New Online Community for Small Museums

Small Museum Online Community

Do you work at a small museum? Do you ever feel that you’re swimming against cultural tides all by yourself? Well, you’re not alone. There is help in the form of a recently launched social networking site: the Small Museums Online Community (www.smallmuseumcommunity.org). The American Association for State and Local History’s Small Museums Committee developed this extraordinary and ambitious project to address your needs. There’s something here for everyone. And it’s all free!

Forum exchanges and blog topics range from marketing and promotion, to changing perspectives of history, to conference reviews, to practical discussions on operating a small museum. You’ll also find networking opportunities, as well as an extensive resource library dealing with issues exclusively affecting small museums.

Please explore the SMOC at any time, and decide if you want to be one of the hundreds who have already joined. If you want to interact with other participants, you merely have to register to discover the benefits. That’s it. We know the financial realities many of you face. There are no strings attached. You don’t even need to be an AASLH member to join (though we hope you will join and help support AASLH's efforts in this area).

This is your online community. We welcome your experience and expertise. Whether you’re a volunteer, a director, or a board member, we’re here to help you in any way we can. As our numbers grow, we all become stronger and more effective advocates for small museums everywhere. Only you can breathe life into this community. Only you can help it thrive. We hope you’ll join us!

For more information, contact Terry Jackson or (615) 320-3203.

Background

About the Small Museum Committee

Most of the museums in the United States are considered small and include historic house museums, history museums, art museums, historic sites, general museums, and much more. The American Association for State and Local History Small Museums Committee is interested in assisting America’s small museums in their endeavors, helping to make them stronger and more responsive to their communities. The Committee encourages small museums to share their successful strategies in workshops and national meetings and demonstrate what the field can learn from small museums. Through its programming and initiatives, AASLH plans to strengthen the small museum, an important steward of local and national history.

About AASLH

AASLH provides leadership and support for its members who preserve and interpret state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all Americans. AASLH began in 1904, under the wing of the American Historical Association. Then called the Conference of State and Local Historical Societies, AASLH broke out on its own in December of 1940 to become the American Association for State and Local History.

Now, 100 years after the first organization was created in support of the burgeoning field of state and local history, AASLH is still the only comprehensive national organization dedicated to the field at large. From its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH is proud to provide a home for those who work and volunteer in the field of state and local history.

Museum Professionals Meet-Up in College Park, MD

Hello museum professionals, art, science, and history enthusiasts, curators, archivists, educators, developers, interpreters, administrators, and anyone else I have left out,

My name is Amanda and I am an educator here at the College Park Aviation Museum. I wanted to invite you all in conjunction with DC Emerging Museum Professionals to a networking night here at CPAM on Thursday, May 10th, at 6:30pm.

This event is for you and anyone you know that is interested in the museum world - so please forward this along to the rest of your staff and other organizations or institutions you are associated with.

And if you haven't been to the College Park Aviation Museum, then you are in for a treat. This is a special opportunity to see the museum free of charge and network all at the same time! Light refreshments will also be served and tours will be provided throughout the evening.

So, on behalf of all of the College Park staff, we hope to see you there. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me. Please find directions on our website at collegeparkaviationmuseum.com. It's a conveniently located 5 minute walk from the College Park Metro.


Sincerely,

Amanda Leslie

Museum Educator

College Park Aviation Museum

1985 Cpl. Frank Scott Drive

College Park, MD 20740

www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com

Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel: Now a Mobile App!

WASHINGTON, DC— Heritage Preservation’s Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel is now available free of charge on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad as the “ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage” app.
 
Long known as the authoritative resource for salvaging artifacts after a disaster, the Wheel has been used by museums, libraries, and archives around the world. This new app makes the Wheel’s invaluable guidance accessible to anyone who is in need of practical advice for saving collections in the first 48 hours after disaster strikes.

Apple users can download this free app from the App Store. Simply search for “ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage” or click here. To download, your device must run iOS 5.1 or later. Complete technical requirements are available on the ERS page at the App Store.

