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Gretchen Anderson retires from Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:52:58 GMT

They finally let me leave, lol

Hello Gretchen, I hope you are well. Is it true that after 16+ years you retired as conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH)?

It is true, almost a year ago now. They finally let me leave, lol. But I left them in good hands. We hired a very talented conservator from Switzerland, Annick Vuissov. She has a very broad experience, including working on conservation projects in all parts of the world, including Antarctica, where she preserved the Shackleton huts. She is a good fit for CMNH.

What are some of your proudest accomplishments in your time at CMNH?

That is a big question - it is hard to say - there were so many projects that I am very proud of. One of the accomplishments that I am most proud of is developing and strengthening relationships across not only the natural history museum, but across all 4 Carnegie museums. The CMNH is one of 4 sister museums under the Carnegie name: Carnegie Museum of Art (with whom Natural History shares the original 1897 building), the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Science Center. I helped to improve synergy between all 4 institutions, sharing conservation equipment and collection management knowledge. I also developed very strong relationships with our facilities department (shared by all 4 institutions), significantly improving environmental conditions for Natural History through a better understanding of what conservation could do. Within Natural History, I improved collaboration with the various science (collection) departments, building relationships with collection managers and curators for improved overall collection care. I strengthened collaboration between conservation, collections, and the exhibits departments, by helping to show how conservation could aid each of those areas.

These collaborations resulted in a major exhibition opened in 2024 called Stories We Keep: Conserving Objects from Ancient Egypt. ( https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/stories-we-keep/ ) The goal of the exhibition was multi-layered and grew out of the need for a large conservation space to work with the updating of many of the traditional galleries. The first gallery to be renovated was the Egyptian Gallery, with its centerpiece of a 30-foot-long funerary boat from the 12th Dynasty (1991-1802 BCE). We created a conservation visible lab to treat the 800 + objects (including the boat) that were on display. The visible lab is the central element of the exhibition, which focuses on why we humans collect things and how we manage to preserve them. This exhibition is a collaboration between the CMNH Exhibition department and Conservation, with the visible lab being my idea. This exhibit has been so successful that the lab has now been expanded, and the exhibit has been expanded to focus on how we collect through the scientific perspective. (The Stories we Keep: Bringing the World to Pittsburgh) https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/stories-we-keep-pittsburgh/

(Blog by one of my interns: https://www.constellations.pitt.edu/content/giving-objects-new-life-how-stories-we-keep-exhibit-came-together )

This exhibition demonstrates the culmination of what I wanted to do for the past 16 years at CMNH.

Other projects that I am proud of:

• Collaboration with CMNH Collection Manager for the Bird Collection on reducing natural light levels in her storage area and in developing safer methods for storing the large egg collection and historic taxidermy. The light level reduction was done by demonstrating a cost-effective way to approach this serious problem, with full administrative support. We leveraged the support through federal grants that enabled purchase of better (conservation grade and more space efficient) cabinets.

• Collaboration with the Amphibian and Reptiles Curator to significantly improve and expand storage capacity for the fluid collection (specimens stored in alcohol) through a joint grant proposal (NSF Grant). The fluid collections at CMNH are stored in a purpose-built structure built in 1907 and is on the national historic registry. It is gorgeous. While our grant did not solve all the problems (the biggest being being the lack of environmental control), it did create a significant amount of additional space to manage the collection.

• Improvements in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) across Natural History, Art and the Andy Warhol museum (AWM). I convinced our facilities department to hire a single pest management company to manage all 4 institutions, and to allow me to work directly with the technician so that he understood our goals. I worked with the conservator in the Art Museum, to mitigate several moth infestations and develop a strategy to reduce recurrences. I collaborated with the senior registrar at AWM to address a serious infestation in their collection. We worked together on a solution that included extensive monitoring, treatment, and documentation. We were able to reduce the infestation significantly. It was an interesting challenge with a very successful conclusion. A white paper on the challenge was written and is located on MuseumPest.Net ( https://museumpests.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1-2-Morgan-and-Jacobs-paper.pdf ). Finally, I worked closely with Natural History collection managers to improve and standardize their isolation protocols and treatments, improving housecleaning in the process.

• Successfully mitigated 8 water emergencies. The historic building that holds Natural History and Art is old and is on the national registry. It was originally constructed in 1895, with additions in 1895, 1907 and 2005. It is a complicated building, with some very old infrastructure. In my 16 years there were several failures - to the roof, to plumbing, and to drainage pipes. In all of these emergencies, I worked closely with the facilities department to not only mitigate the floods, but to to plan for repairs to the building and the infrastructure to reduce the risk.

• Conducted a major General Conservation Assessment to develop priorities for improving collection care.

• Conducted an environmental survey that identified weaknesses in the environmental conditions and informed plans for improvements.

• Conducted a Risk Assessment for collection care.

What have you been doing with all your FREE time the last year?

HAHA! What free time!! To begin with, the museum hired me back to work with a small local museum (The Latin American Cultural Center of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) to conserve the objects and specimens borrowed from CMNH for the exhibit: Costa Rica: Between Oceans and Continents ( https://costarica.lasaweb.org/en/ ). The museum’s new conservator (Annick) and her team were busy working on the second phase of the Stories We Keep series, so I was hired to work on the 30 archaeological objects and a half dozen historic taxidermy specimens, some of which needed significant intervention. This kept me very busy and very happy. It was a pleasure to work with these wonderful pieces, mostly dating to the first half of the 20th Century, from a time when taxidermy was truly an art form. Treatments ranged from simple cleaning (they needed it desperately) to repairs on both the specimens and the naturalistic mounts.

Mov ing home to Minnesota:

On top of that, my husband and I had already decided to move back to Minnesota, where we grew up. He had a family emergency that demanded he move back to Minnesota, and that kept him busy. He looked for a new home (and found it) while I prepared our Pittsburgh house for sale, including packing for the move. Everything worked out - we sold our house, bought a new one and barely survived a move from hell. Needless to say, I was exhausted and just beginning to recover in time to start teaching again!

Oh, is that all. Now that you have moved back to Minnesota are you going to kick back and live a life of leisure?

