By: Charles Bowen Feature writers are always looking for new travel destinations to write about, especially low-cost locales that can work for a whole family. That's why feature editors have always loved museums.
And now they have a new reason to love the Web as well. A site called MuseumStuff.com is a one-stop shop for museum information, where you can discover and explore thousands of museums and related resources around the country. And in the great high-tech "value-added" tradition, the site also offers goodies for those not planning to actually visit in person any of these great institutions. The armchair traveler can use the site simply as a first-rate search engine to locate virtual exhibitions, fun and games, and educational links for research.
The site's links are organized into three broad separate categories -- art, history, and science -- all accessible from the main page. Of particular interest for topic-hungry editors will be the virtual exhibition section, covering more than 50 wide-ranging topics, from African Americans to ceramics, from evolution and motorcycles to religion and zoos. You can search for museum events by organization name, month, or specific day, or perform an advanced search using a combination of selections.
To get started, visit the site at
http://www.museumstuff.com, where a frequently changed introductory screen provides direct links to new entries and featured locations. Topping the main screen is a data-entry box where you can search by keywords for topics or locations. Or scroll the introductory screen to see clickable topics under those three broad categories (art, history, and science).
Another way to find material is to click the "Museum" option at the top of any screen. On the resulting display are a half dozen other strategies for finding museums, including:
* United States Museum. This is a convenient directory of museums, zoos and historical societies listed by state and popular metro areas.
* Worldwide Museums, for finding museums in over a dozen popular destination countries around the world.
* Museums by Type. The list reached here expands on the one provided on the site's main screen, offering resources in dozens of popular categories, such as archaeology, children's, arts, history and so on.
* Very Special Museums. In this section, the site's editor picks some favorite museums, including lesser known "best kept secrets."
* Online Museum Shops. If you write about the site in your news columns, you might want to point out this museum shopping option.
* Unusual Museums and Strange Collections. Looking for some sidebar material for that travel piece? How about a bizarre, off-the-beaten-path museum? Many of them are simply personal collections of various oddities.
Other considerations for using MuseumStuff in your writing and editing:
1. MuseumStuff.com was launched in 1999 by the Discovery Media marketing agency and Roy Hemmat of San Diego, Calif., who calls it "an experiment in developing and testing new paradigms and strategies for 'getting the word out' about what museums have to offer."
2. For a quick update on what's hot and new in the museum world, watch the "Museum Showcase" section under the "Museums" link from the main page. Here are direct links to featured museums around the country.
3. And for quick searching of items for your travel calendar, click the "Events" link at the top of any page. The resulting screen enables you to search for events by keyword, state or date.
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