the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
I recently read this article in the Wall Street Journal about New York City cultural institutions giving free one-year memberships to NYCID card holders. I have no opinion on the NYCID issue, but the idea of giving away free memberships on a large scale has me thinking (it's too early in the NYC initiative to judge… Continue reading Gaining By Giving It Away
https://www.facebook.com/LivingHistoryFarms/photos/a.176584139104.114535.56222659104/10154332595479105/?type=3 Google "Pokémon GO + Museums" and you'll see numerous articles/blog postings touting the game as a boon to museums. You'll also see stories of museums and historic sites discouraging its use due to the nature of their subject matter. Many museums are actively promoting use of the game at their sites (the image above… Continue reading Pokémon GO! Boon or Bust?
A wonderful and wise blog post from longtime ALHFAM member Mary Seelhorst. Let’s all honor our colleague and friend Blake Hayes by following Mary’s advice . . .–Deb Arenz I returned home last night from the party held in memory of Blake Hayes in Cherry Valley, New York. This post is a bit unusual in… Continue reading How to Live History
ALHFAM meetings are not just about old buildings, battle sites, “who did what to whom”, townball, plowing contests, and stuffing information into our heads and notebooks. ALHFAM is about understanding one another.
Enjoy the guest post below by School of the Mule participant Cody Joliff. Also look for videos of the workshop on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using #ALHFAM16. The videos will also be up on http://www.alhfam.org soon. School of the Mule at ALHFAM 2016 was a fun learning experience. We had attended other equine classes and… Continue reading ALHFAM 2016: School of the Mule
Day two of the conference was spent at the Rural Life Museum on the campus of Louisiana State University. Educational sessions were held, as were Professional Interest Group (PIG) meetings, and regional meetings. The day was capped off by the annual auction where funds were raised to support the organization and an overall good time… Continue reading ALHFAM 2016 Day 2: Sessions, Meetings, and The Auction
The 2016 ALHFAM conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has just started and it's already shaping up to be amazing. Many workshops and tours were offered today and, sadly, since I'm only one person, I can just report on mine. I went on the Acadiana tour and visited Vermilionville (a living history site), toured through the… Continue reading ALHFAM 2016 . . . Ready, Set, GO!
The ALHFAM Annual Meeting and Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana starts Sunday. I can't wait! ALHFAM annual conferences offer many opportunities to learn about living history and historic agriculture, keep abreast of trends in the field, forge professional connections, and reconnect with friends. On top of all the good stuff an annual conference offers, we… Continue reading How to Eat Crawfish
I recently read an article on the benefits of collections-based research. The author stated the following: "A canned program* performs a social function. It brings together members and visitors for an enjoyable experience, adds to attendance figures, and may promote repeat visitation. It is often educational, and at its best truly thought provoking. But its… Continue reading Canned Programming for Museums: Healthy?
Lately I’ve heard of negative visitor reactions to historic (and sustainable but open to the public) farm sites in regards to the animals they keep. It seems not everyone is comfortable with animals on farms becoming food or with the processes that turn these animals into food. Admittedly, it’s easy to dismiss their reactions with:… Continue reading Do Visitors Think We’re Eating Our Pets?
ALHFAM 