the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
By Kimberly Costa, Independent Historian The main goal of any first- or third-person interpreter is to engage the visitor on a level meaningful to that visitor. To engage can mean a myriad of things: to capture their attention, teach a lesson, give a point of view, to shock the senses or simply to make the… Continue reading Dealing with the Disconnected Visitor
This is a challenge that every interpreter faces. The terror of being ‘out there’ has fallen off; we know our duties, our route, and the information. We’ve learned to story-tell, guide and demonstrate. We can handle the crowds and that one guest with all the tricky questions. But what we can’t know is coming is…repetition.… Continue reading Going Stale – It happens to the best of us
By David Makowsky, Ukranian Cultural Heritage Village Journalists have a tremendous influence in shaping a visitor’s decisions on what to include on their “must do” list. In today’s digital age, a photo or article conveying a museum’s story can raise the public awareness of the institution. The return on investment can be tremendous. For example,… Continue reading To Arms, To Arms… the Media are Coming!
by Tom Kelleher, Old Sturbridge Village & Past President, ALHFAM “I am setting hooks to capture your interest and imagination!” I have been a costumed historical interpreter for a long time now, and have enjoyed visiting living history museums since I was a child. For many decades the best sites strove for ever-greater historical authenticity.… Continue reading What are you doing?
By Jochen Welsch, Old Sturbridge Village Visitors to Old Sturbridge Village routinely ask if, and usually assume, that early nineteenth-century farmers were "organic." Most look perplexed when we answer that no, early nineteenth-century farmers were not organic. The public assumes that agricultural history and organic farming go hand in hand. This reveals a basic misunderstanding… Continue reading The Myth of Our Organic Past
By Barbara Corson, Department of Agriculture, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Most people feel some discomfort when confronted with the idea of killing an animal that they know as an individual. There are different ways of dealing with the discomfort, including trying not to think about it and buying the meat once it is not recognizable as… Continue reading Philosophy in Raising and Butchering Livestock
Today's guest blogger is Ross Gould who contributed a post about the walking plough in September. Thanks Ross for sharing your stories! As an eleven year volunteer at Heritage Park in Calgary, and a farmer for 18 years in an earlier life, my favourite venue to interpret is the farm machinery shed. There are many stories that can… Continue reading The Threshing Crew
The Story of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Part 1 It seems fitting to have a gathering of living history and museum professionals visit Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Midland Ontario Canada in June 2019 for the annual ALHFAM conference and annual meeting. Just as in days of old, we bring together groups of people for… Continue reading Rendezvous in Time
Drones are becoming increasingly popular and more affordable. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, 1 million drones are registered in the U.S.1 This includes 878,000 hobbyists and 122,000 commercial and government drones (not including military drones). The actual number of drones is undoubtedly higher, since many hobbyists do not realize they are required to register… Continue reading Is your historic site a no fly zone?
The following is a shortened version of an article that appears in full in A.S.K.: ALHFAM’s Skill & Knowledge Base. Want full access to all 25,000 documents? Join today! Membership starts at just $30 per year for individuals. When is clothing dead? If l threw out all of Living History Farms’ faded clothing, I’d lose… Continue reading How Clothing Dies (and How to Put Off the Inevitable)
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