understand life around them through giving them experiences. Museums can be used to teach correct understandings of life and false understandings of life. I have learned about many different topics which help me appreciate what I have been given. I am able to see what others have experienced through their lives. If there are no museums for people to visit, they are not able to get a full understanding and gain memories of life in the place where they are located. In my opinion, there should be lots of museums so people can get a taste of where they are and so they can feel a part of their community.
Also, I believe that museums should take some action in their community in order to help protect groups of people through telling their story. We have the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. which tells the story of what happened to a lot of Jews who were killed. There are a lot of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. Museums should also play a role in preserving objects and documents from different events because they can be used to tell the full story of different events which have happened in the past. If they did not, they would fail in their role as keepers of history of different events. In other words, museums should choose their battles wisely in order to try and be as objective as possible, although it is not possible to be so all of the time. In other words, museums should be as fair as possible and share both sides of an event.
It was really interesting to listen to Justin Henderson talk to our class about what we want to do with our degrees in the Museum world. He gave a lot of things to think about, like it is a good idea to go for the posted positions because they give us experience and can help get our foot in the door. It is also a good idea to network and get to know people within the field because they know people and can help teach us things that we need to know in order to be good employees. As well, it is important to get to know the community and the different trends which are going on in the area where your museum is, in order to involve them and also do exhibits and other activities which will bring them into the museum. Along with this idea to look at the different immigrant and ethnic groups in your community and try to do activities which will involve them. It is also a good idea to work with the directors and the board in order to make sure that the museum will get what it needs in forms of money and possible collections since they know people who can get these things Along with these skills, it is good to have a good round understanding of all the different jobs which go into making a museum a success, like knowing how to design and print a newsletter or know how to market your museum to others. In all, it was really neat to see what one person's take of museums are and how they can do better