Hardly! I am teaching five online professional development courses this year for Museum Study beginning with Keeping Historic Houses & Museums Clean in March, Introduction to Integrated Pest Management in April, Storage Techniques in June, Integrated Pest Management: The Plan & Implementation in August, and Materials for Exhibit, Moving, and Storage in November

There will be some leisure activities, beginning with adopting a dog (we have been without since moving to Pittsburgh). I will also be gardening - landscaping my new beautiful yard- and listening to music (my husband is a professional musician and is getting back into the Minneapolis music scene).

What new things are you planning to do?

When I get my new home in order and my office set up, I plan to make myself available for consulting for conservation projects. I have spent the past 40 years developing and learning preventive conservation techniques and am eager to share my knowledge and expertise through workshops and as a consultant. I would also like to get involved with some local museums, including the Science Museum of Minnesota where I spent the first 30 years of my professional life. (conservation career)

Whew, I’m worn out just hearing about the last year. Thank you for sharing what you have been up to. We look forward to seeing what you get up to next.

A conversation with Angela Kipp about her book Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 23:21:52 GMT

In this post Brad Bredehoft has a conversation with Angela Kipp about her book Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections

First off Angela how did you get your start working with collections?

I came to collections slightly sideways. While studying museum studies I worked for a couple of museums, mainly as assistance to the project management for exhibitions. Of course, that always brings you into contact with collections and especially when working as a travelling database troubleshooter in a huge, decentralized exhibition project for the Kulturland Brandenburg in 2000/2001 I saw many smaller collections and all the work that was done to improve them. After my studies I started working as a temporary replacement for a curator at the TECHNOSEUM, caring for their collection of magnetic tapes (some of them the very first in history, but that's a story for another day). I took over the post as their collections manager in 2004 when a big storage move was looming. They had to give up one of their warehouses and fit their collection into the remaining two and so, it was not only a move, it was also a huge collections and storage improvement project. Until my departure to Gallery Systems in 2021 I constantly improved this collection and consulted for other collections and similar projects on the side.

Before you wrote the book you were already sharing articles on registrar work in multiple languages on Registrar Trek: The Next Generation ( https://world.museumsprojekte.de/sample-page/ ). What prompted you to write Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections?

Again, it wasn't a straightforward path. I was chatting with Charles Harmon, executive editor at then Rowman & Littlefield, now Bloomsbury, about something completely different and he told me to get in touch if I ever had an idea for a book in my profession. Well, thinking about that, there was indeed a book that I had been missing. The one I could have used when starting with my first collection and that I wished I could pass on to everybody who was struggling with the same problems. A book that takes you through the process of organizing a messy collection and bring it to a better stage. The problem was that there were heaps of books that talked about what best practice in collections management looked like. But there was none that helped you when your reality was mice eating historic soap packages, while the water from a leaking roof dripped on your head and you were told by management "sorry, no budget for collections care". So, I went and wrote a book about what to do when circumstances are not ideal, when all you have in the beginning is an unmanaged collection - and yourself.

You are German, is it true you wrote the book in English?

Yes, I did. I would have to say a thing or two about museum books in German, but I spare you the rant. Let us just say it was much easier to write in English and let someone sort out my bad grammar than writing it in German and look for a publisher willing to accept a manuscript by someone without a PhD. Especially since my book breaks with a lot of conventions. For example, the success or failure of collections improvement projects is often determined by human relationships. This aspect is usually not covered by books about collections care. Since they are so central I dedicated a whole chapter to them - and another one about things going wrong called "failing successfully". And of course, I have no intention to suppress my humor just because I am writing professionally, which is more commonly accepted in English textbooks.

The first edition was only available in English. Are there plans to release the 2nd edition in other languages?

Yes, I am working on translating the book into German. No publisher, so far, though, and I am not willing to compromise on aforementioned aspects, so I will probably self-publish it.

That will be nice for all the native German speakers in the field. I know your sense of humor and imagine there will be a lot of giggling.

What does a jet have to do with managing previously unmanaged collections?
(Reprinted with permission from Registrar Trek August 30, 2025)

Simple answer:

Nothing.

Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 20:16:32 GMT

Republished with permission from Registrar Trek

In these past few weeks it seems that there were so many horrible things happening that just making a list of them feels overwhelming and exhausting. Some of the decisions of the current U.S. government have an impact on the global level, others hit people personally, some of whom are close friends. And then, there are those who seem to target the very core of our profession, like the shutting down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the termination of grants already awarded by the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH).

It is hard not to lose all hope in this climate. And yet, aren’t we, as museum professionals, used to things not really looking pretty? Haven’t we battled budget and staff cuts before? Haven’t we brought uncomfortable truths in front of the eyes of our visitors and politicians before? Maybe the current crisis is not comparable to what we were confronted with before. But just as well, we are well trained in going against adversarial circumstances.

We have always done so with resilience, creativity, and, most of all, a sense of community. We might be spread out across the world and we might have spread ourselves thin by taking on too many responsibilities, but we are not alone. I have reached out to my network over the past few days to check in on some people, see how they are coping, and getting ideas of what can be done, because, in the end, focusing on what can’t be done never made anything better.

What Can We Do?

1. Apply the lessons that museums learned from Covid

A museum should have a plan for suddenly shutting down or having to reduce staff for a prolonged long period of time.
The plan should include cross-training for all staff so that a reduced staff can keep the institution functioning and care for the collections. Every staff member should be trained to do tasks that are normally not part of their duties so that they can help in the event of a prolonged emergency.
The plan should include what the museum can do to remain a destination for visitors during a crisis. This might include regulating the number of visitors in the museum at the any one time during a pandemic, reducing or eliminating admission fees for visitors during a prolonged financial crisis, and how responsibilities could be handled by a reduced staff. It is worth noting that a recent study revealed that art museums that charge admission spend an average of $100 per visitor but attract smaller audiences than free museums, and that there are costs associated with collecting admission fees that may not be recovered by the fee. Details can be found at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/us-museums-visitors-report-2622358) .

2. Prepare the collections for long-term, low maintenance storage

by preparing the most sustainable and passive storage environment possible:

Improve the effectiveness of the collection storage furniture, containers, and supports to protect the collections (e.g., replace gaskets on doors, eliminate acidic materials, reduce lighting and UV in storage).
Keep the collection in order (each object in its proper place in storage) at all times (do not allow a backlog of out-of-place objects to build up).
Improve environmental controls and environmental monitoring procedures.
Maintain storage environment equipment in good order (e.g. replace filters, service equipment regularly, replace aging HVAC systems).

