Reflection

Throughout my nine weeks at MAMAT I gained so much confidence, passion, perspective, motivation, creative-thinking skills, and collaborative experience. I learned how to adapt to working on new projects each day. I appreciated how there was always something to be done and many components to the management between making progress and staying on top of daily administrative operations. I’m excited to take those valuable skills with me to my next internship and throughout my career. I know my ability to work with others and willingness to learn will help me succeed in any museum environment.

I also learned so much by just working in a museum and being in the atmosphere where I hope to build my career. First of all, it was super cool to work in a museum — to learn so much more about all the things you have, to teach others about them, and to get to be in that environment every day surrounded by history, science, and discovery. I very much appreciated the opportunities I had to work hands on with pieces of history and build displays to teach others about them. It was very eye-opening to me to discover, handle, take care of, organize, and store items for future safe-keeping and teaching. I was surprised the emotional connection I felt in dealing with some objects because of their past owners or family. It was a big responsibility to choose how to represent them for the display. I also noticed the great need for general collection care. Every time I touched a newspaper I wondered how I could be taking better care of it than shoving it in a box. It also made me consider what items of what age should be deemed necessary for preservation assistance. In this regard I gained so much perspective for my future career as a conservator. I found that I truly am passionate about taking care of history and cringe when something is damaged or disrespected. I want what’s best for old books and newspapers and photos but I first want to learn what truly is best and how to give them that. Working closely with primary pieces of history showed me how valuable they are and how much I want to take care of them.

My internship at the Mid-America Museum of Aviation and Transportation was a great introduction to a career in museums. I was exposed to many diverse aspects of small museum administration that can be applied to other museums on a larger scale. On the management side of things, I learned about…

  • Finances — Museums that are non-profit organizations must take advantage of any free publicity they can get. Public Service Announcements and press releases are great ways to get the word out to the community. The also need to keep track of their finances carefully by tracking cash register sales, credit card swipes, bills to be paid, and other expenses. Museums should look for grants and donations to cover extra expenses of new projects. Family admission doesn’t necessarily keep a small museum in business; school groups, motor coach tours, and memberships are all very important for income and exposure. Gift shops items should be reasonably priced so as to make money but not too expensive so people won’t buy them. All of MAMAT’s gift shop items are marked up 100% from the price they are bought at, besides some scrap pieces like airplane windows which are total profit.

  • Security — Museums are in a unique situation because they are large facilities that house valuable collections. A good security system needs to be able to track who comes in and out of the building using their key code and also anyone who comes in illegally. Fire alarms and sprinklers are also very important for protecting the artifacts from fire damage, although water damage from the sprinklers could be bad as well depending on the object. Insurance companies want your building to be well-protected which makes it fortunate the MAMAT is near a secure airport.

  • Guest Relations — People come to the museum to see signature exhibits. The museum must have something relevant and important that they will pay to see. The MAMAT’s signature exhibit is the coverage of Flight 232 and Colonel Bud Day because they have strong local connections and historical context. Guided tours are different for every age group. With kids it’s best to ask questions and put things on their level to make them relevant. They have short attention spans and love interactive exhibits like climbing in the airplanes. For older groups it’s best to share more historical information and details relevant to their timeframe since these visitors have often experienced the events we showcase. When taking a tour request, take down the date, time, number of visitors, average age of the group, and admission price agreed on.

In these regards, I absorbed unbelievable amounts of information from my supervisor, MAMAT’s executive director. I’m very grateful to him for sharing his expertise. In all museums these are important factors to understand so I think learning about them in a smaller setting will help me apply them to whatever museum I work in.