A mobile museum is a museum educational outreach program that bring the museum to the people rather than vice versa. Typically they can be in Recreational Vehicles (RVs) or trucks/trailers that drive to schools, libraries and rural events. Their business model is to use grant or donor support, as they goal is to make the museum exhibit accessible to underserved populations. Below are some examples of mobile museums.
"Shark in a Bus"
An ex MTT Perth 1957 vintage Leyland Worldmaster Bus featuring a 5m long Great White Shark (White Pointer) and hundreds of marine objects collected around Australia primarily in the 1960s and 70s. This private collection toured Australia and contains the shark purported to have inspired the artist Damien Hurst. Shark in a Bus is completely self funded.
"Van of Enchantment"
A pair of RV museum vans with themes related to cultural history that operate in New Mexico (NM), USA (run by the NM Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA)), with primary funding from the NM Department of Transportation.
"Strange Old Things" The Mobile Museum
Based in Wiltshire, UK, it aims to tell the story of Britain through interaction with items from various periods. It focuses on donations of items as opposed to money and operates out of a period military tent.
Go van Gogh (Dallas Museum of Art)
School outreach program targeting children in school grades 1â€"6, operating in North Texas, USA.
VanGo! (Susquehanna Art Museum)
Brings art works to schools, community festivals, retirement communities, and businesses. Runs during the school year. Started in 1992.
Moveable Museum (AMNH)
The Moveable Museum was produced and managed by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (NYC) under the auspices of the Gottesman Center for Science Teaching and Learning. The program is available free of charge to all schools in the five boroughs of New York City and consists of one themed vehicle outfitted with hands-on, interactive exhibits covering paleontology. The Moveable Museum formerly also included vehicles about anthropology and astronomy. The Moveable Museum program has been in operation since 1993, in which time it has visited over 700 schools in NYC and many libraries.
- Most recent Moveable Museum vehicle (donated to Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs in 2013)
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- Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries (Grades 3-8)
- Former Moveable Museum vehicles
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- Paleontology of Dinosaurs (Grades K-2)
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- Paleontology of Dinosaurs is the oldest Moveable Museum vehicle currently in operation. Active since 1998, this vehicle is focused on teaching children how paleontologists use fossils to study dinosaurs and other ancient life.
- Structures & Culture (Grades 3â€"8)
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- The Structures & Culture Moveable Museum allows students to traverse the globe and enter the homes of three modern nomadic culturesâ€"the Gabra of Kenya, the Mongols of Mongolia and the Blackfeet of Montana. By studying actual pieces of material culture, students become anthropologists and investigate how culture allows people to use various environmental resources to meet basic human needs.
- Discovering the Universe (Grades 6â€"12)
Discovering the Universe currently resides at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Planetarium.
See also
- Virtual museums â€" museum exhibits that are online
References