3. Protect the databases

Make sure that you have a fully up-to-date, readable copy of all important museum databases stored somewhere outside of the building, preferably in a hard format as well as electronic.
Make sure that both on-site and off-site databases are protected so they cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Renew passwords and other project on a frequent, regular basis.
If the institution is forced to close, and you have a good backup copy, consider removing databases from the museum servers to protect confidential information.
When possible look into storing backup copies of your databases that are not only readable in a proprietary format of one vendor (who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or might go out of business). If you database allows for it, export your important data as SQL tables or as comma separated values (.csv). Excel formats such as xlsx, xls, or ods are fine, too.
When possible move your sensitive data to trusted servers outside the U.S. that don’t belong to U.S. based companies who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or delete your data.
As a rule of thumb: make access to your data for your trusted staff as easy as possible, but make deleting data from your database hard by setting up a robust rights management and whenever possible enable procedures to revert to earlier data entry points.

4. Update the institutional emergency preparedness plan

to include procedures for coping with sudden, prolonged shutdowns of the building.

5. Stock up on critical supplies

6. Download anything needed from federal websites

(such as the NPS Museum Handbook and Conserve O Grams or IMLS reports) immediately, while the information is still available. Store this data in a safe place that is only accessible to authorized personnel and make deleting those resources as hard as possible.

7. Keep in mind that most serious problem going forward will probably not be the cuts in federal funding

to the NIH, NEA, NSF, IMLS, etc., because most of this money goes to projects which can be postponed or funded by other sources (such as donations). The most serious problem will be the lack of funds resulting from damage done to the economy due to a combination of the rising deficit, increasing unemployment (e.g., the mass reductions in the federal workforce and corresponding loss of jobs in sectors that serve the federal workforce), and decreased tax revenues due to tax cuts for the wealthy, tariffs on imports, and cuts to social services. In other words, the predicted problems with the US economy are far more likely to be a bigger problem for museums than the loss of federal grant funds.

8. Reach out to your community and build strong networks

Let your community know that you need their support now more than ever.

Let them know that most small museums in their immediate area do not get federal funds directly, but do get support from their state humanities councils. Membership for these museums is usually less than $30 a year and they put the money to good use.

If you have lost funding from IMLS or NEH, let your community know. Here’s an example from a small museum explaining exactly what was lost:

“The termination of the NEH grant award and the loss of $25,000 are devastating for the Weston History & Culture Center. This funding was going to support our upcoming permanent exhibit…”

The people caring about your museum can write to and phone their representatives to let them know they are not okay with what is happening right now.

Words of Cheer:

Museums existed long before the IMLS and other federal granting agencies, so they can survive this period, although many worthy projects and much research will be halted unless alternative funding can be found.
With preparation, museums can survive the coming crisis as they have survived other crises. There will be staff reductions and loss of opportunities, but with any luck, the situation will change within a few years.
Take a good look at your policies and procedures and investigate new laws and executive orders you are confronted with. Laws that are passed in a great hurry often contain contradictions and loopholes. Often asking for clarifications by authorities can slow processes down and work to your advantage. Often stalling a process in good faith can be much more effective than open opposition which puts you and your staff at risk.
Be prepared to be patient. Lawsuits and judicial decisions challenging the proposed changes will take time to go through the courts.
In the longer term, climate change and its effects on museum operations, the economy, and the behavior of the public is the greatest challenge to the future of museums, so the present crisis should be used to prepare for the future.

Best Advice:

If your institution does not have a plan for long-term survival during a financial crisis, the next pandemic, or climate change, get busy now to correct this deficit.

Helpful Information

Learnings museums made from the Covid-19 pandemic, https://www.ne-mo.org/news-events/article/learnings-museums-made-from-the-covid-19-pandemic
PEAS Resource Library (Promoting Exhibit Access and Safety), https://ncp.si.edu/PRICE-PEAS
Snider, Julianne. 2024. The Wheel is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 20(2):347-359, DOI: 10.1177/15501906241232309
Living in a Wild Future (Center for the Future of Museums blog), https://www.aam-us.org/2025/03/04/living-in-a-wild-future/
Decrease in Public Funding? A Worldwide Answer from Museums (ICOM), https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IRAPFM-A4-Format_FINAL.pdf
Susana Smith Bautista (2021) — How to Close a Museum. A Practical Guide (Rowman & Littlefield)
Here is an additional list of resources in case you have to close down your institution: https://world.museumsprojekte.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ResourcesMuseumsClosing.pdf
Christopher J. Garthe (2023) — The Sustainable Museum. How Museums Contribute to the Great Transformation (Routledge)

Some more notes

Share this resource freely with anyone you think needs to see this, no need to ask for permission. Add what applies to your special case. Let us know what we should add. Download, save, print, circulate.

Download List as PDF

Webinars hosted by Museum Study

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 17:09:47 GMT

Past webinars are available on our YouTube Channel

Webinars are a new free service we are providing at Museum Study. Initially our webinars will be on topics related to the courses we offer and be presented by our instructors. They may be an introduction to a course topic, or a deep dive in to one of many topics covered in our courses. The webinars will give you a taste of what our courses are about and an opportunity to ask questions.

Our webinars are scheduled for an hour with 30-40 minutes of presentation followed by a question-and-answer period in the remaining time. We use Zoom to meet. Feel free to share your video and audio for the question-and-answer period and if you want live transcription just ask during the webinar. Our webinars are recorded and are available on our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/MuseumStudy

We held 6 webinars in 2023 from 5 different presenters.

Beyond checking the EEO box: Cultural Competency, the first step in DEIA , February 16, 2023 by Helen Wong Smith who leads our Cultural Competency course. Archivist and Librarian Helen Wong Smith currently the President-Elect of the Society of American Archivists discussed the importance of Cultural Competency as a business strategy to ensure our workforce reflects, represents, and is responsive to the communities with whom we collaborate and serve.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel: Using SAMR to Create Virtual Programs Inspired by your In-Person Programs , April 4, 2023 by Hillary Hanel Rose who leads our Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums course. Hillary Hanel Rose is an educator in both the museum field and K-16 education. She is passionate about creating meaningful and enjoyable learning opportunities, especially by connecting interdisciplinary topics through inquiry experiences. In this webinar Hillary discussed how to turn your in-person programs into virtual programs using the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) Model.

