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Publications. Museums write and publish different types. How can they help your research?
This isn't an exhaustive list of what you might expect but some examples of museum publications include:
- Annual Reports
- Newsletters
- Brochures
- Exhibit Catalogs/Books
- Exhibit Brochures
- Finding Aids/Research Guides
- Books
- Articles
- Magazines/Journals
Why does that matter? Well, remember that we are looking for two things in our research: a mention of an ancestor and social history.
An ancestor may be mentioned in a museum publication because:
- They donated money or items
- They volunteered
- They were museum staff
- They were somehow involved with the museum
- They advertised in the museum publication or sponsored an event
- They were the subject of an article or writings
- Their name was part of an index published by the museum (history, records, cemetery, etc).
I've used museum publications to find women I was researching. In one case a mid-19th century British woman I researched donated natural history specimens to a museum and was acknowledged in the newspaper for it. In another, the woman I was researching was a late-19th century painter and her paintings were donated by a friend to a museum. The museum's annual report listed her name, her parents (the subjects of the paintings), and her friend who donated the paintings.
So now that you are thinking about museum publications, let's spend some time looking at where you can find them. See you tomorrow!
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