현장조사를 통해 본 미국의 소박물관

Abstract

Small museums in Korea are challenged with limited resources. The lack of funding to provide proper storage and exhibition space or to hire trained staff is a major obstacle to overcome. In this paper, the author shares her experiences with two small museums in the United States on how they manage without large amounts of money. Both museums are run primarily volunteers and minimum paid staff, yet they still create interesting exhibits. One of the museums is a local history museum, while the other is part of a university and utilizes its textiles and costume collections. The local history museum specializes in educational activities for schools and has a small paid staff supported by volunteers from the community. The university museum offers seminars and lectures along with its exhibits, and is run by professors and students. Suggestions are made by the author on how small Korea museums can apply similar practices to serve their communities and schools, while properly storing and displaying objects.