Dear Kate,
Thanks for your paper. You mentioned commentary on declining museum attendances that was contemporary with insistence on the usefulness of case-based and serial displays, but I wondered if you'd come across much commentary to suggest that the introduction of more immersive displays had prompted increases in visiting?
Thanks,
Mark
Hi Mark
Good question - I've not come across anything concrete in terms of numbers but there's certainly evidence of a lot of visitors, and good visitor feedback, on opening and for the first few years at least, for brand new museums like the Castle Museum, Abbey Museum and even for the Highland Folk Museum which was kinda out of the way. What would be interesting but I haven't looked at/for yet is what happened to existing museums which started to incorporate this sort of display - like National Museum of Wales, Liverpool Museum etc. I will add that to the many things I still want to find out!
Kate
Hi Kate,
Thanks, it's the latter situation I had in mind - the response to updated displays. Historic records of visitor numbers are a problem all of their own, but I guess I was wondering if there were anecdotal accounts of responses. All the best with finding out more!
Mark
