Hello readers!
First of all, we’d like to thank you for your fantastic response to our blog. We’re very excited that our blog is off to such a great start and look forward to sharing more FIDM Museum objects with you. Thanks for your support!
Our posts so far have focused primarily on contextualizing a variety of museum objects for you. We are also planning posts intended to provide insight into some of the “behind the scenes” aspects of museum life. In particular, we are interested in any questions you might have about working in a museum. For example, you may wonder about the many steps it takes to produce and mount an exhibition. Or you might be curious as to where and how we store all of our varied objects. Maybe you have a question about our Study Collection. You probably have a number of questions that haven’t even occurred to us!
We’re hoping that you will be willing to share your questions with us via comments on this post or by sending us an email. Any questions you submit will be answered in upcoming posts. We truly look forward to hearing from you, so send some questions our way!
Hi Rachel, this is a terrific new blog!
I volunteer at the Gallery of Costume here in Manchester (UK), and I’m very interested in the working practises of dress museums.
I’d love to know about the FIDM’s collecting policy – what are the ‘gaps’ in your collection that you’d love to fill, what kinds of garments are you actively seeking to acquire? Do you ever turn down donations because you already have items that are similar (this must require considerable tact and diplomacy!)?
It seems to me that many people assume that museums are happy to get anything and everything (and have an infinite storage capacity!), and I wonder if you think that making a museum’s collection policy more explicit and understandable would be helpful, or perhaps put off potential donors?
I’m also interested in everything else you’ve mentioned too!
Hi Sarah!
Thanks so much for your kind comment about our blog. Your questions raise a number of issues which (as you mention!) require careful consideration. We’ll do our best to address your questions in a future post!