Public and Corporate History Museums: Common Attributes and Critical Differences

Abstract

This study provides an examination of the purposes, functions and operations of public and corporate history museums. While there is a large body of published work devoted to the goals and typical activities of a public history museum, as well as a few sources which focus solely on corporate history museums, no study has provided a side-by-side view of both types of museums. Numerous government-sponsored entities have developed history museums in America, though private corporations have also initiated a significant number of these museums. Several published works exists regarding the mission, goals, and operations of pubic history museums.