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The Pete Watson Skills Award

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Since the preservation of historic skills is central to our mission, ALHFAM created a Skills Award to recognized members who have demonstrated notable service and leadership in the preservation of historic skills, especially those who serve as mentors and role models for others in the history field. Thus, the Skills Award was born. but it needed a name. There was little debate about who it should be the first recipient and the award would be named for so the Pete Watson Skills Award was created and presented to Pete Watson at the 2022 ALHFAM Annual Meeting & Conference in Tacoma, Washington.             So why Pete Watson? As ALHFAM member Barbara Corson said, “Pete is ‘all about’ historic skills.”

ALHFAM President’s Message

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What is it to be “woke” and why would someone be tired of it? According to the dictionary, it is the past tense of “wake”—to cease to sleep; to be brought into a state of awareness. My American Heritage Dictionary was published in 1982, so it was long before the current informal definition of “to be alert to injustice in society.” I, for one, am in no way tired of being woke. Why would you not want to be in a state of awareness? There is a moral imperative to call out injustice. All people have a right to dignity, and by claiming their dignity and their story, they do not lessen mine. They expand it.  

Le Grand Derangement: 250 Years of Acadian History in Louisiana

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In September of 1755, England, a political world power began one of history’s largest mass movements of people united by their Catholic faith. Acadians of Nova Scotia were dispersed throughout English lands without benefit of property, family ties or compassion. Their holdings were torched, as they were loaded on to barely seaworthy ships, on which… Continue reading Le Grand Derangement: 250 Years of Acadian History in Louisiana

On the Program Relevance of Slavery

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African culture was a particularly major component in the development of southern U.S. culture as well as American culture as a whole. In interpreting American and largely southern history, it is so easy to slip into saying how certain great and wealthy men built this and grew that, when in reality much of what is spoken of was not only done by the labor of enslaved African Americans, but were also accomplished through the skill and knowledge of these people. These skills were passed from generation to generation and have often carried forward to today.

It’s Not the Jewish Christmas: An Introduction to Jewish Holidays and Their Observance in North America, Part II

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For most non-Jews, Hanukkah along with Passover, is probably the most familiar of the Jewish holidays. Other than that Hanukkah is celebrated around the same time of year, it has absolutely no relationship to Christmas: it commemorates a great military victory and a great miracle.

It’s Not the Jewish Christmas: An Introduction to Jewish Holidays and Their Observance in North America, Part I

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On October 2, 1911, readers of the Annapolis Evening Capital opened their papers to find the following announcement: “Jew Stores Closed. Today all the Jew stores in town were closed, this being the Day of Atonement, one of the most solemn days in the Jewish calendar.[1]” It is doubtful that most non-Jewish residents of Annapolis… Continue reading It’s Not the Jewish Christmas: An Introduction to Jewish Holidays and Their Observance in North America, Part I

Sauder Village to Host 2023 ALHFAM Conference

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Nestled in the fields of rural Northwest Ohio is Sauder Village, Ohio’s largest living history museum. Since opening in 1976, Sauder Village has grown to a 235-acre complex with more than 350 employees and 200 adult and youth volunteers. The Historic Village preserves more than 75 historic structures and over 50,000 artifacts, which allow us… Continue reading Sauder Village to Host 2023 ALHFAM Conference

Advocacy in Museums: Selecting a Powerful Object

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The Rosa Parks Bus                             From the Collections of The Henry Ford  Photo by Wayne Hsieh            [Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)] In 1993 Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village (now The Henry Ford) adopted a new mission statement: “The Henry Ford provides unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories and lives from America’s traditions… Continue reading Advocacy in Museums: Selecting a Powerful Object

An ALHFAM President’s Message from the Past

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This message, from ALHFAM’s then-president Lynne Belluscio, is revived here to remind us of the continuing challenges faced by museum professionals and how the continuing support of the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums, ALHFAM, provides a variety of professional resources along with active involvement, creative problem-solving and humor to its members. To… Continue reading An ALHFAM President’s Message from the Past

Baked on the Tree: A Flavorful Look into the Past of Southern Apples

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Excerpt of an article written by Creighton Lee Calhoun, Jr., 1992, Pittsboro, NC. To read the entirety of this paper, join ALHFAM to enjoy the bountiful knowledge contained in the A.S.K. database, carefully stored information harvested and preserved for our members. Join today! “Apple Index,” North Carolina Historic SitesThe Buckingham apple is the quintessential southern… Continue reading Baked on the Tree: A Flavorful Look into the Past of Southern Apples

From Recreating the Past to Creating the Future

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By Elizabeth Rudrud The Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Nisqually, originally established in what is now Dupont, Washington in 1833, has existed as a recreated and interpreted Fort in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park since the 1930s. Since that time, Fort Nisqually Living History Museum has grown into a premier living history museum, has been accredited by… Continue reading From Recreating the Past to Creating the Future

The Future of The Past ALHFAM 2022

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By Peggy Barchi Fort Nisqually Living History Museum invites you to join the fun at The Future of the Past, ALHFAM’s annual meeting and conference June 23-28, 2022! For those not familiar with the history of the site and its influence on Washington State, read on… Fort Nisqually, the first globally connected settlement on Puget… Continue reading The Future of The Past ALHFAM 2022