in Sharing Our Horror Stories Amelia Gallo and Ashleigh Oatts

Small Museum Therapy: What We’ve Learned in Sharing Our Horror Stories

Amelia Gallo, Head of Community Engagement, Thomasville History Center Ashleigh Oatts, Education Coordinator, T. R. R. Cobb House Museum

Museum work can be hard, y’all. We put up with all kinds of craziness that our friends in other fields (except maybe teachers) could never dream of… and often come out of it with wild stories of visitors behaving badly, weather catastrophes, and creative problem solving. Given that so many of us at small museums wear many, many hats, it is often unclear which area under and outside of our control the next situation will come from.

We got the idea for a session to share our wild experiences after tuning in for “S*%T! When Things Go South(east), Stories About Collections Mishaps,” a session presented during the 2020 Virtual SEMC Conference. This sparked an idea: what if we could create a session that was part vent session, part therapy, and part “you’ll never believe what happened to me…” You know, the conversations that happen in between sessions at conferences and during evening events, but never as a formal session. Who better to center the conversation than those of us working at small museums? From there, “The Horrors, the Humors, and the Completely Improbables (But Happened to Us Anyways)” was born. From our brainstorming session came a few key themes we knew we had to discuss: boards, animals, event problems, and of course… poop stories. You know, the basics of museum life! We also wanted to make sure that we discussed some of our positive experiences as well.

We have been fortunate to hold this discussion at SEMC 2021 in Chattanooga, and the Georgia Association of Museums conference in 2022 in Thomasville, Georgia as well as an adapted version at the American Alliance of Museums 2022 Annual Meeting in Boston. From these conversations, we have learned SO much. Did you know that KY gel is great to keep in your tool kit in case an arm gets stuck where it should not? Or that pool noodles have lots of great uses and are chemically inert (except the red ones)? And that is just the tip of the iceberg… wildlife (and unexpected encounters with several different species) was a common point of conversation—our museums have so many bats!

Other subjects have included: “what to do when a category five hurricane delays the annual fundraiser,” “volunteers gone rogue,” and fun new ideas to improve events in a post-COVID world. A common refrain has been: “If our boards only knew half the stuff we deal with on a daily basis.” But until then, we will groan through our stories about some of our board

interactions and celebrate each other’s small victories. Our ability to make lemonade from lemons in moments of crisis shows our adaptability and creative thinking when things do not go as planned.

Feedback from attendees has given us our favorite description of the session: “museum therapy,” where we can get it all out and find the humor in unpleasant situations. It is nice to know that we are not alone when something unexpected happens because someone else has likely experienced something similar, or at least equally as awkward. Attendees have offered advice on what to do in the future, shared stories of success, and offered comfort that they too would have responded in the same way.

2022 AAM attendees at the Small Museums/ Historic House Professional Network NeighborHub sharing their unusual museum stories and networking.

2021 SEMC attendees at the “Horrors and Humors and Completely Improbables” session sharing their unusual museum stories.

For our friends at larger museums, you might ask “Why would you want to work in a small museum?” after hearing some of the mischief and mayhem that happens at our sites. However, these unusual events are all happening in your museums as well… you just might not hear about them! To answer the question, small museums can provide great opportunities to train and work in all areas of the field without switching jobs. Best of all, every day is different. What horrors, humors, and completely improbables have you faced? We cannot wait to hear all about it at a future conference! In the meantime, know that we commiserate with you, and celebrate your successes because we have all been there in one way or another.