the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
Lodging accommodations for the 2018 conference will be in Cobb Hall on the campus of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Like me I know many of you left your college dorm days in the distant past, but Cobb Hall is nothing like my dorm experience. The dorm first opened for students in 2016. Each… Continue reading Accommodations for the 2018 Conference
There was no question that the 2017 annual meeting committee wanted to provide an energetic and provocative keynote address. We were delighted when Dustin Growick of Museum Hack accepted our invitation. Dustin mentioned that he had never attended a museum conference where he felt so welcome as he did with ALHFAM. That doesn’t surprise me.… Continue reading The words you can’t say in a museum
I had great expectations for the keynote address at the ALHFAM conference in this year, and Dustin Growick, Audience Development Outreach Manager at Museum Hack did not disappoint. For those of you who could not be there or for those who might be in need of a reminder after returning to a desk piled with… Continue reading Museums are […..] Awesome! An ALHFAM 2017 Keynote Takeaway
Photos courtesy of Genesee Country Village & Museum You can mark experiencing a “white hot” off your bucket list if you join us at the opening reception for the 2017 ALHFAM conference. But wait! Don’t dig in until you’ve taken the official tutorial on building a “garbage plate” or a “beef on weck” sandwich. ALHFAM… Continue reading Have You Ever Had a “White Hot?”
Is your institution still stuck in the cycle of the dreaded, annual performance review? I am afraid mine still is, and frankly it’s awful. (I am sure some of my coworkers reading this will rat me out. It’s okay the Boss knows how I feel.) I agree with a Washington Post business writer who called… Continue reading The Dreaded Performance Review
Recently a dedicated group of ALHFAM members, primarily from the Farm Professional Interest Group, took the time to develop and/or revise three documents relating to the use of livestock in museum settings. They are: Position statement on the Use of Livestock in Museum Settings (2016) Adopted by the board in 2016, this document clarifies ALHFAM's official… Continue reading Livestock Care in Museums
It's #MuseumSelfie Day! Did you know? The times they have a-changed since I started working in museums 20 or so years ago. Back then, "No Photography" signs were the norm (copyright and preservation issues). Then came the "No Flash Photography" signs (preservation issues). Now many museums have abandoned the signs altogether and are holding Instameets… Continue reading #MuseumSelfieDay
As 2017 starts afresh, many of us are in the position of tallying, tabulating, and filling out end of year reports for 2016. In particular, I’m working on making sure every single one of our volunteer’s hours were tracked and recorded. As I do so I’m also thinking about how we’re going to show our… Continue reading Guerrilla Volunteer Appreciation
The article Honest Museum Audio Tour from The New Yorker is a quick read and quite funny. Having worked in museums my entire adult life and visited countless others, I related to much of the commentary in the author's made-up audio tour: "Note this intricately carved chair, which was made in 1573. The first person… Continue reading A Chair No One Sits On
As one of those rapidly aging Baby Boomers, inventing and building things were staples of my childhood. Sure, we had TV (but only one), but Mom would throw us out of the house after a couple of hours of Saturday morning cartoons with instructions to “Go do something.” We had grand adventures exploring the creek,… Continue reading Making the Most of the Maker Movement
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