One of five museums at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (BBCW) in Cody, Wyoming, the Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) recently reinstalled their entire exhibition. In 2014, I conducted several front-end evaluation studies to inform their process, and address stakeholder questions and concerns. We used a combination of exit surveys for CFM visitors, on-line surveys for members, and a survey and open-ended interviews with BBCW visitors who had chosen not to attend CFM. I presented study findings to members of the CFM Advisory Board and the BBCW Board at their semi-annual meeting. Hard data on CFM’s audience confirmed some long-held assumptions and reversed others. Findings also provided insight into what would compel disinterested visitors to visit CFM, and identified necessary content and experiences to support visitor learning. Overall, the front-end evaluation effectively made the case to internal stakeholders about the value of a renovation by helping them understand who their visitors are and what they need to be able to access firearms-related content. One key finding was the need for a gun safety section in the new exhibition.

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