Yesterday I needed a simple definition of a modern railway museum. I perceive most of us in this forum think of our museums as teaching organizations. I certainly did not wanted to mention anything in the definition that would recall the lingering "club" aspect of many of our museums. I soon started searching via Google. I actually found many concepts I could write as definitions. Here's seven with comments in italics:

1. A school teaching about railroad related artifacts. Too simple.

2. An institution dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of railroad related artifacts. This is a dictionary definition of a museum with the word "railroad" inserted. One way we exhibit our collection is through operation and rides.

3. A non-profit education organization focused on railroads using expert docents, physical artifacts, historical documentation, and modern media as teaching tools. The 501(c)(3) aspect.

4. A public service focused on educating the community about the history, technology, and people of railroading. The 501(c)(3) aspect.

5. A railroad museum is the teaching interface between people and railroad history and artifacts.

6. An organization that facilitates learning about railroads using expert docents, physical artifacts, historical documentation, and modern media. The concept of "learning".

7. A center of knowledge on railroading with the mission to offer an educational experience to its visitors. Serve our customers.

What is your own favorite definition? Which ones of the seven I contrived do you like and why?

RE: 3 & 4

There seems to be a perception that all credible museums and preservation endeavors
must meet the muster of a 501(c)3.

Can anyone explain why a group of individuals who are willing to invest their hearts, passion, labor and treasure in any preservation effort never seem to be numbered amonst the faithful when discussions of this sort take place?

Can't speak for others, but our Museum is a 501(c)3 run by the very group of the individuals you describe.

Wesley

I realize, from your past posts on this forum, that you express an anti not-for-profit attitude. I get it, it must come from a bad experience or experiences you have had in the past. You have a strong preference for private preservation.

However, Mr. Bernard is a hard-working volunteer at several museums. He's invested his hearts, passion, labor and treasure into many preservation efforts. As such, he is amongst the faithful when he has this discussion. The same for Mr. Paulson.

If you have an anti-non profit bias, that's your thing, but do not grind your axe against those who ask these serious and important questions for those of us who partake in the "foolishness" of non-proft preservation.

I am reminded of a discussion I had with fellow museum members when a major reorganization was planned that would move us away from the 12" to the foot model RR club pattern. One type of organization that was brought up was a zoo, since we, like the zoological gardens, were providing a habitat for endangered species.

Bob, I guess a 12" to the foot model RR club can call itself a museum. Look at this picture I found on the Internet while searching for definitions. The caption says it all.


Now I wonder if the IRS would give them 501(c)(3) status. Then we could write off our beer drinking and tuba playing! (-:

And I have nothing against collectors -- just that their collections are not museums. They could be with alot of work.

I'm currently at Seashore Trolley Museum. There are 77 buses stored here due mainly to one collector. Many are far back in the Maine woods and Mother Nature is systematically reclaiming them. They are certainly not part of the museum's collection. Unless you are into watching rust and corrosion happen, they teach nothing. None are on display. A couple of junkers are out front for visitors to walk into, but they certainly are not museum-quality displays.

< you express an anti not-for-profit attitude. >

I do not have an anti not-for-profit attitude. What I do have a problem with is the notion that in order to be considered a credible preservationist you must surrender to the 501(c)3 regimen of accountability.

There are some very significant preservationists out there that do very commendable things with historic artifacts. Bennett Levin comes to mind.

Don't be so defensive. I thought forums like this were open to trains (no pun intented) of thought that fell outside the specs of the holy grail.

Taking a POV from the art world, if a private collection is placed on public display, isn't it then part of the context of a "museum?" of course, the entity floating the display usually does some form of interpretation.......

There's a lot of gray area historically around the concept. Dr Groman's Rail City was part museum, part attraction.....but a successful museum needs to BE an attraction. The old house and railway facility now run as a museum in Greenwood, SC, was originally a priviately owned (and privately collected) bunch of things on an interesing bit of property and operated by the private party that built it as a museum. Probably nonprofit by default, not intent.

