Seventeenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

There is no museum visit without visiting the museum shop. Museums are institutes which harness the power of inclusive understandings about the world around. Hitherto, museums have shown great facilitation in their designed curricular via various facets. Now, museums disseminate knowledge not only via their teaching curriculum, their meta narrative; but also, providing a rather enticing one through their gift shops. Gift shops are museums narrators and tour guides. It is essential how the institute’s mission is presented in the form of commodities and memorabilia, which tie to visitors’ experience. This autoethnographic study investigates the acquired experience through museum shop, and what we gain or learn from our visit and how it serves the greater mission and designed curriculum, and the level of inclusivity between the institute and its offered commodities for purchase. In South Dakota, it is striking how the individual experience in both Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse national parks’ gift shops are, by name, serving the same form of outdoor museum. However, both gift shops’ displays and experiences are far from alike. Through investigation, it can be shown that museum shops are a leading spectrum in our experience in that museum and no matter how inclusive or exclusive it is to the greater mission, our body of knowledge gets rather concrete post visiting the shop. The study focuses on the individual experience under various facets of the museum’s storytelling, by which understanding the role and impact of museum shop design and merchandise.