Museum Annual Reports
What: Museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art (pictured below) create Annual Reports (annually...obviously) for their institutions that include three distinct sections of information offered for review by museum staff and stakeholders, patrons and any party interested. The reports are posted online via the museum’s website or some other public way, so that the information is available, and is offered in the form of a written narrative other than a listing or other format.
The first part is comprised of a statement or paragraph by the Director or President of that museum, which will cover any especially notable events or changes that occurred during that year. This is the “introduction,” in that it will often include the museum’s mission statement. Inclusions of these reports are renovations for the building or the creation of a new department within the institution, and the like.
The second part addresses in more detail the costs involved not only with the events of the first section, but of all museum expenditures from that year. This would include, besides expenses, all monetary donations, loans, and other financial gains (such as from tickets to special exhibitions).
The third section wraps up the report with a final conclusion, summarizing all of the activities the museum offered or took part in that past year; this can be anything from tours orchestrated for schools to scholarly presentations or conventions, art acquisitions and gifts, and specific (not a part of the permanent collection) exhibitions. This section is where all products from the museum are identified, most often publications issued. Another important component to this report, regardless of the section in which it is included, is a complete list or profile of each member of the museum’s Board of Trustees and other supporters. This is a vital portion of the Annual Report for the institution, for reasons self-evident.
Note: While the report is broken up into these three categories, the format for each report is not standardized by any means, as you will see from the examples listed at the end of this post. The Peabody Essex Museum’s Annual Report is organized by year, starting with the earliest of their cataloged reports--1868. As a disclaimer to this page, the museum states: “Note: Annual Reports dated after 1890 are part of Harvard University's President Reports, which can be found on online through Harvard University Library.”
Having to follow this link-path to the information the user likely wanted in the first place (annual reports from recent years) is frustrating, and certainly not the organization of most museum’s reports. One of my personal favorite Annual Reports is for MFA Boston’s Museum Year 2014, with stunning visuals and and easily-navigable index. The heuristics for the reports are evident of who the museum thinks their audience (for this document specifically) is.
Why: A museum’s Annual Report is important for various reasons, and is a veritable requirement for every art museum. While it is not a governmental necessity such as an IRS form, the museum could hardly operate for the next year without a complete understanding and record of the year previous. These reports are some of, if not the most important archived materials of art museums. In addition, by offering the Annual Report and its contents for public evaluation, the museum is being transparent, which can only benefit the institution, along with their supporters. Some museums do not offer this level of transparency, but it could be for several reasons, such as the simple inability digitize their documents or provide a successful web presence at all, let alone one just for sharing their Annual Report.
Who: The audience for these reports is difficult to surmise from each museum’s website, as the presentation and offerings will be different for each. For instance, when a website makes their annual reports hard to find, and once found organized into an even stranger layout, the museum is not making their report prominent or accessible. While it can be found, it takes digging, and this suggests the audience the museum expects (or desires) for their reports is someone savvy with their website, or someone with the skills to track this down, such as scholars or other museum staff.
A great (and simply ridiculous) example of this can be found at the Guggenheim New York Museum’s website. At guggenheim.org there is a banner at the top where the visitor clicks “New York” and is directed to that museum’s page. Then you are completely lost. The only way I could find the reports was by typing “annual report” into the search bar, and even then I encountered problems. For instance, the first link that comes up is “Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Full Annual Report 2009”. Go ahead, click on it, I’ll wait. See? You are directed to a page that helpfully states “The requested book is not exists.” Don’t believe me?
The lack of grammar is almost even more telling of the institution’s care for sharing their annual reports. What’s more, there were even more links that ended in that blank page and that sentence. It’s pretty hilarious, actually. Additionally I found this especially interesting, frustrating and confusing--that the only reports on offer (once you find the right link to click, if you ever do, and trust me it is nearly impossible) are from 2003 to 2010. The link at the top says something like “flipbooks,” so the museum is using a pseudonym for the reports anyway, and what comes up are reports from five years ago. I thought this had to be wrong, I did something wrong and didn’t click the recent ones, but after investigating I was told these were the only reports on offer online.
Needless to say, the Guggenheim does not want anyone looking at their reports. That is their audience.
Note: When I did manage to find a report, it was through the “Sitemap,” offered as a size 7 word in thin font at the bottom of the front page. Once in the Sitemap the Annual Reports are listed as the absolute last option, after scrolling down through the entire list of sections of the website. And, when you click on it, you are taken to a page that looks like it was created in the early days of the internet, entitled “Flippingbooks.” How are we supposed to know Flippingbooks are Annual Reports? Beats me. Then, when you click the link for Annual Reports, you are brought to a page that looks like no effort whatsoever went into creating it:
I rest my case :)
When: The history of Annual Reports dates back to at least 1868, as the Peabody Essex’s website shows, but likely it was implemented even further than that. Unfortunately, there is no specific date or time period this document can be attached to. It is my guess from what I could find that Annual Museum Reports date back to the first official “art museum” was created, as the people involved would need to know at least some of the information included in the Annual Reports of today, especially financial details. The form of the Annual Report and the information included has obviously changed dramatically throughout the years, and today we have the ability to view them widely and immediately through the Internet, rather than having to visit the museum and its archives to access this information. So, the point being, Annual Reports are nothing more than a compilation of details of the running of the museum for the period of the last year, and this information has always been pertinent to the operations of a museum. Their primitive ancestors are as old as the idea of a “art museum” itself!
Where: Here’s where you can find comprehensive examples of Annual Reports from prominent museums, and some fails:
Works Consulted: The information I found was only gathered from the links listed as examples and no other sources. No works actually cited in post.
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