In the first few months of assuming the position of Executive Director at my current institution, I was contacted by several people wanting our support in developing electronic media products with a local history connection. One of the challenges that every organization like mine has is which project to support and which ones to pass by. We neither can nor want to support everything with a historical connection.
What is interesting about talking to people about these projects is learning what they know, or think they know, about what we do. I can’t tell you the number of people I talk to who think that the answer to every conceivable historical question, whether or not it has anything to do with the local history which is our mission, is at our fingertips. They want to know the entire history of the house they’re living in or what George Washington had for breakfast when he stopped here in Frederick, MD. during the French and Indian War, or the proportion of men who wore knee breeches compared to long pants in 1810. And they are surprised we don’t have the answer immediately at hand.
Another misconception people who approach us with projects have is that we will do the research for them. Honestly, if we had the time to do the research for a podcast or an app or a book on famous local people, we would have done it and produced the product ourselves. Trust me, there are few projects that have crossed my threshold that staff haven’t already thought of, but we have limited time, staff and money, and must prioritize. Though we have done large projects on occasion, we have the day to day work of processing archival collections, cataloging museum artifacts, training docents, creating school programs, helping patrons, developing exhibits, etc. which must also be done. Oh, and then there are those who think that they should be able to get copies of photos from our collection for free and get permission to use them for free. The standard refrain of, “it will help get Frederick County history out to a larger audience” is what I hear most often, followed by “we really don’t have money in our budget for this project to pay for images.” I have come to believe in the first case, that unless you can prove to me that your documentary, or book or podcast will be picked up by a national distributor, your particular project will not get my organization any more than a handful increase in our audience. In the second case, this excuse for not paying our stated fees just shows me that either you are someone who knows nothing about budgeting a project or that you’re trying to take advantage of a small organization with the assumption that I don’t know that it is standard practice for institutions to charge fees for the use of their collections in a commercial product – either way, shame on you.
One of the projects my organization is supporting is the development of a walking tour app. When the developer came to me I had to really think his proposal over. A walking tour app was potential competition for our own walking tour program. We’ve spent years developing carefully researched tours and training our guides in the material and techniques needed to provide a quality tour. Will an electronic tour kill the human tour? I don’t think it will. There are some people who will enjoy downloading an app and walking around town consulting their smartphone for information about buildings, events and people. That’s fine. But others will want the interaction with a human being, the ability to ask a question and have it answered, to have a conversation. My belief is that there is room for both. I also believe that it is important for my organization to be involved with projects like the development of this app, to ensure historical accuracy. I have found that it is a real sap on resources to be constantly correcting people’s inaccurate perceptions of the past. It is also important for our organization to be recognized as a resource for solid historical information. So, carefully selecting projects will help develop the kind of reputation that I want for my organization – forward thinking, thoughtful and responsible.