Volume 9, Number 3
May 1985

Little-Known Facts About Museums

The American Association of Museums has just published Museums for a New Century: a Report of the Commission on Museums for a New Century. In the brochure describing this report there are some attention-grabbing facts and figures.

Excerpts:

• The number of museums in the country increases every year; in Texas alone there are six times as many as there were 16 years ago.
• The United States is virtually the only major country in the world without a national policy or plan for the conservation of objects in museums.
• The number of objects in the care of America's museums is estimated at one billion.
• Eleven cooperative conservation centers around the country are helping small and medium-sized museums meet their conservation needs.

The report gives 16 recommendations to guide America's museums as they move into the 21st century. It costs $17.95 for nonmembers of AAM, plus $1.50 postage, and can be ordered from American Association of Museums, P0 Box 33399, Washington 1)2 20033.