the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
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
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?
"I knew by mid-morning on Friday (in the deluge) that this was going to be the Mid-Atlantic ALHFAM conference that all others will be measured against for the next ten years. Because everyone who attended is going to be talking about it for at least that long - maybe longer. And those who didn’t attend,… Continue reading Caps and Boats and Lead Coffins: The ALHFAM Mid-Atlantic Region Conference in Review (and Photos!)
Registration is now open for the 2016 ALHFAM Annual Meeting and Conference. Join like-minded people at the Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from June 12-16. Sign up for the School of the Mule or a field trip to Angola (two of many offerings), visit museums and historic sites including the National WWII Museum… Continue reading ALHFAM Annual Meeting & Conference in Baton Rouge–REGISTER NOW!
“How many of us have cringed, if ever so slightly, when we encountered a costumed, overzealous re-enactor performing a historic narrative . . .” –The Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums. Two weeks ago I shared some impressions on the book quoted above. In that blog I said, “Living history, with the exception of a… Continue reading Is there “ . . . awkwardness in the pretense of the pretend . . . ?”
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