FOCUS
One major downfall of the Hammond Castle Museum is that it tries to be too many things. It actively touts its connection with supernatural investigation tv shows, haunted tours and Halloween festivities. While this connection actually would probably have pleased Hammond, as he was curious about the supernatural during his life, it leads to the neglect of Hammond's great antiquities collection as well as his life's work, even though most of the space in the museum is devoted to those things. I see no general issue with using supernatural activity as an attraction or of a topic of discussion for tours, but when it is advertised over the rest of the museum contents it becomes misleading.
VISION
The Hammond Castle Museum does not have a mission statement on either its website or its facebook which leads me to believe it does not have one. Crafting a mission statement would be a good way to hone in on the museum's vision for the future, as well as assist the museum in deciding its focus and pinpointing what it is offering to visitors. The museum rests on its past success and prestige within the area to draw visitors. This is not the way to ensure future success and relevance as a museum, which is why I see the museum generally trying to capitalize on the haunted supernatural aspect of its history. Sensationalist tactics like this are used to try to draw in crowds and while it is working for the time being (the museum sees many visitors around the Halloween season for their late night tours), there will be a time when they do not, and it is important to keep that in mind.
The uniqueness of the Hammond Castle Museum is its biggest draw, and it should not forget this when it comes to crafting the vision of the museum. People come because they are interested in the bizarre John Hays Hammond Jr., his work, and his abode which reflects his life. Being able to incorporate the true history of the house and Hammond's work into the museum's vision is integral, as both are rather contested. When I searched for information about the museum for the earlier assignment, I found several resources with major conflicting information, and even the information released about the museum and Hammond from the museum itself seems sensationalized. Establishing a truthful narrative regarding the history and Hammond should be of top priority for the museum since they have the authority on Hammond and his home.
The museum should look to other similar unique house museums as guides for creating the vision and focus of the museum. Museums with comparable backgrounds that are already established such as the Winchester Mystery House.
OUTREACH
There is little to no information about Hammond Castle online in reference to its reach as a museum. While the museum maintains its own website and facebook profile (which is not linked to the museum website), they are neglected and the website is particularly in disrepair. These online access points act as the first visit prior to the visit in person and need to provide accurate and easy to find information for potential guests. They should act as a portal to the museum and should incite curiosity. Being able to extend their reach could do wonders for the museum.
The website looks as if it was designed by someone in the past, but all recent updates have been made by someone who merely obtained access to the html and started typing without using a style guide. It looks unprofessional and is difficult to read, as all the information is just stacked on top of each other. Currently, they have information related to the museum's opening times as well as the cost of entry and accessibility information listed far below the welcome information on the homepage. All of these items are must know information for someone planning a visit to the museum and burying them makes them practically worthless. Further, this information has simply been copied and pasted onto each linking page, but because of the large amount of white space after the text that actually belongs on the page (according to the page naming convention), it is not noticeable. Quantity does not equal quality. They need to put a little money into hiring someone to fix their website and make it overall more welcoming. Added links need to properly relate valuable information related to visitation such as opening times, cost, etc.
Social media is perhaps the best way to go about getting in contact with the general public, and while the Hammond Castle Museum runs a Facebook page, it is very underused. It is fairly inactive, especially during the times when it is open for the season. There were two posts in April and the last before that was done in February, which is too much time between posts. The museum needs to shift its focus to engaging with page visitors by posting prompts, photos, articles, etc; items that will encourage the public to participate with the museum online.
When the museum does post, people who follow the page are very active with their feedback, as many of the posts have quite a few likes and comments. However, the museum does not interact with these people. Through a quick survey of their posts it appears the only time the museum does interact with guest questions is regarding their "Castle of Nightmares" Halloween event. It is important to respond to guests throughout the year in this fashion.
Using social media to make the public more aware of the collections housed within the museum is an excellent way to interest visitors in what the museum contains, rather than just supernatural entities. Posting photos of some of the oddities, or early technological equipment created by Hammond, for example, and giving some information about the objects or asking questions encourages participation on the Facebook page.
The museum also must make museum visitors aware there is a Facebook page. Encouraging visitors to interact with the page after their visit is integral to getting them to return. By sharing photos of visitors visits, to informing people who have liked the page to new programming, it is important to make visitors feel like they had some sort of a connection with the museum, even if this needs to be coaxed out of them. A post from the museum appearing in their newsfeed reminds them of the museum, or, seeing their photo posted by the museum makes them feel like a valued part of the museum community. People like seeing their posts shared and in this digital age, it allows corporation type entities to invoke a friendlier face. Social media interaction makes people happy and the museum should capitalize on this.
CONSERVATION
The Hammond Castle Museum is located right next to the ocean. This lends beautiful views, a wonderful soundtrack of gulls squawking and waves hitting rocks on the shore, and thick, salty, humid air. While these things are part of the draw of the museum, it needs to take care of its artifacts. When I was there, windows were open in nearly every room in the house, and this is an issue when many of the artifacts within the museum are from medieval times, which means they need more preservation and a more controlled environment.
The pipe organ in the great hall built by Hammond himself used to be the site of organ recordings for albums and concerts for visitors, is now rendered useless due to the air quality. Hammond Castle was known for this organ for quite some time, and mostly likely attracted organ enthusiasts to come for a visit to see and hear the organ.
Closing up the museum and installing proper ventilation and air conditioning systems is a must. I get the resistance to installing these items as projects of this nature are expensive and take time, but the museum will be able to get more visitors (and thus more money) the longer they keep their artifacts in good condition.
ACCESSIBILITY
Ensuring Hammond Castle Museum is accessible for all guests is very important. It would be hard to restructure parts of the house or install lifts, but if it was done in a manner that complimented the parts of the house it would be a good addition to the house. A boardwalk type feature could be added to the grounds so that they are accessible as well. As many weddings and events are held on the grounds, ensuring access for all guests regardless of their abilities is a must.
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