Possible Museum Closure
According to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), in fiscal 2007–2008 total visitation was 14,017, 655 of which paid admission to bring in $1,722, while the remaining 13,362 were "recreational and non ticketed visitors". The fiscal 2006–2007 operations budget for the site and its one full-time and two part-time staff was $170,940, with $15,088 (8.8 percent) from the Friends of Conrad Weiser House and the rest from the state.
On March 4, 2009 the PHMC released a report which examined its twenty-two museums and historic sites and recommended discontinuing operations at six, including the Conrad Weiser Homestead. They proposed to stop staffing the homestead but "continue to maintain the site as a passive recreational and memorial park" based on "negligible potential for growth or substantial increases in revenue streams". The report suggested several options, including more signs to interpret the site's history, conversion of the visitor center to rental housing, and a possible annual event or more responsibility for the homestead given to the Friends and local groups. The report's recommendations became more urgent when the state sought to cut $8.8 million from the PHMC budget. Public meetings are planned.
Read more about this topic: Conrad Weiser Homestead
Famous quotes containing the word museum:
“The Museum is not meant either for the wanderer to see by accident or for the pilgrim to see with awe. It is meant for the mere slave of a routine of self-education to stuff himself with every sort of incongruous intellectual food in one indigestible meal.”
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