Welcome to Round 2 in the cage match between libraries and museums. In March 2019 in a post called “Libraries Versus Museums,” I discussed an article from CityLab about how public and private data should be handled by the highly trusted public libraries because there was no other model out there for handling such data … except that there is. History museums regularly handle public and private data. That, apparently, was Round 1 in the…
This might post might feel a bit off-topic for The Pragmatic Historian, but I know several of my colleagues in the Minnesota history museum field are in my audience and I need to pass along some advice. (Appropriately enough, today is Labor Day and the topic relates to the day.) The Legacy Amendment & Grants Some background for those not in Minnesota: In 2008 voters passed the Legacy Amendment, which provides sales tax funding for…
I recently caught a ride with a museum colleague to a meeting. During our journey, my colleague made an observation about me that surprised me. He said, “You ask good questions.” And my first thought was, doesn’t everyone ask good questions? I very much subscribe to the belief that there are no dumb questions. Questions come naturally to human beings, with toddlers asking, “Why?” or “What’s this?” incessantly. Questions are a sign of curiosity, and…