Editing Museum (section)

==Types==
[[File:Den Haag Louwman Museum 005.jpg|thumb|[[Classic car]]s displayed at an [[automotive museum]], which could be considered both a history and technology museum]]
;Background
There is no definitive standard as to the set types of museums. Additionally, the museum landscape has become so varied, that it may not be sufficient to use traditional categories to comprehend fully the vast variety existing throughout the world. However, it may be useful to categorize museums in different ways under multiple perspectives. Museums can vary based on size, from large institutions, to very small institutions focusing on specific subjects, such as a specific location, a notable person, or a given period of time. Museums also can be based on the main source of funding: central or federal government, provinces, regions, universities; towns and communities; other subsidised; nonsubsidised and private.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ginsburgh|first1=Victor|last2=Mairesse|first2=François|date=1997|title=Defining a Museum: Suggestions for an Alternative Approach|journal=Museum Management and Curatorship|publisher=Routledge|volume=16|pages=15–33| doi=10.1016/S0260-4779(97)00003-4 }}</ref>

It may sometimes be useful to distinguish between [[wikt:diachronic|diachronic]] museums which interpret the way its subject matter has developed and evolved through time (e.g., [[Lower East Side Tenement Museum]] and [[Diachronic Museum of Larissa]]), and [[wikt:synchronic|synchronic]] museums which interpret the way its subject matter existed at a certain point in time (e.g., the [[Anne Frank House]] and [[Colonial Williamsburg]]). According to [[University of Florida]] Professor Eric Kilgerman, "While a museum in which a particular narrative unfolds within its halls is diachronic, those museums that limit their space to a single experience are called synchronic."<ref>Kilgerman, Eric. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=r5TEsqmRfA8C&pg=PA255 Sites of the Uncanny: Paul Celan, Specularity and the Visual Arts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008112315/https://books.google.com/books?id=r5TEsqmRfA8C&pg=PA255 |date=8 October 2015 }}'', p. 255 (2007).</ref>

In her book ''Civilizing the Museum'', author Elaine Heumann Gurian proposes that there are five categories of museums based on intention and not content: object centered, narrative, client centered, community centered, and national.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Heumann Gurian|first=Elaine|title=The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=May 17, 2006|pages=48–56}}</ref>

Museums can also be categorized into major groups by the type of collections they display, to include: [[fine art]]s, [[applied arts]], [[craft]], [[archaeology]], [[anthropology]] and [[ethnology]], [[biography]], [[history]], [[cultural history]], [[science]], [[technology]], [[children's museum]]s, [[natural history]], [[botanical garden|botanical]] and [[zoo|zoological gardens]]. Within these categories, many museums specialize further, e.g., museums of [[modern art]], [[folk art]], [[local history]], [[military history]], [[History of aviation|aviation history]], [[philately]], [[agriculture]], or [[geology]]. The size of a museum's collection typically determines the museum's size, whereas its collection reflects the type of museum it is. Many museums normally display a "permanent collection" of important selected objects in its area of specialization, and may periodically display "special collections" on a temporary basis.{{citation needed|date= October 2021}}

===Major types===
The following is a list to give an idea of the major museum types. While comprehensive, it is not a definitive list. 
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Agricultural museum|Agricultural]]
*[[Architecture museum|Architecture]]
*[[Archaeology museum|Archaeological]]
*[[Art museum|Art]]
*[[Automotive museum|Automotive]]
*[[Design museum|Design]]
*[[Biographical museum|Biographical]]
*[[Children's museum|Children's]]
*[[Community museum|Community]]
*[[Encyclopedic museum|Encyclopedic]]
*[[Folk museum|Folk]]
*[[Historic house museum|Historic house]]
*[[Historic site]]
*[[Living museum|Living history]]
*[[Local museum|Local]]
*[[Maritime museum|Maritime]]
*[[Medical museum|Medical]]
*[[Memorial museum|Memorial]]
*[[Military museum|Military]]
*[[Natural history]]
*[[Open-air museum|Open-air]]
*[[Science museum|Science]]
*[[Virtual museum|Virtual]]
{{div col end}}

===Legal framework===
====Public vs. private====
Private museums are organized by individuals and managed by a board and museum officers, but public museums are created and managed by federal, state, or local governments. A government can charter a museum through legislative action but the museum can still be private as it is not part of the government. The distinction regulates the ownership and legal accountability for the care of the collections.<ref name="Foundations" /><ref name="LegalPrimer">{{Cite book|last1=Malaro|first1=Marie C.|title=A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, Third Edition|last2=DeAngelis|first2=Ildiko|publisher=Smithsonian Books|year=2012|isbn=978-1-58834-322-2|page=8|language=English}}</ref>

====Non-profit vs. for-profit====
Nonprofit means that an organization is classified as a charitable corporation and is exempt from paying most taxes and the money the organization earns is invested in the organization itself. Money made by a private, for-profit museum is paid to the museum's owners or shareholders.

The nonprofit museum has a fiduciary responsibility in regards to the public, in essence the museum holds its collections and administers it for the benefit of the public. Collections of for-profit museums are legally corporate assets the museum administers for the benefit of the owners or shareholders.<ref name="Foundations" /><ref name="LegalPrimer" />

====Run by trusts vs. corporations====
A trust is a legal instrument where trustees manage the trust's assets for the benefit of the museum following the specific wishes of the donor. This provides tax benefits for the donor, and also allows the donor to have control over how assets are distributed.

Corporations are legal entities and may acquire property in a way similar to how an individual can own property. Museums under incorporation are usually organized by a community or group of individuals. While a board of director's loyalty is to the corporation, a board of trustee's loyalty has to be loyal to the intention of the trust. The ramification is that a trust is far less flexible than a corporation.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Latham|first1=Kiersten F.|title=Foundations of Museum Studies: Evolving Systems of Knowledge Illustrated Edition|last2=Simmons|first2=John E.|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|year=2014|isbn=978-1-61069-282-3|page=11|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Malaro|first1=Marie C.|title=A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, Third Edition|last2=DeAngelis|first2=Ildiko|publisher=Smithsonian Books|year=2012|isbn=978-1-58834-322-2|pages=6–9|language=English}}</ref>