Childhood Museum Memories and Adult Visitation: does museum type matter?

Over the past several weeks we have been sharing our preliminary results from our recent research into childhood museum memories and how they might affect adult perceptions of museums.  We fielded an excellent question that essentially asked, “Are adults who responded to a history-based museum more likely to remember visiting a history-based museum as children than other museum respondents?” 

To find out, we decided we wanted to go back and re-code by genre.  That is, all respondents were asked to take our survey by some museum.  We had already pre-sorted results so that respondents could be segmented into four main genres:  those who responded to an art museum, history-based museum, children’s museum, or science center.  (To find out more about the initial survey scope, click here.  To find out more about our methodology on coding memories, click here.)

But there was a big problem with simply coding by museum type in this way.  The samples are not the same.  That is, respondents from art museums and history-based museums tend to be older, meaning memories from science centers and children’s museums might be under-represented.  We needed to keep the samples consistent, so we ONLY pulled the memories of moms in their 30s and 40s, and coded them.  This segment was also large enough to code across all four museum genres.

So what did we learn?  The short answer is yes.  There is a correlation.

• History-based museum moms were 1.4x to 2.7 x more likely to have a history-based museum memory than moms from the other genres
• Art museum moms were 1.7x to 2.3x more likely to remember an art museum
• Science center moms were 1.5x more likely to remember a science museum

Yet when it came to children’s museums it wasn’t true.  That is, moms from children’s museums were not any more likely to remember children’s museums.  (This doesn’t totally surprise us, however, as relatively few respondents remember children’s museums in the first place.  See our initial post on memories, and scroll down to “initial findings” to find out why.)  But children’s museum moms were actually the most likely to remember science center, being 1.3x more likely than science center moms (and over 2x more likely than history-based and art museum moms). 

So yes.  There appears to overall be a correlation between the type of museum remembered in an early childhood museum memory, and the type of museum an adult engages with enough to be on an e-mail list and respond to a survey for.  Which means that creating memorable museum experiences for children is important for museums of all types!

What do you think?  What do you remember from your childhood museum experiences?  To share, simply click on "comments" below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to http://reachadvisors.typepad.com to add a comment.)

Comments

[Nina Simon]

Funny, my only real childhood memories of museums (or at least positive ones) are of children's museums. I realize I'm younger than the majority of your sample, but I'd be curious to see how the experience of children's museums as a child impacts expectations of other museums as an adult. I have lots of friends in their 20s and 30s who never visit museums and will often say things like, "I remember as a kid we'd go to the children's museum/science center and you could touch everything and do stuff. I wish other museums were that way."

If you are seeing lots of families who only visit children's museums and then opt out, those kids may grow up to have some high and potentially unrealistic expectations for interactivity in cultural settings as adults. And I think that presents an awesome reason to make "adult" museums more engaging.

[Kathrine Schlageck]

I remember going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my Grandmother at age 5. We would visit exhibitions and then have tea in the courtyard. I remember seeing an Egyptian exhibition and murals/frescoes from Venice after the flood. Oddly enough, today I am an art museum educator.

Today, I often work with pre-service teachers who remember coming on field trips with me when they were in grade school. They can tell me about projects, specific artworks, and discussions. It is gratifying to know that a positive experience sticks with them over the course of 12-13 years.

[Melissa Peterson]

I guess it really does not matter for me, as I have memories of several types of museums, though historic sites have by far become my favorite (today I work at one). I loved the Children's Museum when I was young - even to the point being the only girl in attendance at a classmate's all boy birthday party when in the first grade! I wasn't going to go until I learned it was at the Children's Museum. I have strong memories of the Science Museum of Minnesota (which I am a member of today) because of my love for dinasaurs in elementary school (I always made my family stop at the hall where they were displayed) and their getting the Jurassic Park blockbuster exhibit with all the props. That was an amazing experience of just me and my Dad, I think I still have the brochure . . . Key artifacts at the Minnesota History Center (brand new when I was in the second grade) have stuck with me - espeically huge birchbark canoe in the MN A to Z exhibit which is no longer on display, and carding wool in another. I have no childhood memories of visiting art museums, and perhaps as a result, I have only a small interest in visiting these as an adult.

