Category Archives: Resources

A Clever Model of Engagement for Your Desk or Office

I’ve been working on a strategic plan for the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs for the State of Delaware for the past few months and after a recent meeting, I stopped by the office of Travis Kirspel, one of the planning team members and the Curator of Digital Assets. A set of geometric solids in his bookcase caught my eye–I associate them with early science and cabinets of curiosity–and it turns out he created them. He’s interested in community engagement, so he used his skills as a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design to develop a clever model that pulls together various theories into one object. He graciously provided more details, as well as the blueprints so you can create a pyramid for your desk or office.

The Pyramid of Engagement: A Psychological Model for Building Community Relationships by Travis Kirspel

It is said (albeit on Wikipedia) that the Egyptian pyramids were, well, pyramid-shaped as a nod to the “primordial mound” from which the earth was created. They have also been described as more like “resurrection machines” than “tombs” by design. Essentially, the deceased pharaohs’ souls became superhuman cannonballs launched through Continue reading →

Early Bird Registration Discount on AASLH Meeting Ends this Week

The American Association for State and Local History just released its program for its annual meeting on September 18-21, 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama this year and it’s full of educational sessions, workshops, and field trips for people who work, volunteer, and love historic sites, including:

A tours of historic sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Florence
A visit to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on the week of the 50th anniversary of the bombing that killed four girls.
A workshop on interpreting slavery at historic sites and museums
A breakfast for professionals working in historic house museums with the provocateurs who wrote The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums.
Sessions on interpreting women at historic sites, incorporating the arts, integrating African American voices into historic plantation tours, strategic planning through scenarios, and the creation of heritage trails.

Lots of events happen at the same time so it’s always hard choosing, but this year’s meeting is being held in partnership with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, so along with the sessions that focus around historic sites, there are also many sessions on community engagement, organizational leadership, interpretation of controversial topics, and the incorporation of new perspectives. It’ll be a good meeting and I plan to be there, so I’m taking advantage of the early bird discount that ends this Friday, July 26. Registration is $325 for members, but this week it’s only $235 (staff of institutional partners get this same low price until August 16, so you have a few more weeks). For more information, visit AASLH.org.

Top Ten Ideas to Build Effective Museum Experiences

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A couple weeks ago, I was part of a workshop on building effective museum experiences on June 3, 2013 at Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, Maryland. Thanks to a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, they’ve partnered with the Maryland Historical Trust to present a series of workshops for museums and historic sites in the region.

For this workshop, they assembled an outstanding team of speakers:

Tom Mayes of the National Trust for Historic Preservation discussing a “shamelessly anecdotal and personal approach” to historic sites that prompted questions about why people visit (or avoid visiting) them
Robert Kiihne of the U.S.S. Constitution Museum on re-imagining museum exhibits through visitor research and rapid prototyping
Beth Twiss-Houting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on working with kids (and those adults who come with them) drawing on brain science

In the afternoon, we broke into several groups. I led a discussion with Tom Mayes on creating tours using techniques from narrative non-fiction, giving participants a chance to try Continue reading →

The Emergency Response Wheel has Turned into a Mobile App

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Long known as the authoritative resource for salvaging artifacts after a disaster, the Emergency Response and Salvage (ERS) Wheel has been used by historic sites, museums, libraries, and archives around the world. In partnership with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, Heritage Preservation has turned the Wheel into a mobile application, providing invaluable guidance accessible to anyone who is in need of practical advice for saving collections in the first 48 hours after disaster strikes.

ERS app provides the same reliable content found in the original Wheel. The app outlines critical stages of disaster response and provides practical salvage tips for nine types of collections, from photographs to natural history specimens. ERS can help users protect precious collections and significant records, access reliable information instantly, and save damaged objects.

The “ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage” app is available free for Continue reading →

NEA Survey Reveals Patterns in Historic Site Visitation

On Monday, March 11, I’ll be a plenary speaker at the Virginia Association of Museums conference to discuss the trends, challenges, and opportunities facing historic house museums. It will be followed by a forum with historic site managers, tourism experts, preservationists, and community leaders on the needs and opportunities for historic sites in Virginia, such as a statewide association for historic house museums. It’s great timing for this topic: Governor McDonnell declared 2013 as the Year of the Virginia Historic Home in recognition of the bicentennial of the Executive Mansion and Virginia’s more than 100 historic homes, most of which are open to the public as museums and historic sites.

Whenever I’m asked to give a presentation or write an article, it’s an opportunity to do some research and reading to gains some new or deeper perspectives on the issue. For the VAM presentation, I’ve been looking closely at the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts. For decades, NEA has interviewed thousands of people across the United States to learn about their involvement in music, art, theater, festivals, reading, and dance. NEA conducted the last survey in 2008 and published a series of analytical reports in 2009-2011.

Looking back over 30 years, the survey confirms that attendance closely correlates with Continue reading →

Resources for Historic Sites from the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums (formerly known as the American Association of Museums) is offering several resources and workshops that may be interest to historic sites, including:

TrendsWatch 2013: Upcoming Town Hall
This year’s edition of TrendsWatch, the annual report on key social, economic, technological and other trends that are shaping the future of museums, will be released next month. You can also learn about it at the Alliance’s Web-based Town Hall on March 27 at 2 pm ET, which will be hosted by their Center for the Future of Museums. Registration is free for Alliance members, and will open soon. Meanwhile, read (or re-read) TrendsWatch 2012 for a taste of the future.

2012 National Comparative Museum Salary Study Available
A national salary study has long been a top request from Alliance members. Demonstrating that we’re stronger together, the 2012 study was prepared in collaboration with the Association of Midwest Museums (AMM), the Mountain-Plains Museums Association (MPMA), the New England Museum Association (NEMA) and the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) and based on surveys conducted in their regions. Together, these associations represent 36 states, 64 percent of the American population and approximately two-thirds of all museums in the United States. Available free to Continue reading →

Compact Calendar for 2013

Detail from the Compact Calendar

Happy New Year!

For those who plan events, programs, and activities months ahead of time, I’ve updated my Compact Calendar for 2013 based on a design by David Seah. The entire year is listed on one page as a continuous series rather than broken out by months so you can quickly calculate time between dates and avoid getting messed up by months with five Mondays. In addition, it includes major holidays to schedule towards or around them, as needed. I’ll use the Compact Calendar to plot out all my events and deadlines for the year to ensure they don’t pile up too much in one place, and I’ll place a copy in a project file to have a handy calendar to determine milestones and coordinate tasks. If the last three sentences didn’t make any sense, you probably don’t need this calendar (and if they do, this calendar will make your year happier!).

For more time and project organization ideas, visit David Seah’s blog (I use his emergent task planner as well).

AAM Unveils New Logo, Name, and Attitude

AAM logos: old and new

Today, the American Association of Museums becomes the American Alliance of Museums, which may appear at first to be merely a cosmetic change ushered in by a marketing consultant, but actually signals some significant changes in attitude. Those of us in the history field often felt like outsiders at AAM, which seemed to be dominated by art museums, our classier and richer cousins. But take look at the new AAM and you may find two major changes that may appeal to history organizations:

1. Accreditation becomes the end Continue reading →

Engaging Places

Strategies and ideas to connect people with historic places