You might be surprised to learn that most public museums didn’t appear until the eighteenth century; even then, it was often difficult for many middle- and upper-class patrons to gain access to their collections. And if you were working class or poor, you had little chance of getting beyond the front gate, ever. From the beginning, most museums made a point of being exclusive to the point of ridiculousness.Although American museums long ago adopted an egalitarian philosophy in which all members of the public are welcome, some could still be chasing off potential visitors and new donors through certain unrecognized, dyed-in-the-wool behaviors learned back when the moneyed classes and social rigidity ruled the industry. So what can today’s museum directors and curators do to improve their lot?