ERS provides the same reliable content found in the original Wheel. The app outlines critical stages of disaster response and provides practical salvage tips for nine types of collections, from photographs to natural history specimens. ERS can help users protect precious collections and significant records, access reliable information instantly, and save damaged objects. The app was created in partnership with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

The original slide-chart Wheel was created by Heritage Preservation, a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the United States. It has been translated into six languages and distributed internationally in more than 40 countries. The original Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel, sponsored by BELFOR, is still available for purchase in the Heritage Preservation bookstore

Employment Opportunity with Dumbarton House

Position Announcement:  Education Manager                                                       April 16, 2012

Dumbarton House, an AAM-accredited Federal period historic house museum in Washington, D.C., headquarters of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, home of America’s first Register of the Treasury, listed on the National Register of Historic Places—seeks a dynamic, proactive, creative, goal-oriented, hands-on collaborator with a strong historical perspective to orchestrate and administer an expanding educational program.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

·        Oversees and develops school and Scout programs, public lecture and concert series, museum Interpretive Plan and tours, family and youth programs, and expanding community outreach initiatives.

·        Recruits, trains, and manages part-time paid and volunteer staff including museum teachers, docents, weekend museum aides, researchers, interns, and an education assistant. 

·        Plans and executes annual education budget, supports exhibit planning, develops museum interpretive goals, assists with grant-writing, and represents the museum at professional venues.

Full-time, exempt position. 35 hours a week.  Regular evening & weekend hours required.

Salary: Commensurate with experience. Benefits package includes 100% employer-paid individual health insurance; life insurance; paid holidays, vacation, sick, and personal leave; and access to retirement accounts, professional development opportunities, and tuition reimbursement.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in museum education or a related field
• Two-three years’ proven achievement in program development, teaching, and volunteer management
• Superb interpersonal skills to work with diverse patrons, public, and volunteer and paid staff
• Flexibility
• Solid speaking, writing, and organizational skills 
• Ability to work independently, proactively, and as part of a team
• Knowledge of or enthusiasm for the history, social history, and material culture of the Federal period

To Apply:

Please send cover letter & resume to KarenDaly@DumbartonHouse.org or fax to 202-337-0348.  No phone calls please.

MayDay 2012

From our friends at Heritage Preservation:  

You can take one simple step to prepare for emergencies

Join libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, and preservation organizations across the country in setting aside May 1, 2012, to participate in MayDay, a national effort to prepare for disasters. Promoted by Heritage Preservation and other members of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, MayDay encourages cultural organizations to take one simple step to protect the art, artifacts, records, books, and historic sites they hold in trust. To help cultural institutions make the most out of MayDay, Heritage Preservation will provide a wealth of activities and information.

Win disaster supplies This year, turn participation into an opportunity to win free disaster supplies from Gaylord Brothers! Participants that submit a brief description of 2012 MayDay plans or accomplishments by May 31, 2012, to Heritage Preservation will be automatically entered into this random prize drawing. Purchase discounted resources Need resources to help you get started? From now until May 31, Heritage Preservation will offer its award-winning Field Guide to Emergency Response and Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel at special MayDay prices. RescuingRecords.com will also offer a 15% discount on its tabletop exercises and the book Implementing the Incident Command System at the Institutional Level from May 1 to May 6. Learn more For examples on what others have done in the past, information on our prize drawing, or additional resources and promotional material, please visit Heritage Preservation’s Web site.

Small Museums Online Community from AASLH

AASLH's Small Museums Online Community (SMOC) has officially launched and is now open to the public. Break out the streamers & confetti! You can use SMOC to connect with museum professionals from around North America, find helpful resources, and discuss topics of importance to the museum community. (Trivial topics are also welcome. The seemingly trivial is often the most profound.)

Maggie Marconi, one of the members of AASLH's Small Museums Committee, has written a welcome blog post for SMOC that provides information on how to navigate the site. Check it out here: http://www.smallmuseumcommunity.org/blog/2012/03/welcome-to-the-small-museums-online-community/

Come on over to SMOC to lurk, to learn, and to comment. (Lurking and learning don't require registration, but commenting does. Don't worry, it's easy!) Please join us.

Mary Warner
AASLH Small Museums Committee