Reading List: Museums 101 by Mark Walhimer

"101" usually implies a basic-level introduction to a subject: Sociology 101, Math 101, etc. Reviewers on Goodreads also refer to this as an introduction, either for themselves or for their students, and I came across it as a book being used in a Museums Studies class. As a very basic introduction to museums and museum management, this book is fine.

But, if you know nearly anything about museums, this book is not really for you, unless you just want it to skim, or maybe get a few ideas, or to have on hand to give to someone who is new to museums. If you've been around museums, you're not really going to get much out of this.*

And if you're new to museums, I don't think I'd recommend reading this unless you're reading it for a class and have a teacher to walk you through it. There are places where Walhimer doesn't really explain jargon he uses; there are places with mistakes (he refers to a 503(c)(3). I googled 503 instead of 501 in case a 503 is a less-common tax status that I have never heard of, and every result was for 501(c)(3)s. A museum newbie without a guide might be confused); and through the majority of the book, I felt like I was putting things together on my own, based on my experience, rather than him doing a good job of explaining them, their connections, or their relevance. 

* That said, there are some things I found interesting or things I didn't know or things to keep in mind for the future. But overall, eh. 

The upsides:

• This covers a little of everything involved in museums: where to put your museum, creating exhibits, collections access, building an integrated atmosphere, ... on and on. 
• Early chapters have "Next steps" at the end of the chapters (such as organizations to look up or a suggestion to visit a museum in your area). These are cool for those just getting into museums; I wish he'd continue them after those first few chapters, though. They can get your brain jogging on things to do or other institutions to visit for ideas. Granted, he includes a lot of examples of museums in most of his chapters, so you could figure out on your own what the "next steps" should be to research a topic further, but I wish he'd continued it for consistency and for that extra push of "No, really. I'm not just blowing smoke in the chapter when I name-checked that museum. Look them up!" (especially because a number of times it felt like it was name-checking of how great he is, or just how many different museums he could list).
• Short chapters - he gives you only the very basic information.
• He provides resources, sample documents, and additional reading. (The additional reading can come in handy for anyone who wishes that maybe this were Museums 102 or 103, and not 101.)
• There's a website associated with the book where you can download the above resources (rather than just looking at the not-so-great-quality scan that's in the book) as well as some not included in the book.

The downsides:

• Typos and mistakes! Some are little (quite a few times of missing words), some are ones that you can figure out but are still annoying (he refers to Telsa Motors and Telsa Museum in a paragraph; like the 503(c)(3), I googled these just in case there's something I'm unaware of, but no, every result was actually for Tesla), some are bigger but not relevant (Bill Gates wasn't the founder of Microsoft; he was the co-founder; but if I can't trust you to get that right, what else are you getting wrong? [see also Telsa and 503(c)(3)]), and some are more important, like claiming your organization can be a 503(c)(3). 
• There are times -- especially when talking about finances -- that I think he's trying to give the reader a realistic picture of what it takes to plan and run a museum, but it comes across more as "Do not do this! You can't do this!" 
• The index isn't very helpful. I found myself writing in a number of topics (like endowments), and although he mentions mission statements a few times, it's not listed in the index. He says in the introduction that you can either read the whole book, or just the chapter(s) related to your questions, but when topics like mission statement are scattered throughout, including in a chapter about a museum's physical building (!), but not in the index (!), you basically have to read the whole book to answer your question about mission statements. 
• Some of the organization felt odd. Not only does he talk about mission statements in the chapter about the museum's building, but he also talks about background checks for board members in the chapter about collections care. I do see how these can be linked (your building should represent the museum's mission and tone; you want to be able to trust your board members with your collections [and finances]), but why aren't these in their own chapters? Or with a better index so you know to read the chapter about buildings if you want stuff about mission statements and the chapter on collections so you know to give your board members a background check! 
• I didn't understand some of his charts and references.
• Short chapters - in most cases, he only gives you the very basic information.

Overall:

Eh. It can't hurt for seasoned professionals to read this. It does include topics like building a culture at your organization, both an internal culture and with your audience; museum feasibility studies; project management; and a questionnaire to give artifact donors. So yeah, there's probably a chance even people who work in museums will find something new or memorable in the book.

For people new to the museum field, there are other books you can read. This does have the benefit of being sort of a one-stop-shop for very basic information about running a museum, but I don't know how useful it would really be to anyone starting out in the industry, since you'll find most of this information elsewhere and the book's writing and organization seem scattered. 

The writing also felt outdated, even though it's from 2015 and does include current topics like sustainability. Other places felt like he was writing about the old way of thinking of museums, though, like pay, treatment of employees, things like that. 

If you know about museums already, don't waste your money buying this. If you really want to have it as a resource, look for it at a used bookstore or someone cleaning out their library. 

If you don't know about museums already... there are other places to find enough of this information that I would suggest you not waste your money, either. Check it out from a library, instead! 

Museums 101, 2015

Mark Walhimer

160 pages of text, 50 pages of sample documents (14 documents), approximately 5 pages of Bibliography