Introduction to Collection Management Policies , May 16, 2023 by John Simmons who leads our Policies for Managing Collections course. John Simmons author of Things Great and Small: Collection Management Policies talked about what is a collections management policy (CMP), and why should all collecting institutions have one? This introductory webinar explains how written collection management policies can improve the management of both small and large collections, the basic steps to follow when preparing policies, and the core issues that should be addressed.

It's the Law! An Introduction to Legal Issues for Collecting Objects , June 1, 2023 by John Simmons who leads our Laws and Collections Management course. John Simmons discussed what you need to know about the legal issues that affect collecting? This introductory webinar introduces the concept of museum law and provides an overview of the most significant national (US) and international laws and regulations that apply to collecting for art, history, and natural history collections, and how these may impact the acquisition and accessioning of collection objects.

Risk-based approaches to preventive conservation: Which to choose for my situation? , September 16, 2023 by Robert Waller who along with Moya Dumville teaches our two courses on Assessing Risk to Cultural Property . Risk assessment and management approaches to preventive conservation were first suggested almost 35 years ago. Since then, numerous approaches have been developed, applied, and published. Three of the better-known approaches include Quiskscan, ABC, and the Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM). People unfamiliar with these may think that they are interchangeable, and each could have value in any given context. That is not true. Each of these approaches was developed within a specific context and for certain purposes. This presentation briefly describes each of these three approaches, and their strengths and limitations. Armed with this understanding, institutions and collection care professionals can decide which approach(es) they believe will be most beneficial for their situation. Make sure you choose an approach that will be a fit for your purpose.

Unmanaged Collections Talk , December 19, 2023 Angela Kipp held a Zoom chat to lay out her plans for the 2nd edition of her book and solicit feedback. Angela leads our course Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections . The new edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections is in the making, but not done. In this event author Angela Kipp presented the plans for the new edition as well as being available for questions and answers. This will be your chance to share what worked and did not work when you were tackling your own collections. Let us hear your successes, struggles, conundrums, awesome findings, your tales of FICs and WTFs. No matter if you have worked with an unmanaged collection, are about to embark in tackling one, or are just generally interested in the topic, you are welcome to join us and contribute – or just watch and listen. The second edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections of is due out in December of 2024.

In early February we kicked off our 2024 webinar series with Guiding principles: the foundation of a meaningful community engagement practice , February 6, 2024 by Shannyn Palmer who leads our Foundations of Community Engagement course. Terms such as ‘community engagement’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘co-creation’ are becoming increasingly common in cultural institutions and yet, the way in which they are used is often ill-defined and inconsistent. This works to dilute their meaning and can lead to tokenistic claims of collaboration that perpetuate the idea that community engagement is a box-ticking exercise, or something that can be tacked onto a project when it suits. Thoughtful consideration of the core values and principles that underpin and guide relationship building and collaboration is critical to the development of a meaningful community-engaged practice. In this webinar we explore the central role of guiding principles, not just as words, but as actions that embody core values and provide a roadmap for implementing an ethical, empowering, and meaningful community engagement practice.

Our next scheduled webinar will be May 14 by John Simmons and will be about new policy concerns addressed in the third edition of John’s book Things Great and Small which will be released in April 2024. Museums are confronting a wide array of unexpected challenges including managing digital information and objects, preparing collections for sudden temporary closure, new risks due to climate change, developing sustainable collection care practices, decolonization and repatriation, caring for larger collections with fewer staff members, and operating in an increasingly globalized museum environment. This presentation will consider how these and other issues can be addressed through the development of collection management policies and careful resource allocation.

Do you have any ideas for a webinar topic or presenter? Please let us know. You can reach us at Webinar@MuseumStudy.com

To access our past webinars and see what webinars are coming you can visit our Webinar page and follow us on social media to hear about all our upcoming webinars and courses. (Links below)

2024 Schedule

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 18:19:41 GMT

First webinar of 2024

Another year is upon us. We hope it has gotten off to a good start for you. At Museum Study we are busy getting ready for another year of online courses and webinars. There is a full schedule already available for our 2024 courses on the course schedule page on our website beginning with Keeping Historic Houses & Museums Clean led by Gretchen Anderson and Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections led by Angela Kipp in February.

The book Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections came out in 2016 and Angela Kipp is working on completing the 2 ^nd edition, which is scheduled to be available in December 2024. In December 2023 we hosted a talk with Angela about the upcoming 2 ^nd edition. In this event Angela presented the plans for the new edition, solicited feedback, and held a discussion about unmanaged collections. If you would like to watch the talk you can see it on our YouTube Channel, where we put all our webinars. https://youtu.be/-qKLzT3bhfI

Our first free webinar of 2024 will be presented by Shannyn Palmer a community-engaged practitioner, researcher, and writer living and working on the Ancestral lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples in the place now known as Canberra, Australia, and instructor of our Foundations of Community Engagement: Building relationships for meaningful connection and collaboration course. The topic will be Guiding Principles: The Foundation of a Meaningful Community Engagement Practice .

Terms such as ‘community engagement’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘co-creation’ are becoming increasingly common in cultural institutions and yet, the way in which they are used is often ill-defined and inconsistent. This works to dilute their meaning and can lead to tokenistic claims of collaboration that perpetuate the idea that community engagement is a box-ticking exercise, or something that can be tacked onto a project when it suits.

Thoughtful consideration of the core values and principles that underpin and guide relationship building and collaboration is critical to the development of a meaningful community-engaged practice. In this webinar we will explore the central role of guiding principles, not just as words, but as actions that embody core values and provide a roadmap for implementing an ethical, empowering, and meaningful community engagement practice.

This free webinar will be on Tuesday February 6 at 10 pm Continental Europe, 9 pm U.K., 4 pm Eastern North America, 3 pm Central, 2 pm Mountain, 1 pm Pacific, Noon Alaska, 11 am Hawaii, Wednesday February 7 10 am New Zealand, 8 am Australian Eastern. Email Webinar@MuseumStudy.com if you would like to register for this discussion.

