Program Spotlight

Outreach Education
The Mobile Museum
Justin McInteer & Keisha Bolling, Autry National Center

For over twenty-five years museum education departments have been pushing the confines of the traditional museum space and heading onto the streets through community outreach programs. One of the more visible forms of these programs is the mobile museum, or museum on wheels, that have been developed by numerous museums across the country. By exploring the demographics of those who attend museums, it immediately becomes evident that most museums are serving only a small portion of the community as a whole. The development of a museum on wheels not only pushes the borders of the museum itself, but it has the potential to interact with an entirely new audience. And in the case of working with children, it has the ability to nurture curiosity and create a lifetime love of museums.

For the last year and a half the Autry Museum of Western Heritage has been host to a traveling truck program called Mervyn’s Moving Mission. As the name of this vehicle implies, Mervyn’s, a west coast based department store, is the primary supporter of this program. This unique partnership between a corporation and a cultural institution has proved to be a successful collaboration for both entities.

Mervyn’s development of this outreach program is part of their ongoing dedication to the education and preservation of the California Missions. The Missions in California played an important role in the early European settlement of the American West. Each year Mervyn’s creates a partnership with a museum somewhere in California to facilitate the educational instruction of the Mervyn’s Moving Mission. For its inaugural year, the Mervyn’s Moving Mission partnered with the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to bring the traveling museum to 4^th grade students throughout Central California. For years two and three Mervyn’s partnered with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage to bring the program to Southern California. Mervyn’s provides the truck/museum and an annual budget for the program while the partnering museum is responsible for the daily operations, scheduling, and teaching staff.  

One of the great strengths of Mervyn’s Moving Mission and similar truck programs is the opportunity to present participants with a hands-on environment. During the course of the two-hour program, children assume the role of history detectives as they study replicas of mission artifacts. The program is also designed to increase the children’s knowledge and appreciation of Native American culture and traditions by introducing Native American musical instruments, songs and language into the classroom portion of the program. This section of the program was developed with the assistance of Native American advisors. Their participation helped to insure that Native American culture would be presented as one that is alive and thriving today, and not simply a distant relic of the past. The hands-on aspect of the program culminates with each child making a basket in traditional Native American fashion.

Outreach programs like Mervyn’s Moving Mission can be used as a resource to inform teachers, parents, and students about additional programs and activities the museum offers. They can also serve as introductions to the museum experience for members of the community that may otherwise perceive museums as inaccessible institutions due to geographic or financial restraints.

Justin McInteer & Keisha Bolling are Outreach Teachers at the Autry National Center.