Don't touch!

I should have known I’d end up working with museums when my first words were ‘don’t touch’.

Besides the fact baby Amy absolutely smashed it out of the park with two words and a contraction as a ‘first word’ (this also explains a lot about me), that is literally the first rule of museums.

Or is it?

There are many reasons why you might not be able to touch an item, ranging from conservation to poisonous materials (y’all remember our pals lead and mercury, right?). But recent studies show that physically touching an object can make it easier to find personal meaning in it and help it stick in your mind. Object-based learning has even been found to be more effective than a lecture or talk!

I’ve seen a few museums (shoutout to some of my clients) successfully introduce ‘touching’. Whether it’s a replica item, a dedicated tactile zone, or a whole museum filled with donated items*, it seems the old ways of keeping everything behind barriers might be becoming a little… out of touch.

Want to open your museum's (touchable) objects up to an English-speaking audience? Get in touch for translations that help everyone share in the experience.

*Like Clayton Hall in Manchester, where my dad volunteered as a guide. My mum actually touted the fact ‘you can touch anything you want here!’ as the main selling point…

**Like my mum, apparently.