Later this year Tara Young ( Writing K-12 Lesson Plans for Museums ) and Hillary Hanel Rose ( Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums ) will give a joint webinar related to their education courses and watch for another webinar from John Simmons on Collection Management Policies. Speaking of John Simmons, the 3rd edition of Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies will be out in April 2024.

Other new editions expected this year include: in February the third edition of Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach used in our How to Tell Stories and Create Effective Exhibition Panels course and in August the second edition of Recruiting and Managing Volunteers in Museums: A Handbook for Volunteer Management used in our Managing Museum Volunteers course.

Did you know?

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:59:17 GMT

(Cartoon by Sofiia Merchuck © Protect Heritage)

More than online professional development courses

Museum Study is best known for providing online professional development courses, which we have been doing since 2015. Did you know that we also can host online professional development for your institution or association?

For seven years Museum Study hosted online courses for the American Association for State and Local History until the program grew so large that it was brought in house. You do not need to be a large Association to work with us to develop online professional development for your staff or membership, we can work with any size group to develop a course or program.

If you are not planning to run the same course repeatedly, but instead want to do a one-time professional development Museum Study can work with you to develop a Virtual Workshop. A Virtual Workshop is much like an online course in that it uses our learning management system and Zoom to bring the participants and instructor together to share experience, disseminate knowledge, and answer questions, but the Virtual Workshop is customized for your group’s specialized needs and employs more face to face time on Zoom.

Museum Study also has free resources including two free courses, our new Webinar series, the Monopolicy board game from John Simmons, and of course this Blog.

Our first free course Cultural Institution Crisis Response was developed during the COVID shutdown to provide institutions with guidance on how to handle everything from closing to maintaining operations while closed to reopening.

Our second free course debuted in July 2022, Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration is a fundamental building block of collection preservation. You can start this self-paced free course any time and proceed at your own pace. In the last 13 months more than 200 people from across the globe have accessed this course.

Our webinars may be an introduction to a course topic, or a deep dive in to one of many topics covered in our courses. The webinars will give you a taste of what our courses are about and an opportunity to ask questions.

Our next webinar Risk-based approaches to preventive conservation: Which to choose for my situation? will be September 12, 2023 presented by Robert Waller of Protect Heritage Corp.

Find information about upcoming webinars here: https://www.museumstudy.com/webinars

You can view past webinars on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/museumstudy

The Monopolicy board game is based on the book, Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies (second edition, 2017) from John Simmons. The Monopolicy game is free to download and use to foster discussions of collection management policies in your institution. Monopolicy is available in English and Spanish https://www.museumstudy.com/monopolicy

If you use the game, please send John Simmons JohnSimmons@MuseumStudy.com an email and let him know how it worked for you.

Follow us on social media to keep up with new free resources and courses.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MuseumStudy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/museumstudy/

If you would like to be notified when blog posts drop you can join the email list. https://www.museumstudy.com/newsletter-registration

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections - Revisited, revised, revamped!

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 19:26:21 GMT

What do you want to see in it?

It has been seven years since “Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections” first saw the light of day. Rowman & Littlefield kindly asked me if I want to do a new edition and I am inclined to shout: “Heck, yeah!”

But it has been a long while since the first edition and basically, I said all I had to say back then. So, I am handing it over to you: What do you want to see enhanced? What did you miss? What was unnecessary and can be “deaccessioned” in the new edition?

Did you use the book for managing your own (or your institution’s) unmanaged collection? I’d love to hear from you! Do you want to provide a new real-world story in the new edition? I would be delighted to! Have you used the book and it shows because it is dog-eared and full of notes? Please, I want to see those photos of the book in action!

Please submit your advice and ideas to me by July 31, 2023.

The world has changed, but some things didn’t. Even after so many years, you can still reach me at angela.kipp@museumsprojekte.de Subject: Second Edition

With the overtaking of twitter by some people I would rather not be affiliated with, I have changed to Mastodon as the friendlier alternative. You can find me there as @registrartrek@glammr.us and you can follow the RegistrarTrek blog by following @admin@world.museumsprojekte.de

Take care and I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Angela

New Year New Programs at Museum Study

183:851405139 (Bradford Bredehoft) — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 21:22:59 GMT

In this issue

We introduce our new instructor Shannyn Palmer, release the preliminary 2023 schedule including our Storage Techniques course in January and Shannyn’s new course Foundations of Community Engagement in April, we celebrate the first participants to complete the FREE self-paced course Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration , announce our new free webinar series and finally list some course ideas we are looking to find instructors to lead.

Museum Study is Pleased that Shannyn Palmer is Joining our Distinguished Faculty

Shannyn Palmer is a community-engaged practitioner, researcher and writer living and working on the Ancestral lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples in the place now known as Canberra, Australia. She has a PhD in History from the Australian National University and recently published her first book with Melbourne University Press, Unmaking Angas Downs: Myth and History on a Central Australian Pastoral Station, which traces a history of colonisation in Central Australia from the perspective of Anangu who lived there.

She has over a decade of experience working in community engagement, facilitation and research with First Nations peoples and communities, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities and government and non-government organisations in the arts, cultural and cultural heritage sectors. Through this experience she has developed a rigorous approach to developing meaningful relationships and authentic engagement — the principles of deep engagement, genuine partnership, self-determination, two-way learning, co-creation and cultural safety underpin her practice.

Shannyn currently works as a consultant, helping cultural institutions to achieve best practice in community engagement and create meaningful collaborations. She is committed to the development of community-engaged practice as a pathway to enabling museums to connect with communities in ethical, meaningful, and empowering ways.

Shannyn will be leading the new course Foundations of Community Engagement: Building relationships for meaningful connection and collaboration which will run in April 2023.

2023 Schedule at Museum Study

Another year is concluding and we are grateful for the amazing Cultural professionals we got to spend it with from Australia, Barbados, Canada, England, Iran, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States. Through the years we have had the pleasure of meeting cultural professionals from more than 30 countries who have brought their own perspective and experience to our professional development courses. Our preliminary 2023 schedule is now available with 19 courses so far and more to come. Contact us with any questions you have about our courses.

