So who visits the museum? That is what the Museum set out to discover last fall as we approached our first anniversary. They conducted zip code surveys in the bookstore, exit surveys and another survey administered by the American Association for State and Local History.
Before I share the results museum adminstrators shared with volunteers, let me share that the museum raised the bar as far as high marks.
The top score in the AASLH survey was a 10. The museums strengths included the following:
Recommend to others 9.4
Well Kept 9.6
Understand that Museum Work is in Progress (the museum isn't done yet) 9.5
Felt Welcome 9.4
Overall Rating 9.5
Where do our visitors come from?
In the first year there were 548,875 visitors.
Most of the visitors were from the mid Atlantic states or states with a high Marine Corps presence (i.e. California, Florida, Texas, Ohio).
68% of the visitors were military
There was a 60/40 split between men and women.
42% of the visitors were between the ages of 40-60
36% of the visitors were over 60
(Note on above stat, my mom always asks if I ever meet any single men at the museum. Um, yes and I get hit on all the time by World War II and Korean War Veterans, so no one I would be interested in dating. My mom then said, well maybe one of them is rich, maybe you could be like Anna Nicole. O.k. ya, not what I'm aspiring to in my life.)
Most of our visitors came because they are/where in the Marine Corps or have a connection to the Marine Corps (45%). Another 25% said they came because they like learning about history and the final 25% said they visited because they thought it would be a 'cool' place to come for an outing.
The most important ideal visitors left with was pride and understanding of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Photos are of the Commandant of the Taiwanese Marine Corps (top) and Gold Star Families (bottom).
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