Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 08 03 JT

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Page 23 of 150 volunteer or Museum staff member to the Jordinelli House and Tomeo House, which are kept locked when not being toured. Visitors often share stories about themselves or where they are from, and it is not unusual for visitors to teach the staff and volunteers about specific artifacts. The typical experience ends after the visitors have toured all three buildings, at which point personal goodbyes are then said. The Museum staff and volunteers gauge visitors' motivations and interests in determining the length of tours. There is an attempt to go along with the visitors' interests instead of specifying a pre-set, predetermined length of time in each building. Different visitor groups are sometimes combined for visits to the Jordinelli House and Tomeo House. People's Off -Site and Intangible Usage of the Museum Most of the usage of the Louisville Historical Museum takes place in ways that do not involve attendance at the Museum itself, making usage particularly difficult to measure and count. Our Museum is set apart from many other museums in the extent to which it serves people in many ways other than through on- site visits, such as through the following outreach programs and services. • The membership program, administered by the Foundation, is an essential vehicle through which people are kept informed about both Louisville history and Museum activities. Although the membership program is mostly made of members of the current Louisville community, it also keeps the Museum in communication with people who are from Louisville and who have moved away. As stated by museum consultants John Durel and Anita Nowery Durel with respect to museum administration in "A Golden Age for Historic Properties (AASLH History News, Summer 2007), "[L]eaders should replace the number of visitors with the number of members as the key indicator of success in achieving the mission." • Members and others reading The Louisville Historian are served by the Museum. The Museum sends The Louisville Historian to not only paying members, but also to area schools, educators, school libraries, and public libraries in the area. Other complimentary members include City officials, Museum volunteers, members of some boards and commissions, and board members of the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Business Association. About 900 copies are mailed each quarter, with an additional 250 being given out at the Museum, for a total of about 4,600 copies distributed per year. Additional information about The Louisville Historian is contained in the Appendices. • Many people use the museum by phone and email to obtain information, but they are not contributing to the foot traffic at the Museum. It is left up to the public as to whether they need to come to the Museum or if their needs are met through other forms of communication. • The Museum frequently initiates personal interactions that don't take place at the Museum at all, such as when the Museum staff tells visitors the location of the house their relatives lived in and the visitors then talk to the current residents, or when two distant branches of a family are put in contact with one another at their requests. • The Museum and Foundation play a touching role with respect to people who make memorial donations. These are monetary donations made in memory of someone who has died. The donations are listed in the next Louisville Historian and the person is thereby honored. In this way, people are able to honor deceased loved ones and it also informs out-of-town readers about who has passed away. At times, family members identify the Foundation as the preferred 15