#curator problems

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[curatorpeyton]

My face when the new volunteer tells me I'm wrong when I say the dates of the Victorian era.....

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The fucking audacity of people who touch museum exhibits. This. Is. Not. Your. Wardrobe.

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I'm sure people think that museums are just like charity shops. They can just drop off or send in whatever old crap they don't want.

Never ever do that.

If you've got something you think a museum might be interested in, reach out to them first. Get in touch with the right person, give them details and photographs of what you've got, and let them assess whether it is suitable or required.

Because if you just send in something unsolicited, 99% of the time it's something we don't want. We probably already have seventeen similar things, or it's outside of our mission or vision. All you're doing is taking up our already-stretched time and space, and we're going to have to pay the postage to send the damn thing back to you.

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Ways in which museum visitors have blown my mind lately:

A woman kept reminding her young son not to touch any of the exhibits, and then touched one herself.

A man asked me if everything was for sale.

A woman grabbed hold of an object right in front of me while telling me, "I know I'm not supposed to touch it."

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Least favourite response when I tell somebody to stop touching an exhibit in the museum: "I was just..."

No. You weren't just looking, you weren't just curious, you weren't just taking a second.

You were risking permanent and catastrophic damage to a historic artefact, that's what you were doing. Would you go to the Louvre and poke at the Mona Lisa? Actually you probably would, but they can afford the type of protections and security I can only dream of. You shouldn't be allowed out in public.

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They probably think that curators need to spend their mornings vacuuming because it builds character or something.