New Cell Phone Tours Introduced at Mayborn Museum

Contact: Sarah Levine, director of marketing, Mayborn Museum, (254) 710-2517

Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex is one of the first museums in Texas to use an unusual, yet common technology - a personal cell phone - for guests taking tours of the traveling exhibition "Feathered Treasures: Ceremonial Objects of the Amazon."

With service provided by the company Guide By Cell, visitors to the exhibition will be able to call a telephone number on their cell phone and then key in the number listed on an exhibit case to hear about the artifacts in that case. For people who have nationwide calling, there is no charge for this service other than the airtime on the phone. This replaces the cumbersome rentable audio tours long used by museums.

"We are thrilled to be one of the first museums in Texas to utilize this new technology," said Dr. Ellie Caston, director of Baylor's Mayborn Museum Complex. "Only a handful of museums across the country have offered this service for their visitors, but we think it will catch on quickly. Just about everyone has a cell phone now, so it is a very easy and convenient way for visitors to learn more about an exhibition."

The cell phone tour is sponsored by The Waco Tribune-Herald.

The exhibition will be on view from May 21 through Aug. 20. The beautiful and unusual exhibition comes to the Mayborn from the Houston Museum of Natural Science and features head dresses, masks, breastplates, full-body costumes, and other items made by indigenous tribes found deep in the Amazon rain forest.

The exhibit is made possible through a generous grant from the Baylor/Waco Foundation and a matching gift from the Thomas E. and Emilyne Weed Anding Foundation.

The Mayborn Museum Complex is located at 1300 S. University Parks Drive in Waco. Contact the Mayborn at (254) 710-1110 or online at https://www.baylor.edu/mayborn.