Advertising: How is the museum advertised? To whom? In what venues? How does it present itself to the world? What does its advertising reveal about its values and goals? 

Location: Where is the museum—where in the world, and where in town? What else is happening at that location? What’s the relationship between the location of the museum and its objects? Between its location and its audiences?  

Landscaping: How are the grounds kept and shaped? What does this tell you about the museum, what’s inside, and who runs it? 

Architecture: What does the museum look like from the outside? What’s the architectural style? What are the remarkable features of the building? What is the history of the building? What objects are displayed outside the museum? What message does the building send to the world? What does the space look like inside? What atmosphere does the architecture create? 

Lighting: Both outside and inside the museum, how is the place lit? What atmosphere does it create? 

Accessibility: How accessible is the museum to people with disabilities? What accommodations are available? 

Cost: What’s the price to visit the museum? 

Docents: What sorts of guides are there to welcome and lead visitors through the museum? 

Security: What steps have been taken (in both the building and the employees) to ensure the safety of the museum and its visitors? 

Information: How does the museum convey to visitors information about itself, its exhibits, and its objects? 

Objects: What kinds of objects does the museum hold? Where do they come from? Whose stories get told in the museum’s objects? Whose don’t? 

Acquisitions: What is the history of the museum's objects?Who owns them? How were they brought to this museum? What standards, practices, and theories govern the museum’s acquisitions? Who gets to decide what objects the museum acquires? 

Exhibits: How are the museum’s objects displayed? How are they contextualized? What are the permanent exhibits? The temporary exhibits? What scholarship informs those exhibits? What choices have museum personnel made about how to construct those exhibits? What are the goals of the exhibits? How interactive are they? How does the museum use technology? What sorts of experiences is the museum hoping guests will have? 

Audiences: Who comes to this museum? What are their demographics? How are these audiences related to the objects in the museum? 

Guest Behavior: How do people enter the museum? What paths do they follow? How long do they stay? Where do they spend their time? What are they looking for? 

Institutional History: Is the museum well-known? How long has it been around? How was it started? What can its past tell us about how it is operated today? 

Institutional Scope: What realm of history is the museum make a claim to? Is it universal or local? Bound to a certain time, place, and/or event, or not? What is covered by the scope of the museum, and what is left out? 

Executives: Who is the leadership of the museum? What are their areas of specialization? What identities are represented in the leadership team? What are the goals of the museum? 

Board: What are the demographics of the board? How do they relate to the holdings of the museum, its community, and its audiences? 

Employees: What are the demographics of the employees? How do they relate to the holdings of the museum, its community, and its audiences? 

Funding: Who paid for the museum’s holdings? What’s the operating budget? What agencies support the museum? How does it fundraise? 

Programs: What sort of community, civic, and educational programs does the museum offer? Who attends them? 

Community: How does the museum fit into its surrounding community? What partnerships does it create? What role does it play in the town, state, or nation? 

Politics: Does the museum promote political action? Does the museum present itself as educational or activist? What causes does it endorse? How does it prompt action from visitors? How does the museum engage with local, regional, national, and international politics?