Small Museum Scholarships for AASLH

Small Museum Scholarship Application

2012 AASLH Annual Meeting

Salt Lake City, Utah, October 3-6

DEADLINE: June 30

The American Association for State and Local History will hold its 2012 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year, participants will explore the empowering, challenging and special connections between people and place. This year’s Annual Meeting, Crossroads: Exploring the Vibrant Connections Between People and Place, will examine the personal, communal, and organizational journeys that lead to vibrancy and authenticity. Learn how these journeys allow us to achieve meaningful social change and sustainability. Join us as we welcome speakers Pat Croce, Laura Thatch Ulrich, and Will Bagley and explore the theme together.

Unfortunately, many working in our nation’s small museums feel as if we can only dream of attending this meeting. In a perfect world, boards would grant every request to fund our professional development. Institutions of modest means, however, may not have the resources to help us become effective stewards of our community’s memory.

Websites, listservs, and social media constantly offer new sources of technical and psychological support, but nothing is better than the face-to-face fellowship of sharing survival strategies. Every year, increasing numbers of Annual Meeting sessions address issues specifically affecting small museums. These sessions can be as practical and wide-ranging as training, marketing, and strategic planning. Other sessions focus on creative ways to forge and re-energize relationships with the surrounding community.

Now in its seventh year, AASLH’s Small Museums Committee is offering scholarships to any AASLH members who are full-time, part-time, paid, or volunteer employees of small museums. The $500 scholarship will cover the cost of the conference registration and the Small Museums luncheon. Any remaining funds may be used to offset travel and/or lodging expenses.

To qualify, the applicant must work for a museum with a budget of $250,000 or less. They also must either be an individual AASLH member or work for an institutional member. Application forms are available at www.aaslh.org/SmallMuseums.

The deadline for applications is June 30. The committee will email award winners by July 15. For questions, please contact Bruce Teeple, Small Museum Scholarship Subcommittee Chair, at mongopawn44@hotmail.com