the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
When I wrote the first draft of this blog entry back in February, it was supposed to be a look back at my first six months as the new director of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center. It was supposed to be me reflecting on how my role in the industry had changed. It was… Continue reading Moving Forward
I led a guest researcher into my collections storage building and found myself doing something that I hate seeing others do: I apologized to him for the condition of the building. It was a retrofitted ranch house, a mediocre place to store collections. He responded exactly as I do whenever I’m in the position I… Continue reading Stop Apologizing
Excerpt of an article written in 2006 by Martha B. Katz-Hyman, Independent Scholar ALHFAM members can access the full text of this article and thousands more though the A.S.K. database. Not a member? Join today! For many historic sites and living history museums, making collections more relevant to cultures and peoples not usually associated with… Continue reading Who Knew? Finding Multicultural Stories in Your Own Attic
by Mike Smola Moses Goods portraying Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻiaPhoto Credit: Gina Maeda Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives has spent the last eight years developing a very successful History Theater program through our Oʻahu Cemetery Pupu Theatre program. These are first-person, scripted portrayals of actual historical figures from Hawaiian history. The last several years of… Continue reading Have Actors, Will Travel!: Reconnecting Hawaiʻi and New England through the Humanities
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
ALHFAM member Martha Katz-Hyman brought an article about marketing gift memberships during the holidays to my attention. The article from The History List gives helpful tips on how to make museum memberships attractive as gifts. It also suggests that Monday of Christmas week be branded as #MembershipMonday I like the ideas the article promotes and… Continue reading #MembershipMonday
Recent discussion on ALHFAM-L (ALHFAM's email discussion list) about living history bibliographies led to one of our members from the Netherlands sharing this: Interpretation: The International Bibliographic Database of Living History. Even though the database is supported by ALHFAM and NAI (National Association for Interpretation) and affiliated with IMTAL (International Museum Theatre Alliance), it was… Continue reading Interpretation: The International Bibliographic Database of Living History
During the 2013 ALHFAM annual conference, attendees visited Historic Kirtland Village in Kirtland, Ohio. They toured the restored houses and recreated rural industries (including a potash factory!) all originally built by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members between 1831 and 1838. They also toured the Kirtland Temple, built by Joseph Smith, Jr. and… Continue reading Westward Ho to ALHFAM 2014
The 2014 Conference registration guide will soon be going to print. Thank you to all who submitted session proposals and have contributed to what promises to be a fabulous conference. To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak-peak at one of the optional tours that will be offered on June 21. Badlands, Dinosaurs and Coal… Continue reading 2014 Annual Conference Update!
The deadline for proposals is fast approaching! Western Canada has always been a land of entrepreneurs, innovators and risk takers. From early explorers like David Thompson, to the settlers and ranchers who came from all over, they came with little, endured hardships and created a thriving province by sheer will, toil and a “can-do” attitude.… Continue reading 2014 Conference Update
ALHFAM 