Agency history, 1971-

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Subject

  • Potter, Mary Grace
  • Ridgley, Katherine Neill
  • Wheeler, Sherri
  • Smithsonian National Associates Program
  • Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Associates' Reception Center
  • Smithsonian Institution Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center

Category

Agency History

Notes

  • This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
  • Guide to the Smithsonian Archives, 1996
  • Annual Report, 1976
  • E-mail from Katherine Neill Ridgley to James A. Steed, May 21, 2002
  • Smithsonian Institution Archives - Finding Aid - Accession 13-199; Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center, Director's Records, FY 1998-FY 2009, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_362738, accessed December 9, 2021
  • Chronology of Smithsonian History - VIARC Renamed Office of Visitor Services, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_13435, accessed on December 9, 2021
  • The Smithsonian Associates' Reception Center was first created in 1971 to serve members of the National Associates Progam. As the need to expand services to members of the visiting public became evident, the unit changed its name to the Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center (VIARC) in 1976 and by 1977 had become an independent office. In 2011 VIARC was renamed the Office of Visitor Services (OVS).
  • OVS' mission is to greet, serve, guide and educate museum visitors. Its two key programs are Visitor Information and Volunteer Management. The Visitor Information Program helps visitors navigate the Smithsonian and learn more about what the Institution offers. It provides people with options to give feedback and ask questions through email, telephone and mail. It supplies visitors with information through the main Smithsonian website, outdoor information signs, and pan-institutional publications. The Volunteer Management Program supports how the Smithsonian greets and serves its visitors by recruiting, training and placing volunteers at the museum information desks and at behind-the-scenes projects across the Institution.
  • Mary Grace Potter was appointed Director of the Smithsonian Associates' Reception Center in 1971 and served as Director of VIARC, 1975-2000. Katherine Neill Ridgley succeeded Potter, serving 2002-2010. Sherri Wheeler was appointed Director, 2015- .
  • For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Date

  • 1971
  • 1971-

Topic

  • Services for
  • Museum outreach programs
  • Museums
  • Volunteer workers in museums
  • Museums--Administration
  • Museum visitors
  • Museum visitors--Services for

Form/Genre

Mixed archival materials

Local number

SIA AH00346

Full Record

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