All Blog Posts

Message from the Chair of the IDEA Committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility)

My name is Arlene Emmert, I work at ALHFAM member site Conner Prairie in Indiana and I am the current IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) committee chair. Today I want to take a bit of your time to talk over who we are and what we do! The ALHFAM IDEA committee was formed to… Continue reading Message from the Chair of the IDEA Committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility)

President’s Message April 2024

Happy Spring ALHFAM Members! I am writing to you to share this quarterly report on the actions of the ALHFAM Board of Directors. The 2023-2025 ALHFAM Strategic Plan was adopted by the Board of Directors on February 13, 2024. It is standard operating procedure for the board to draft a strategic plan every couple of… Continue reading President’s Message April 2024

Curating Living History:  Preserving Skills and Intangible Culture

The 2024 ALHFAM Annual Meeting and Conference  Howell Living History FarmJune 7-10 and September 9-10, 2024 Learning by actually doing. Sharing practical knowledge. That is what ALHFAM is all about, and this conference is focused on the important skills that ALHFAM preserves, both for future staff at our sites as well as for generations to… Continue reading Curating Living History:  Preserving Skills and Intangible Culture

Death, Racism, and Intemperance:

A Social Historian's Perspective on Living History and the Interrelation of Controversial Issues Excerpt of an article written by David Vanderstel, Conner Prairie, Noblesville, Indiana. To read the entirety of this paper, join ALHFAM to explore the A.S.K. database, full of challenging insights and ideas, past and present, for our members. Join today! For decades,… Continue reading Death, Racism, and Intemperance:

Sauder Village to Host 2023 ALHFAM Conference

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

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

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