Hi Evelyn, I’ll add a couple suggestions to Claudia’s (hi Claudia!)... My favorite best practice for conversational gallery programs, regardless of context, is small groups. It’s the best way to ensure everyone can participate, and in your case, ideal for conversing about small objects. You could consider a station-style program, where participants rotate from object to object in groups of ~5. If you don’t have enough folks to facilitate each small group, you could print out discussion prompts for each object to m ...Continue Reading

Hi Evelyn, Good for you for thinking about this in advance. I'd recommend having handling objects to pass around whenever possible, to help people explore things up close and to help people "see" all aspects of an object. These could be reproductions, or if not available, photos of them up close, so that people can explore without crowding around a case. I've purchased similar objects/reproductions or parts of things to pass around as handling objects on eBay and/or in antique shops etc. that became par ...Continue Reading

Hi everyone,I am writing to see if anyone has any resources/suggestions/best practices for leading conversational gallery programs with small objects. Here at the Morgan, many of our collection and exhibition objects feature books, manuscripts, incunabula and other material that can be tricky to get a group around and facilitate in depth discussion. We have thought about "explore and report" techniques, artwork reproductions, and even having folks take photos to refer to during the program. We ...Continue Reading

Hi Krista, We also experienced a similar situation last year.  We have always had extra clothes (shirts, sweatpants, leggings)  in various sizes, and now we also have feminine products.   We store them in a cabinet in the back of our coat room, where guest services and our educators can easily access them.   Our protocol is to give the needed items to the teacher or adult chaperone.  Staff are not allowed to be alone with a minor under any circumstances.  We have never had a mino ...Continue Reading

Angelica,This is something we've been discussing for years, and I'd love to hear some other perspectives.   The point we keep coming back to is that Membership is not tax deductible members receive benefits from being a member (discounts, newsletters, private invitations, etc)  We also belong to NARM and that level of membership provides the member with free access to many museums around the country so I would be curious how that would work.On the other hand, charitable donations in the fo ...Continue Reading

Hello everyone, My name is Jenny Leibert, and I am the Public Outreach Program Manager for the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where I support informal education and outreach efforts for NASA missions developed at APL. A colleague shared this opportunity with the listserv a couple of years ago (on my behalf), and I wanted to reconnect because we are still providing free EZIE-Mag magnetometers to science museums and science centers nationwide. Museums currently ...Continue Reading

HI all- I know this is a long shot for this group but thinking someone might have a reference for me. Our smaller sized history center (historic house museum and research archives) is considering moving away from the membership model where membership and donors are one in the same. Has anyone been through this I could chat with on success or challenges?Thank you!-- Angelica DiggsExecutive Director108 Orange Road, Montclair, NJ 07042. 973-744-1796www.montclairhistory.orgFollow us on Facebook and Instagram ...Continue Reading

Dear colleagues,   I am reaching out to this group to learn from your experience and policies around supporting student needs during tours—particularly situations involving personal care.   During a recent tour with a special needs school group, an unexpected situation arose that highlighted a gap in our current preparedness. The group arrived late and was already behind schedule when one of the students approached me for help. She had experienced an accident and quietly asked if I had access to clean under ...Continue Reading

Hi! At the Bullock we created a Field Trip Portal that gets sent to them after they have booked: https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/for-educators/field-trips/confirmation-planning-portal/. Teachers are also sent a check list to guide them through portal. Best, *Reagan Cain* (she/her) Senior Education Programs Specialist Education Department Bullock Texas State History Museum *From:* talk@museum-ed.org <talk@museum-ed.org> *Sent:* Friday, May 8, 2026 6:35 PM *To:* talk at museum-ed.org <talk@museu ...Continue Reading

Andrea, Here is a link to field trips from Science Museum Oklahoma. There is extra info on the faq page within that link. Field Trips sciencemuseumok.org Most of it works well, chaperones and parents are one part that does not. Info goes to the teachers and often is not passed on. Hope it is helpful. Greg Sent from my iPhone On May 8, 2026, at 3:51?PM, Zita Cup Choy educator@iolanipalace.org [talk at museum-ed.org] <talk@museum-ed.org> wrote: ? Re: [talk] Field Trip Guides Our information ...Continue Reading