Category Archives: Training

Webinar on Strategies for Financially Sustaining Historic Buildings

The California Preservation Foundation, a statewide historic preservation organization, has been offering a series of lunchtime webinars (well, lunchtime on the West Coast) on a variety of topics that would interest staff and volunteers who work with historic sites, including window restoration, fundraising, architectural styles, historic landscapes, and tax credits.

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 12 noon Pacific time, I’ll be sharing a webinar with Jim Newland of California State Parks on building a stable financial foundation for historic sites by rethinking Continue reading →

For Lovers of New England: A Week on the Road in June

Discover the rich history of the region with Historic New England’s Program in New England Studies, an intensive week-long exploration of New England from Monday, June 18 to Saturday, June 23, 2012.  The Program in New England Studies includes lectures by noted curators and architectural historians, hands-on workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, and special access to historic house museums and museum collections. The program examines New England history and material culture from the seventeenth century through the Colonial Revival. Curators lecture on furniture, textiles, ceramics, art, and wallpaper and cover their history, craftsmanship, and changing methods of production. Architectural historians explore a timeline of regional architecture starting with the Massachusetts Bay styles of the seventeenth century through the Federal and Georgian eras, to Gothic Revival and the Colonial Revival. Participants visit historic sites and museums with curators and enjoy special receptions.

Expert lecturers include:

  • Richard Candee, professor emeritus, Boston University
  • Cary Carson, retired vice president of the research division at Colonial Williamsburg
  • Abbott Lowell Cummings, former director, Historic New England Continue reading →

Free Webinar on the Hispanic Traveler on Feb. 10

If you are trying to reach an Hispanic or Latino audience, Laura Mandala of Mandala Research, LLC is leading a webinar on “Understanding the U. S. Hispanic Traveler” on February 10, 2012 at 2:00 pm Eastern. Produced in conjunction with Longwoods Travel USA, she’ll be providing comprehensive data and analysis on the U.S. Hispanic Traveler, including spending, activities, social media usage, mode of transport, trip purpose, trip planning, booking, destinations for both day and overnight stays, and much more.  Cost is $299 and pre-registration is required.  For more details, visit mandalaresearch.com.

If you’re not familiar with Laura Mandala, she  one of the leading research and analysis firms specializing in leisure travel (that includes those of us who work in museums and historic sites).  I became familiar with her study of heritage and cultural travelers at the National Trust.  Her website offers several free reports including the use of social media by travelers, behaviors of leisure travelers who drive, and culinary cultural travelers (foodies!).  If you’re a member of the American Association of Museums, you can receive the Cultural and Heritage Traveler Study for 50% off.

A Great Conference for Historic Sites Coming Up in April

The Organization of American Historians and the National Council on Public History are combining their annual meetings this year and this double-header is creating a really interesting conference for people who are working to preserve and interpret historic places.  Here are just a few sessions that caught my eye (and just a few–there are more than 200 sessions offered over five days):

  • Museum and Makers:  Intersections of Public History and Technology Buffs from Steam Trains to Steampunk
  • Museums, Historic Sites, and the University:  Public History Projects and Partnerships in the American Indian Great Lakes
  • The Witness Tree Project:  Using Historic Landscapes to Explore History and Memory
  • Toward a Reinterpretation of the Indian Wars at National Historic Sites and Parks
  • Closing Up Shop:  Strategies for Partners and Communities When Historic Sites Close Continue reading →

Upcoming Free Webinars for Historic Sites

The American Association for State and Local History is offering three free webinars that will particularly interest historic sites:  storytelling, interpretive planning, and engaging new audiences.  Thanks to an IMLS 21st Century Museum Professionals grant, webinar participation is free and open to staff, volunteers, board members of history organizations and anyone else interested in learning more about visitor engagement.  You can register for one, two, or all three!

Telling a Good Story

  • November 17, 2011
  • 2-3:15 pm Eastern
  • A good guided tour is a good story, told well, says guest speaker Linda Norris. Join us to explore telling stories to create Continue reading →

November launches the Seminar for Historical Administration

The Seminar for Historical Administration (SHA) takes over Indianapolis every November as staff from historic sites and history museums gather to discuss and resolve the big issues, such as:

  • Why is it that so many Americans find history, for the most part, boring and irrelevant?
  • How can we be more creative in using authentic objects to involve people in exploring the past?
  • Should we focus our interpretation on the past, or should we find ways to make history useful to present-day concerns?
  • What roles should do museums and sites play in our communities?

They’ll be exploring these topics through readings, field trips, and lectures from national leaders, and a revised curriculum that increasingly focused on leadership not just management.  The participants often come out transformed by the experience and the effects last throughout their careers, with such positive results that some organizations are using it as mid-career training for their staff members (a pat on the back to the Homestead Museum and Indiana Historical Society!).  John Durel coordinates the program and will be regularly writing about their experiences on the Developing History Leaders at SHA blog.