Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Small Museum of the Month: The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum


The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is housed in and interprets the Allan Herschell Company factory building in North Tonawanda, New York. The building is listed on the NYS and National Registers of Historic Places. The museum has numerous exhibits and demonstrations that tell the story of the production of carousels, other rides, and band organs in the city. The Herschell companies were the world’s largest producers of amusement rides in the country until the late 1950’s. The museum has recently received a “Save America’s Treasures” grant to stabilize the wonderful wood trusses in the carving Shop. Numerous family events, carving classes, Children’s Gallery and other programming make this an active, exciting site to visit.


Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

PO Box 672, 180 Thompson St.

North Tonawanda, NY 14120

phone: 716-693-1885

fax: 716-743-9018

www.carrouselmuseum.org


Open April 1 – mid-June, Wed – Sunday, noon – 4PM; Mid-June- Labor Day, Sunday, Noon -4 Pm and Monday – Saturday, 10 AAM – 4 PM; After Labor DayDec 22, Wed – Sunday, Noon – 4 PM.; Tours available year round, any time.

Admission: $5 Adult, $4 Senior, $2.50 Child – general admission. Handicapped accessible

Want to be a Small Museum of the Month? Learn more here!


Photo of Museum of the Month will be added to the front page of the SMA website shortly. All photos courtesy of the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum.


Mystery at the Babe Ruth Museum (and Solution!)


Did you hear that the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore has had quite the mystery on their hands? They recently discovered that their 1914 baseball card of icon Babe Ruth was worth considerably more than they had expected... $500,000! The museum wants to make the card a centerpiece of a new display but needed to track down the owner of the card, who lent the card to the museum over 12 years ago. Donor forms, Facebook and Google searches, even the Yellow Pages resulted in nothing. Would a newspaper article help find the mystery man?

Find out more in part one here!

And the mystery man is uncovered here!

Do you have a great story about a small museum? Email it smallmuseumassociation@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Webmaster Request!

Who did you have design your website? Where do you host your website? Are you pleased with your experience? Please share to smallmuseumassociation@gmail.com.

SMA has a new Facebook Fan Page!

Over the next three weeks, SMA will be migrating from its current Facebook groups page to a fan page. Join us online here!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Small Museum Tips?

Do you have some great tips that your small museum would like to share with others? Send them to us! Topics can include:

* Volunteers
* Audience Development
* Governance
* Collections Management and Planning
* Exhibitions
* Education
* Development
* Technology
* General fun with Small Museums
* So much more!

Once we have enough submissions, we'll post them regularly. Send submissions to conference@smallmuseum.org.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

SMA Facebook Page

Did you know that you can join the SMA group on Facebook? Click here to connect with SMA online. See photos from our conferences, join discussions with other SMA'ers, and receive access to more resources.

Upcoming Conferences: July

Visitor Studies Association, Phoenix, AZ, July 28 - 31

Do you know of an upcoming conference? Please email SMA with the information so that we may include it on our blog.

Seeking Museum of the Month Submissions

Does your small museum deserve to be a museum of the month for the SMA blog? Email us why at conference@smallmuseum.org. Make sure to include the following:

* 1 - 3 photos of your museum
* Museum contact and visiting information
* In 150 words or less, tell us why your museum is great!
* Anything else you think might be relevant
* Your contact information (not to be displayed on the blog)

All Museums of the Month will also be featured in our blog's link column, on the SMA Facebook groups' page, and on the SMA website.

Disclaimer: Please note that we periodically update our blog and cannot guarantee what date the materials will appear. Photographic materials continue to belong to their original owner, and credit will be made. Please let us know if we cannot use the image(s) in future marketing materials for SMA. Queries can be made to conference@smallmuseum.org. Thank you.

Request for Consultant Services

The City of Hagerstown, MD is seeking consultant services to prepare the collection of the Doleman Black Heritage Museum for Access to the Public. The proposal bid is enclosed here.

For more information, please contact:

Caroline Twigg, CPPB

Purchasing/Insurance Specialist

City of Hagerstown

1 East Franklin Street

Hagerstown MD 21740

Changes coming to the SMA Blog!

Over the next few months, SMA will begin offering more materials on our blog, besides just materials regarding the current, previous, and upcoming conferences. Features will include the following:

* Museum of the Month
* Tip of the Month
* Profiles of Who's Who at SMA
* Update about SMA Conference 2011
* Upcoming Conferences
* Reviews of conferences, books, etc
* Other articles of interest - from us, you, and the museum field

Do you have material you would like to submit to the SMA blog? Contact Lauren at conference@smallmuseum.org with your items.