[Elisabeth Nevins]

I spent the better part of my childhood being dragged from historic site to historic site, driving around New England looking at old houses, exploring my gramma's antique shop, etc. And today I'm a museum education consultant working for historic sites and museums. Go figure!

Old Sturbridge Village is a particularly happy memory for me. We went often and I liked that there was so much to explore and witness and touch. And the mac and cheese in the restaurant was really yummy. When I was older we started going to art museums. I remember the seeing the Georgia O'Keefe and Matisse shows in NYC and Monet in Boston.

I have much less vivid memories of science or children's museums. We definitely didn't go to them with much frequency. Though, I find that as the mother of a toddler, science and children's museums are the places I'm most comfortable taking the little one. We go to the zoo, aquarium or children's museum at least once a month if not more often.

The MFA has just started a toddler program which was timely as I want to see what strategies they were using with kids in art museums so I could start working them into the repertoire. We tried the Harvard Art Museums a few weeks ago and it was pretty funny to see the reaction of the guards. Took them a while to relax and see that while we wanted her to explore, we weren't going to let her destroy anything.

Still trying to figure out a historic site to bring her to. We may meet up with a friend at OSV later this winter and I know the USS Constitution Museum is very family-friendly so those are probably next on the list...I'm thinking my kid will definitely be an adult museum visitor!

[G. Yvonne Harris]

My father was a military man and travel much. So he was a big fan of taking us on educational trips, museums included. As an artist I love art galleries and museums and shared this with my niece now 12, since she was 2 years old. We had a video "Lienna in Monet's Garden" which she (then two years old) adored, including the little doll that came with it. We decided that it was time for her to see a real Monet at the National Gallery of Art. Three weeks later her mother called me. While shopping in a major bookstore my niece toddled over to a stack of art books, pointed at one of the covers and chirped, "Look Moma, that's a Monet" I was soooo proud. She still loves the museum.

[James Chung, Reach Advisors]

Thanks for all the comemnts. Nina, I'm particularly intrigued by your question on adult expectations about interactivity among those who just went to children's museums and then opted out. That's a really tricky one since many of those visits to children's museums are at a point in time before long-term memories really kick in, but our gut tells us that there's something about those children's museum visits that we need to continue to examine in the current data set and future research. Would love to hear more thoughts on that point from you and others.

For everyone out there, we really welcome various questions and hypotheses since that sometimes leads to some really good lines of inquiry as various data rolls in. While we can't always answer every question, we're excited about continuing to dig deeper.

And Nina, I should also mention that I really enjoyed the open letter from last week, and in particular, the caption on the photo: "This IS a quality museum experience. Get used to it."

[Mary Knapp]

As a child, I visited the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art in Kansas City many times with my parents. They were not particularly interested in art, but it was a nice place to go and I have a feeling in the 1930s it was free. The American Indian Exhibits were in the basement and I can remember very clearly each time I visited standing in front of a diorama displaying a Navajo Indian woman weaving. She looked so real; I felt that if I stared hard enough and long enough, she would move. I breathed for her, attempting to make her come alive, even though I knew in my heart it was futile. I think it was the first time I realized that there were people in the world who were not like me.

Upstairs on the second floor I had a similar experience. There was a row of period rooms that enchanted me. I tried so hard to imagine what it would be like to live in those rooms. They were certainly not like any home I had ever seen!

Fast forward half a century. As a newly retired transplant to New York City, I visited the Merchant's House Museum, an historic house built in 1832 that is for the most part furnished with the original owner's belongings. Today I help coordinate the docent program there and I can say it is the most satisfying work I have ever done: training others to help our guests apprehend history.