Small Museum Finds Assistance!

From Flavia Cigliano, Director of the Nichols House Museum in Boston, MA. Nichols House has participated in several Museum Assessment Programs through AAM as well as in StEPS with AASLH.

"I noticed that the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) has another application deadline coming up, at the first of next month. I know I’ve been quoted as a strong supporter of MAP in many vehicles before, but I wanted to send one more personal message to small museums to consider a MAP application. It did wonders for our museum, the Nichols House in Boston.

"We did our first MAP in 2000, and have done a total of four, the most recent in 2010. Our results speak to the value of the program.

"Since that first MAP, we have been able to more than triple our staff, receive 4 grants from the IMLS ( 2 CPS; 2 MFA) 5 Preservation Assistance Grants from the NEH, and numerous grants from state agencies and private foundations when previously the Nichols House had received less than a handful. We have catalogued, digitized, and put on-line our entire collection (previously undocumented).  With recommendations from our Institutional MAP [now called an Organizational MAP], we developed our first strategic plan, setting the ground work for considered long term planning for the museum.

"MAP is a marvel. It made us better stewards of the historic treasure we are charged with managing, made our board better able to fulfill their responsibilities, and made Nichols House a more important entity in the community. MAP helped make our museum investable. I cannot overestimate its impact on our museum." 

To learn more about MAP, IMLS and AAM are offering a free webinar today at 3pm. Here is the information:  The MAP webinar is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. EST. To connect to the audio portion of the webinar, use the following phone number and participant code:

• 1(866)459-4770
• Participant code: 8452132