We are excited to be debuting a new course in April Foundations of Community Engagement: Building relationships for meaningful connection and collaboration . This course is designed to prompt thinking about why community engagement is important and to begin to develop a practical understanding of how to engage with people and communities in ethical, meaningful, and empowering ways. It draws from leading thought in community engaged practice to provide the necessary concepts, information, and practical tools to begin developing an approach to effective and meaningful community engagement. Foundations of Community Engagement will be led by Shannyn Palmer.

Those of you who have participated in our Decolonizing Museums in Practice course may want to consider taking Foundations of Community Engagement to continue the progress you have begun. If you plan to take Creating Exhibitions Through the Collective: Insight into Community Co-Curation course you might want to take Foundations of Community Engagement first.

First participants earn Completion of Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration

In July 2022 Museum Study debuted a new free self-paced course that you can start and finish any time you want, Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration . This course will help you understand the factors that can cause damage to collections and then inform the next step to develop strategies to preserve collections.

More than 150 people have accessed the course and we just had our first participants earn the electronic badge of completion, demonstrating their success at understanding what can damage our collections. Congratulations to them in their efforts to preserve heritage collections.

Free Webinars Coming in 2023

July 2022 we held our first free webinar Overview of Interpretive Exhibit Evaluation . The interest was greater than we expected so we have decided to offer more free webinars in 2023. Initially our webinars will be on topics related to the courses we offer and be presented by our instructors. They may be an introduction to a course topic, or a deep dive in to one of many topics covered in our courses. The webinars will give you a taste of what our courses are about and an opportunity to ask questions.

The first will be in February by Saul Sopoci Drake related to Traveling Exhibitions. The second will also be in February by Helen Wong Smith on Cultural Competency. There will be more information about these and other webinars coming soon on our website. Watch for an announcement. If you are interested in joining one of our webinars email us at Webinar@MuseumStudy.com and let us know which webinar you would like to attend.

Looking for New instructors and New Courses

We are always looking for new instructors and new course ideas. If you have a subject you think would work well as an online course, please let us know by emailing us at Contact@MuseumStudy.com

Here are some topics we are looking to find instructors to lead:

Emergency Management
Rights & Reproductions
Rematriation
Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Public Relations
Virtual Exhibits
Collecting Oral Histories
DEAI
Strategic Planning
Governance
Care and Management of Archives
Collection Management
Deaccessioning
Audience Insight

Do you know something I don’t know!

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 02:36:55 GMT

Museum Study is debuting a brand-new course, Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration and it’s FREE!

Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration is a free course developed to help you learn or review the causes of damage to our collections, the 10 Agents of Deterioration, as defined by the Canadian Conservation Institute. We will cover why understanding the causes of damage are important, what risks they pose, and importantly how they relate to each other. You will be challenged to look closely at objects from your collection and determine how the Agents could affect them.

The course objectives include:

Learn the 10 Agents of Deterioration
Understand how the Agents are related
Discover how the Agents affect objects in the collection
Identify risks to collection
Learn what the next step is to preserve our collection

Why should you take this course?

Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration will help you understand all of the factors that can cause damage to collections and then inform the next step to develop strategies to preserve collections.

Who is this course for?

Any one who works with a cultural heritage collection or site from historic homes to museums to archives to symphonies. Preservation is the responsibility of all who work with the institution so they should all understand the basic building blocks of preservation.

You can start this self-study course any time and complete this self-paced course at your own speed. Feedback will be provided on your analysis of the risks to your collection. You can even earn an electronic badge of completion to display on your LinkedIn and other profiles.

What is cultural competency and why is it important for those of us working in the heritage sector?

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:50:46 GMT

Cultural Competency New course beginning September 5, 2022

What is cultural competency and why is it important for those of us working in the heritage sector? By applying the definition of the cultural competency framework as “the ability to function with awareness, knowledge, and interpersonal skill when engaging people of different backgrounds, assumptions, beliefs, values, and behaviors” you remove the limitations of ethnicity, socio-economic status, and more importantly, the “us having to work with them” mentality. Too often, outreach to underserved communities, employing people of color, or criticizing dominant cultures are considered exercises in cultural competency when the trifecta of cognitive (knowledge about other cultures to inform their skills and practice), affective (positive attitudes are needed toward one's own culture(s) as well as the cultural heritage of your colleagues and patrons), and behavioral (ability to adapt and accommodate behaviors to a different culture) are required.

What is remembered, recorded, curated, and interpreted is shaped by culture and as the heritage sectors strive to expand cultures they represent cultural competency is a framework which can significantly facilitate both DEIA goals and increase multicultural participation. This premise promotes the principle that creating organizations that are culturally competent is not an altruistic wish, but rather a pragmatic strategy to ensure our workforce reflects, represents, and is responsive to the communities with whom we collaborate and serve and perhaps more critically, how we shape the historical record.

There has been an increased acceptance of the framework of Cultural Competency in heritage professions as recognized by several initiatives in the past decade addressing long recognized shortcomings in our professions and the benefits of its principles. Following September 11, the Arab American National Museum (AANM) discovered that professional development and cultural competency training opportunities for law enforcement personnel, educators, health professionals, and government officials dispels myths, alleviates fears, and prepares professionals.

An archivist for University Records at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Helen Wong Smith has over 35 years’ experience in historical repositories in Hawaiʻi. With a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies and MLIS from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, she has held numerous positions including Executive Director of the Kauaʻi Historical Society, Lead Archivist for the Pacific Island Network of the National Park Service, and Librarian/Archivist for the State Historic Preservation Division.

Since delivering a plenary address "Adopting Cultural Diversity Competence" at the Society of American Archivists 2015 Annual Meeting, Helen has been sharing how cultural competency can advance cultural heritage professions across the country.

We are very excited to be offering the new course Cultural Competency beginning in June 2022 that we think will pair well with our very popular Decolonizing Museums in Practice course .

Who takes a Museum Study Professional Development course?

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:00:11 GMT

Anyone who wants to!

As Museum Study wraps up another year of delivering professional development to the cultural community, we look back at who we have met along the way. We are often asked who can participate in a Museum Study professional development course. The short answer is anyone who wants to, but let’s take a closer look at who has participated in the 150+ courses we have delivered so far.

