Children's museum
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be manipulated by children. The theory behind such exhibits is that activity can be as educational as instruction, especially in early childhood. Most children's museums are nonprofit organizations, and many are run by volunteers or by very small professional staffs.[2]
International professional organizations of children's museums include the Association of Children's Museums (ACM), which was formed in 1962 as the American Association of Youth Museums (AAYM) and in 2007 counted 341 member institutions in 23 countries,[2] and The Hands On! Europe Association of Children's Museum (HO!E), established in 1994, with member institutions in 34 countries as of 2007.[3] Many museums that are members of ACM offer reciprocal memberships, allowing members of one museum to visit all the others for free.
History
The first children's museum in the world was the Brooklyn Children's Museum, founded in 1899. The next five in order of their founding were:
- Boston Children's Museum (1913) [4]
- The Detroit Children's Museum (1917) [5]
- The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (1925) [6]. According to the ACM, this is the world's largest children's museum.[2]
- The Children's Museum (West Hartford, CT) (1927) [7]
- The Duluth Children's Museum (1930) [8].
By 1975 there were approximately 38 children's museums in the United States. An additional 80 institutions opened between 1976 and 1990, and more than 130 opened between 1990 and 2007.[2] As of 2007, ACM estimated that there were approximately 80 children's museums in the planning phase.
The children's museum concept has spread worldwide from the United States. Le Musée des Enfants in Brussels was started in 1978, inspired by Boston Children's Museum[9]. The Boston museum also inspired the Museo Pambata in Manila, which opened in 1994.[10] The Children's Museum of Caracas, Venezuela, became Latin America's first museum for children when it opened in 1982.[11] The Children's Museum of Bogotá, Colombia, followed it in 1986.[12] Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax, England, established in 1992, claims the title of the United Kingdom's first hands-on children's museum.[13] Austria's first museum for children was ZOOM Children’s Museum in Vienna, established in 1994.[14] Korea's first children's museum is the Samsung Children's Museum in Seoul, which opened in 1995 under the sponsorship of the Samsung Culture Foundation.[15]
Examples of Children's museum
Brooklyn Children's Museum
Coordinates:
| Established | 1899 |
|---|---|
| Location | 145 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, USA
|
| Website | Brooklyn Children's Museum |
The Brooklyn Children's Museum is a general purpose museum in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. Founded in 1899, it was the first museum in the United States and some believe, the world,[16] to cater specifically to children and is unique in its location, predominantly a residential area.[17] Housed in a multi-level underground gallery,[18] the museum underwent an expansion and renovation to double its space, re-opened on September 20, 2008, and it is slated to be the first green museum in New York City.
Exhibits
The museum's collection and exhibitions reflect its long history as well as the changes in children's educational needs over time and the changing environment.[17] Its original focus was the presentation of natural science to children raised in an urban environment, but following World War II, technology and cultural awareness became more important.[18] The underground gallery in which the museum was located following a 1975 move provided the ideal location for arranging evolving exhibits.[19] The museum was not intended to solely attract the interest of a young audience, but rather to engage their minds from a young age.[20]Children contribute extensively in the planning of museum exhibits, and have done so for a significant part of its history.[21][22]
History
|
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since March 2008. |
The Museum was founded following a proposal from the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (now the Brooklyn Museum) on December 16, 1899 in the Adams House.[20] The museum operated under the direction of the Brooklyn Institute and received approximately $70,000 in funds from New York City each year to supplement the donations it received. Attendance grew quickly, with monthly visitation exceeding 13,000 by October, 1905.[20]
In 1929, the museum opened the Smith House annex. Eleanor Roosevelt attended the ceremony. [citation needed] In 1930, the Works Progress Administration supplied hundreds of workers to the museum, which thrived in the Great Depression.[23] By October 1930, monthly visitation had reached 60,000[24] and by 1939, the museum had received move than 9 million visitors since it opened 40 years prior.[16]
In 1975, the museum moved to an award-winning new space, housed underneath Brower Park following the demolition of the Victorian houses that served as its prior home. [18] In 1996, the museum was once again renovated at a cost of $7 million to include miniature amphitheaters and a number of new galleries. [17] Two years later, it became a part of Heart of Brooklyn, a cultural partnership established to promote tourism to Brooklyn.[25]
In 2005, it was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.[26][27]
In the same year, work began on the $43 million dollar expansion that was to nearly double the size of the museum,[28] and handle more than 400,000 visitors each year.[29] As part of its commitment to environmental integrity and energy efficiency, the institution has taken credit for being the first New York City museum to use geothermal wells for heating and cooling purposes.[30]
See also
- Museum of Childhood (disambiguation page)
- Toy museum
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Go Colorado article that mentions that Buell Children's Museum was ranked second in the United States in 2002
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Association of Children's Museums website
- ↑ Hands On! Europe website
- ↑ Boston Children's Museum
- ↑ Detroit Children's Museum
- ↑ The Indianapolis Children's Museum
- ↑ The Children's Museum
- ↑ Duluth Children's Museum
- ↑ Le Musée des Enfants
- ↑ Museo Pambata
- ↑ Children's Museum of Caracas
- ↑ Children's Museum of Bogotá
- ↑ Eureka! The Museum for Children
- ↑ ZOOM Children’s Museum
- ↑ Samsung Children's Museum
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Laboratories of Patriotism. Time (1939-01-23). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Jesus Rangel (1987-11-29). A Children's Museum Adjusts to a New Brooklyn. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-14. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "adj" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Andrew L. Yarrow (1989-10-13). New Children's Museum Joins 2 Old Favorites. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
- ↑ Sunday Outing; Museum is 90, but Young at Heart. The New York Times (1990-07-08). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 The Brooklyn Children's Museum Does Its Work. The New York Times (1905-11-12). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Anita Brenner (1942-10-04). A Museum Run for and by Children. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Curators Sought. The New York Times (1962-02-22). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Denslow (1939-01-08). Children Like Their Museums. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Brooklyn Children's Museum Wins Patrons With After-School Games in the Sciences. The New York Times (1930-12-07). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Simon Watson (2001-09). Heart of Brooklyn. Gotham Gazette. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Sam Roberts (2005-07-06). City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
- ↑ Carnegie Corporation of New York Announces Twenty Million Dollars in New York City Grants. Carnegie Corporation of New York (2005-07-05). Retrieved 2008-03-12.
- ↑ Children's Museum Marks Construction Progress of $43m Expansion. New York Beacon (2005-11-09). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Brooklyn Children's Museum Begins Expansion. New York Amsterdam News (2005-1-05). Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ↑ Viñoly completes Brooklyn museum extension. BD Online (2008-09-23). Retrieved 2008-09-23.
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
