104. What Large Institutions Can Learn From Small Museums
Welcome to Museum Archipelago in Your Inbox, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Museum Archipelago, your audio guide to the rocky landscape of museums, is hosted by me, Ian Elsner.
The Murney Tower Museum in Kingston, Ontario, Canada is a small museum. Open for only four months of the year and featuring only one full-time staff member, the museum is representative of the many small institutions that make up the majority of museums. With only a fraction of the resources of large institutions, this long tail distribution of small museums offers the full range of museum services: collection management, public programs, and curated exhibits.
Dr. Simge Erdogan-O'Connor has dedicated her studies to understanding the unique dynamics and challenges faced by small museums, and is also the Murney Tower Museum’s sole full-time employee.
In this episode, Dr. Erdogan-O'Connor describes the operation of The Murney Tower Museum, discusses the economic models of small museums, and muses on what small museums can teach larger ones.
Gallery Continues 🎒
Powered by a single car battery, the Vitusha Bear Museum near Sofia, Bulgaria pushes the limit of how small a museum can get.
Archipelago at the Movies🍿The Thief Collector (2022)
Woman-Ochre by Willem de Kooning was stolen from the University of Arizona Art Museum in 1985. The thieves were never found.
Thirty-two years later, the painting turned up – not in a hidden vault or an underground market, but within the intimate confines of Jerry and Rita Alter’s bedroom. It would make an entertaining piece of fiction if it wasn’t a documentary.
Today, Rebecca Reibstein and I talk life, death, and art museums as we try to make sense of this mysterious couple.