More than 600 people from more than 30 countries have joined us over the last seven years. Our courses frequently have participants from 2 or more countries spanning multiple continents. In 2021 we averaged five people per course giving participants an opportunity to get a lot of personal feedback from our instructors. In fact, many of our courses limit the number of participants for this reason. We have one course running now that includes participants from Australia, Italy, Malta, and the United States of America. While this can make finding a chat time for live discussions challenging, we have had great success in finding times that work for almost all of our participants.

At Museum Study our mission is to help you build a better cultural institution and be a stronger member of the team that carries out the mission of your institution.

Institutions have included museums, historic houses, historical societies, botanic gardens, living history museums, libraries, archives, private collections (both individual and corporate), service centers, service companies, and product companies. These institutions range in size from zero paid employees to some of the largest cultural institutions in the world. Service providers and companies often participate in our courses to get a better understanding of who they serve, how their product/service is used, and how they can improve their products and services.

Types of organizations have included associations, international agencies, federal agencies, federal institutions, municipal institutions, university institutions, non-profits, and for profits.

Participants have included Volunteers, Students, Facility Managers, Educators, Exhibit Developers, Conservators, Collection Managers, Curators, Directors, Board Members, Consultants, Product Providers, Service Providers, and a whole lot of people who wear many of those hats. Students are often looking for a topic they need to gain knowledge about, but is not offered by their school. Volunteers are looking to gain knowledge and skills to aid them in their service to an institution. Many cultural institution workers are assigned new responsibilities that they want to learn how to carry out or they want to get up to speed on the latest practices, and formalize policies, programs, and procedures at their institution.

Add your name to the list of participants in one of our 2022 professional development courses .

We are always looking for content for our Blog so if you have any ideas for a blog post or would like to contribute a post, please contact us at blog@museumstudy.com

Visit to Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:24:36 GMT

Working with Native American Communities

Exhibit Graphic for Ziibaaska’ iganagooday: The Jingle Dress at 100

On November 16, 2021 I attended an event Working with Native American Communities sponsored by the Minnesota Association of Museums and hosted by the Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post . Those of us who were able to venture to the shores of Lake Mille Lacs we were treated to a tour of the site, a wonderful lunch that included wild rice, and a panel discussion Working with Native American Communities .

Despite living in Minnesota for more than 30 years I had never ventured to the Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post, which is about an hour and a half north of Minneapolis. After reading about the collaboration between the Minnesota Historical Society and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe that resulted in the development of the current incarnation of the Museum in our Decolonizing Museums in Practice course the opportunity to visit the institution and participate in the event was an opportunity not to be missed. Joining me on this journey was a past participant in the course who recently moved to Minnesota, Matthew Villar Miranda, a Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

We were hosted by Travis Zimmerman, a Grand Portage Band descendant, who for the last 13 years has been the Site Manager for the Minnesota Historical Society at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post. Travis gave us a history of the site, a tour, lunch, and led the panel discussion that also included Mike Wilson, from the Gojijiwininiwag and Makandwewininiwag Bands of Ojibwe and Franky Jackson an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate.

Jingle Dress on display at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum

In addition to seeing the exhibits that we read about in Amy Lonetree’s Decolonizing Museums we also got to see a temporary exhibit that will soon close, Ziibaaska’ iganagooday: The Jingle Dress at 100 . This exhibit was installed in the Spring of 2019 before COVID. That timing is interesting because “The global influenza epidemic that killed millions of people worldwide in 1918-19, including thousands of North American Indians and Alaska Natives, was the tragic inspiration behind a revolutionary new tradition of healing that emerged in Ojibwe communities of the United States and Canada, the jingle dress dance.” (excerpt from the Mille Lacs Museum and Trading Post website)

Both Mike Wilson and Franky Jackson are Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and part of the discussion was about NAGPRA the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act . They expressed cautious optimism that the current review of the Act would provide long needed enforcement mechanisms that have been lacking since the Act was passed 31 years ago. They told us something I had not previously been aware of that most tribes have a NAGPRA tribal contact who is the person you should contact about repatriations. We also learned that Tribal Historic Preservation Officers can help institutions with collection reviews.

All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity to build new relationships and learn and I plan to return to the Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post. Who wants to join me?

We are always looking for content for our Blog so if you have any ideas for a blog post or would like to contribute a post, please contact us at blog@museumstudy.com

The Connections I Have Made

Tue, 18 May 2021 05:52:53 GMT

Taking Museum Study courses, a blog post from a course participant

Like many in the museum field, I yearn to constantly learn. This desire extends to several areas of history, public history, leadership and professional development. It is why I have the habit of buying books at a quicker rate than I can read them.

I first learned about Museum Study when I started serving as the Officer-At-Large for the Collection Managers Committee (CMC) Affinity Group for the Texas Association of Museums in 2017. In this role, I write the CMC’s newsletter and include professional development opportunities for our members. Museum Study is constantly included in the newsletter with its broad offering of collection management courses. I had always been excited by the courses offered by Museum Study and hoped one day I would be able to take one of the classes.

In my current position at Texas Woman’s University I found myself taking on the role of managing rights and reproductions. I had a very (VERY) basic understanding of intellectual property and copyright law and knew I was lacking. I quickly purchased Anne Young’s book Rights and Reproductions: The Handbook for Cultural Institutions . However, I felt I needed a better understanding so that I could wrap my head around the daunting complexities of rights and reproductions.

From putting together the CMC’s newsletter, I remembered Museum Study offered courses in Rights & Reproductions (R&R) and was thrilled to find that they are taught by Anne M. You ng herself! I ended up taking both R&R I and R&R II and have benefited so much from them. I learned a good critical thinking foundation on intellectual property and copyright law. This helped me feel more empowered and confident in my decisions regarding rights and reproductions. Moreover, the assignments allowed me to develop starting points for policies and forms to implement at work.

I also now have a network that I can reach out to for guidance. From the R&R II course, my colleague Karin Zonis-Sawrey started a monthly R&R chat. Each month a handful of us from the course meet and discuss the IP and copyright challenges we’re facing at work. The creation of this monthly R&R chat speaks to what I love most about the Museum Study courses I’ve taken: the connections I have made. These courses are taught by experts and thought leaders in the field. I get to meet professionals from a variety of cultural institutions, from art museums to corporate collections. I wouldn’t have otherwise crossed paths with these amazing individuals if I hadn’t taken these courses.

