Mobile museum explained

A mobile museum is a museum educational outreach program that bring the museum to the people rather than vice versa.[1] 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.[2] Below are some examples of mobile museums.

TAME Trailblazer

The Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME)[3] is a nonprofit founded in 1976 that maintains two traveling STEM-museums-on-wheels that visit thousands of students a year across Texas. Established in 1980 as the Expo-Tex traveling engineering exhibit,[4] the Trailblazer program expanded in 2013 to a fleet of two upgraded 40-ft trailers. Both Trailblazer I and Trailblazer II contain five interactive STEM exhibit areas: Aerodynamics, Biotechnology, Energy, Space, and Weather. Exhibits include Robotic Surgery, Van de Graaff Generators, Virtual Reality Spacewalk, Green Screen Technology, Thermal Imaging, Wind Tunnels, and more.[5]

VanGo! Museum on Wheels

The "VanGo" was founded in 1992 by the Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The program gives visitors an authentic art museum experience on board a vehicle retrofitted with a gallery space. Since its inception, the VanGo program has occupied three vehicles: a city transportation bus, a school bus, and presently a 31-foot-long Winnebago Sightseer. Annually rotating exhibitions feature original artworks in a variety of media. In addition, visitors learn about careers, museum etiquette, and art history through a variety of interactive stations.

Moveable museum

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 was available free of charge to all schools in the five boroughs of New York City. The Moveable Museum formerly included vehicles about paleontology, anthropology, and astronomy. The Moveable Museum program was in operation from 1993 through 2012, in which time it visited over 700 schools in NYC and many libraries.[6] [7] [8] [9] The Paleontology of Dinosaurs (Grades K-2) was active from 1998 through 2012, and focused on teaching children how paleontologists use fossils to study dinosaurs and other ancient life.[10] The Structures & Culture (Grades 3–8) exhibit let students study actual pieces of material culture, and become anthropologists while investigating how culture allows people to use various environmental resources to meet basic human needs.[11]

The Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries mobile museum was donated to the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs in 2013 and remains in operation as of 2024.[12] [13] The Paleontology of Dinosaurs is the oldest vehicle in operation. The Structures & Culture allows students to enter the homes of three modern nomadic cultures, the Gabra of Kenya, the Mongols of Mongolia and the Blackfeet of Montana. Discovering the Universe (Grades 6–12) resides at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Planetarium.[14] [15]

Other mobile museums

ANO Mobile MuseumCreated to travel into communities in Ghana by Nana Oforiatta Ayim and the ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge.[16] [17] [18] [19] In The Guardian,[20] Charlotte Jansen writes: "Ayim said she started to reflect on the museum model in Africa while working at the British Museum. Struck by how differently African objects were encountered in display cabinets in the UK with how they were actively used in festivals back home, she began to think about how material culture could be preserved and presented in a way that was more in keeping with local traditions."
  • Mundaring Travelling MuseumA purpose-built enclosed trailer featuring artefacts and photographs from the areas in the Shire of Mundaring. The Mundaring Travelling Museum was official opened at the 2019 Blue Sky Festival, by Cr John Saw (Shire President), Owen Briffa (Curator) and Matthew Hughes (MLA - Kalamunda). Located in the Perth Hills, the Travelling Museum visits schools, special celebrations and local community events.[21]
  • Shark in a busAn ex MTT Perth 1957 vintage Leyland Worldmaster Bus featuring a 5 m long great white shark (White Pointer) and hundreds of marine objects collected around Australia primarily in the 1960s and '70s. This private collection tours Australia and contains the shark purported to have inspired the artist Damien Hirst. Shark in a Bus is completely self funded.[22]
  • Van of EnchantmentA pair of RV museum vans with themes related to cultural history that operates in New Mexico and is run by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, with primary funding from the Department of Transportation. The grant-supported program focuses on children in elementary schools, especially those in remote and rural communities.[23] [24]
  • Strange Old ThingsBased 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.[25]
  • Go van Gogh (Dallas Museum of Art)School outreach program targeting children in school grades 1–6, operating in North Texas, USA.[26]
  • See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Bring the Museum to you! . . California, USA . 20 April 2014.
    2. http://www.idea.org/blog/2011/04/27/mobile-museums-on-a-truck-history-and-science-delivered/ 'Mobile museums (on a truck): History and science delivered'
    3. Web site: Home. www.tame.org. en-gb. 2018-07-27.
    4. Web site: History. www.tame.org. en-gb. 2018-07-27.
    5. Web site: Trailblazer Concepts and Exhibits. www.tame.org. en-gb. 2018-07-27.
      • Web site: Moveable Museum . National Lab Day . 2010-12-03 . https://archive.today/20130419024731/http://www.nationallabday.org/resources/all?filter%5Bprovided_by%5D=American+Museum+of+Natural+History . 2013-04-19 . dead .
      • Web site: Moveable Museum . Stuyvesant Town Events . 2010-12-03 .
      • Web site: At Staten Island School, a Moving Way to Learn . SILive.com . 2008-10-30 . 2010-12-03 .
      • Web site: Dinosaurs, Moveable Museums, and Science! . United States Department of Education . November 8, 2010 . 2010-12-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101115074714/http://www.ed.gov/oese-news/dinosaurs-moveable-museums-and-science . November 15, 2010 . dead .
    6. Web site: Paleontology of Dinosaurs (K-2) . American Museum of Natural History . 2010-12-03.
    7. Web site: Anthropology: Structures & Culture . American Museum of Natural History . 2010-12-03.
    8. Web site: Boodhoo. Thea. Saving Mongolia's dinosaurs and inspiring the next generation of paleontologists. Earth Magazine. American Geosciences Institute. 15 March 2017.
    9. Web site: Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries (3-8) . American Museum of Natural History . 2010-12-03.
    10. Web site: Astronomy: Discovering the Universe . American Museum of Natural History . 2010-12-03.
    11. Web site: Astronomy: Discovering the Universe . Suffolk County, NY Government . 2010-12-03.
    12. Web site: Rethinking space in Accra, Ghana. Billie Adwoa . McTernan. africasacountry.com. en-US. 2016-01-21. 2020-03-18.
    13. Web site: Historian Launches "Living History Hubs" in Ghana. McCool. Alice. 2015-12-09. Vice. en. 2020-03-18.
    14. Web site:
      1. Goals: Nana Oforiatta-Ayim Is the Ghanaian Creative Preserving Africa's Artistic Past
      . Akinyi. Ochieng. 2017-08-31. OkayAfrica. en. 2020-03-18.
    15. Web site: The Kiosk Museum : A Space of Exploration & Inclusive Representation. ADA. 2016-09-27. ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio. en-US. 2020-03-18.
    16. News: Jansen. Charlotte. Ghana's first travelling museum ready to hit the road. 2016-11-08. The Guardian. 2020-03-18. en-GB. 0261-3077.
    17. Web site: https://lostmundaring.wixsite.com/lostmundaringsurroun/exhibitions.
    18. Web site: Giant 5m Great White Shark on view! Shark in a Bus, mobile museum . Sharkinabus.com . We travel Australia in our 1957 Leyland Royal Tiger bus, demystifying sharks and sharing our world class private museum. See our calendar for tour dates.. 2014-04-20.
    19. Web site: Mobile museums: History and science delivered. April 27, 2011. IDEA.org.
    20. Web site: Home . Van of Enchantment . 2014-04-20.
    21. Web site: strange old things . Strange-old-things-the-mobile-museum.co.uk . 2014-04-20.
    22. Web site: Go van Gogh After School Program. dma.org.