Madame Tussaud's and Barnum's come to mind as examples of privately operated museums, as does the Miami Serpentarium.

I think it isn't as common as the club of guys that grabbed all they could 50 years ago to run a full scale model railroad on Saturdays early incarnation in our industry. What we're seeing is the inability of most of those business models to sustain themselves in today's world. Nonprofit 501s seem more likely to be sustainable right now, but operated from an audience-directed and market-driven strategy of pursuing the stated missions that drive them. Discipline and accountability....good ideas for any business model that wishes to endure. If it must be forced onto any group from the outside, shame on them for waiting....we should all frequently take stock and evolve as necessary as the climates in which we operate change around us.

In 50 years, we might all be wondering what we were thinking when we chartered all those 501s.

We might also consider whether we are in fact a museum, or a time machine, or a group of reenactors, or entertainers, or just guys doing whatever we want to do. The Museum thing.....if we can't do it well, lets try another approach.

dave

In some rare instances, it could be called an elephant graveyard where railroad artifacts to to rot and return to the earth. Just sayin.............

Not nearly rare enough, Frisco........

dave

How about "An institution wherein the history of railroading is preserved, stored, exhibited, and interpreted"?

The level of each of those elements differs from museum to museum. In some railway museums, the degree of preservation is questionable. In others, the exhibiton is wonderful, but the interpretation is lacking. Every museum has their strong points and their weak points. There's always room to improve.

For example, let's look at different ways of exhibiting the history. Museum 1 may operate scale model railroads and maybe a nearby speeder ride. Museum 2 may have a large collection of rolling stock and operate a full-fledged railroad staffed by volunteers in historically accurate garb. Yet both museums may preserve, store, exhibit, and interpret the same history. It's been my experience that, if done well, a little local history museum housed in one small building and staffed by a couple volunteers can provide more activities for visitors, a more visceral experience, than a huge history museum where restored artifacts and signboards abound but interactive interpretation does not. But more on that in another thread.

As for this issue of 501C3 status, that is a relatively recent invention. It's been a boon to many orgnaizations, and hopefully it will continue to be, but that could change and, as Dave said, we could be regretting the move to not-for-profit status one day. If it works for your organization, sure, why not sign up to be not-for-profit. If that doesn't work for your business model, then don't sign up for it. Either way, I wish you and your organization success.

An important value of 501(c)(3) status has been increasing the likelihood of continuity of a collection after the death (or bankruptcy, loss of interest...) of the collection owner.

A railroad museum is a place where the partially insane volunteer to become completely insane--and do it over and over again, week after week!

Currently recovering of three consecutive weekends of Thomas... How insane is that? You have truly not experienced life at its fullest until you have done Thomas!

Mike

I wouldn't say "insane". If you know that the constant week after week efforts are crazy, I'd say it's moreover neurosis. It also gives people a reason to spend money on tools and paint for a given machine... Which can be justified for use with other projects. And didn't someone tell me something about winning the lottery? I think it was something along the lines of (and if the gentleman who gave me this lesson would chime in, if I am incorrect in my reminiscense) "Dylan, if you win the lottery, you can do just about anything". But I would also add in the dogged persistance and tenacity that comes with the preservation field. I can think of a multitude of individuals who poses such traits.

... like trying to nail jello to a tree.

What is it about railroad hobbyists that leads so many of us to try and fit things into neat "is" or "isn't" classifications? Why can't we accept that "Shades of Grey" is more than a trashy romance novel?

There are a huge variety of museums, as shown by the "Tuba Museum" above. Even if we eliminate the ones simply using the name to mean "My random collection is open to the public." there is still a huge spectrum from tiny one room collections of artifacts to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Granted, most museums are non-profit, that allows them to return any potential profits to the core mission of protecting and preserving the artifacts.

However, the presence or lack of non-profit status shouldn't be the only factor considered when evaluating a museum.