2021 Resolutions

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:45:41 GMT

4 Nonprofit Resolutions for 2021

As we move into 2021 and hopefully reopening safely to our communities what will be your priorities and goals? Museum Study instructor Anne W. Ackerson put together a few 2021 Resolutions for Non-profit Leaders + Organizations.

Even though 2020 is technically in our rearview mirror, its ramifications will be with us for years to come. Make no mistake, there's a lot of work to do. So, here are Anne’s four really tough, but really important, resolutions designed to lay some solid groundwork for doing your best work in 2021. Aren't you glad there are only four?

Introducing Three New Instructors

Sun, 17 Jan 2021 19:06:55 GMT

Welcoming new members to the Museum Study team

Museum Study is always looking to add more experienced professionals to our international team. It is only January and we already have three new instructors. Heather George and Nathan Sentence will be joining Laura Phillips co-teaching our popular Decolonizing Museums in Practice course. Hillary Hanel Rose is joining Museum Study to teach a new course, Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums .

Join us in welcoming these new members of the Museum Study team and watch for more announcements of new instructors and new courses.

Goodbye 2020

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 18:11:41 GMT

New Year New Website for Museum Study

We all feel like putting the last year behind us and looking to a brighter future. In that spirit we are debuting a new website. Museum Study is also introducing several new services including Course Hosting, Virtual Workshops, an expanded Resources section, and a Blog. There are already two new members to our team, Heather George and Nathan Sentence, and there are more coming so keep an eye out for future announcements.

We are recruiting several new instructors so be watching for future announcements. Heather George and Nathan Sentence have been assisting Laura Phillips with our new Decolonizing Museums in Practice course and are now joining us as co-instructors. Laura, Heather, and Nathan will also be offering Decolonizing Museums in Practice as a Virtual Workshop.

Our expanded Resources section includes Resources from the Museum Study team, recommended Books for Your Library , Standards & Best Practices from Associations, lists of Professional Associations , and sources of Funding for Professional Development . You can also find this Blog in the Resources section, which will include news and Book Reviews like the one by Sarah Sutton on the book Museum Activism .

The Museum Study team looks forward to working with you in 2021.

Book Review: Museum Activism

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 04:49:19 GMT

Robert R. Janes & Richard Sandell, Eds., Museum Meanings Series from Routledge. 2019

Museum Activism is a genuine treasure trove of courageous thinkers and inspiring activist museums fostering change in communities worldwide. The research and examples will reinforce your commitment and build your bank of resources if you’re already an activist; and provide the reinforcements you may need to activate your museum’s board and leadership. And, if you struggle to find your time, place, opportunity or purpose in museum activism, you’ll surely find a path here.

The essays cover a wide variety of causes that we could label as climate, justice, and social equity, but they are also aptly described as empathy – through lessons of the past, and with struggling individuals and whole peoples; hope – for better futures, fairer worlds, and healthier spaces and places; and caring about our communities — that they are led with truth and justice, and that the organizations who could and should serve them actually do and in ways that matter.

Why You Should Read This Book

‘Activism’ is not a synonym for ‘Protest.’ It could be/should be a synonym for ‘Relevant’ and ‘Essential.’

The examples include a range of levels of and formats for activist engagement. This means there is space for any one and every one of you and your institutions to participate.

This means there is no excuse for not engaging.

Any one of these is a good place to start:

“Embrace” the “non-linearity” of activist activities because they address complex issues with multiple causes and effects. They are the wicked problems, the ones most challenging to resolve and those most in need of museums’ varied resources to do so.
Question, and then actively examine, the role of your museum in your community to the point of discomfort due to the unknown and unexpected you encounter. The exploration will or should change you and your work immeasurably.
Examine your institutional history, its founding, its founders. Re-evaluate the appropriateness of the cause, purpose and intent of that time given today’s concerns. Identify where change is either required or enabled. Then act.
Advocate for a program or exhibit or voice that actively addresses challenging community issues without trying to answer all the questions, be all the voices, or simply capturing interesting exit feedback.

Most importantly, shift organizational resources to engage in genuinely collaborative activities for the benefit of community members and organizations: Davis Renz, 2006: “For the most critical and substantive of our community issues and problems, the single organization is no longer an appropriate match to the scale of these issues and problems. We’ve found it increasingly essential to develop alliances and coalitions – extra organizational entities – to address the multi-faceted of these critical needs and issues.” (Noted in the essay “Posterity has Arrived,” Janes & Sandell).

Long ago, our most valuable and valued museums stopped being simply collecting institutions. Their educational roles expanded and are still developing layered, faceted adaptations. They are using their distinct abilities and positioning to create lasting change where so many other kinds of entities cannot. Thoughtful, responsible, progressive museums are emphasizing their roles as community resources. That process earns them the badge of relevance that will sustain them and their communities.

What I Found in Museum Activism

The editors divided the material into three sections: Nurturing Activism, Activism in Practice, and Assessing Activism . Every voice, every editorial step, emphasizes honesty, transparency, curiosity and courage. Each acknowledges the struggles and unknowns, while describing successes and possibilities. This is still early days of museum activism, unfortunately, but the depth and breadth you will find here demonstrates its strength and persistence.

One piece struck me most powerfully: Jennifer Bergevin’s “Narratives of Transformation, stories of impact from activist museums.” It examines “the landscape of longitudinal research on the museum and heritage sector” and the need for a transition from accepting the sufficiency of exit-interview level impacts, to understanding how to create conditions for lasting change and then documenting it. She writes that indicators of action are related to the visitor’s prior knowledge, purpose, and interest in visiting the exhibit or program; in the visitor’s opportunity to reexamine and share the experience during or immediately following the experience; and in the immediacy of availability of platforms for action after the experience.

Much of Bergevin’s material supported the value of “nudges” in moving individuals to action: that mix of conditions, learning, feelings, and opportunities which, together, stimulate sufficient motivation and opportunity for action. Her material makes the case for museums as part of the constellation of institutions within a community working for change.

For me, it follows that if the success of our exhibits, our education, our collecting, and our engagement only comes when the museum is part of a constellation of nudges that drive visitor action, then a museum’s success and value is inseparable from the health and well-being of its community.