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Volume 25, Number 7, July 2010 | | | AASLH Testifies Before Congress | |  On June 9, Barbara Franco, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (pictured), testified on behalf of the American Association for State and Local History at a public hearing to reauthorize the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Franco is a current council member and immediate past chair of AASLH.
NHPRC is the grant making affiliate of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For almost twenty years, NHPRC has been authorized at $10 million. AASLH asked that funding for NHPRC be reauthorized at $20 million to help members of the public, archivists, documentary editors, and historians by preserving and making available non-federal records that are essential to our national story and to the daily functioning of our democracy and our economy. During her testimony, Franco spoke to the essential support NHPRC provides across the country for America's documentary heritage, including maps, photographs, and our nation's founding documents. "This support is," Ms. Franco stated in her testimony, "important because preservation and use of America's documentary heritage is essential to understanding our democracy, history, and culture. In an era when accountability of government is under greater than ever scrutiny, preserving the documentary heritage of national, state and local governments also means preserving the rights of American citizens and insuring an informed and engaged citizenry." Read AASLH full testimony. Watch a webcast of the full hearing. The hearing was before the Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the United States House of Representatives. return to top | | | AASLH Offers Online Conference | | Are you unable to join us in Oklahoma City? For the second year, AASLH will be offering an online conference in conjunction with the annual meeting. Sessions offered online will include: - Engaging Students and Teachers Through Collections
- Governance Training for Tired and Humorless Organizations
- Using Resources Wisely: Training and Evaluating Volunteers
- What's Radical About Radical Trust?
For a complete list of sessions, schedule, and registration information, click here or contact Terry Jackson in the AASLH office. return to top | | | AASLH Announces New Three-Year Action Plan | |  AASLH has, in the past sixteen years, experienced several lifecycle stages. Moving through these stages has made a critical difference in the way AASLH operates and is perceived by the field at large. One of the primary benefits experienced today is that the field now recognizes AASLH is dedicated to evaluation and planning as essential components to success.
Guiding AASLH through periods of change is especially hard because of all the opportunities, given the kaleidoscopic nature of the field of state and local history and the fact that AASLH serves both organizations and individuals. As the only national association dedicated to state and local history, AASLH and its growth are essential to the long-term health of the field at large. To ensure the AASLH enterprise continues an upward trajectory and is able to meet the growing needs of a diverse field, AASLH's Action Plan for Growth is based on the theme of institutional advancement and growth for AASLH, focusing on four areas of achievement. Nothing in this plan replaces the work in progress, but it does undergird it. Each of AASLH's programs and services, policies and procedures will be evaluated with these four goals in mind, thereby supporting institutional advancement and growth as a national membership association. The four goals are: - AASLH will grow its membership numbers.
- AASLH will lead the field of state and local history.
- AASLH will build a virtual Home for History Community.
- AASLH will improve its internal and external work processes.
For more information about this new plan for AASLH, please visit the AASLH website. return to top | | | AASLH Sponsors Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference | | 
As we celebrate our nation's birthday this July, it is only appropriate that we share with you the great success of our Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference AASLH presented June 21-24 in Charlottesville, Virginia. We could not help but think of our country's great history and upcoming July 4th holiday as we heard speakers and presentations set in inspiring locations such as Monticello, Mt. Vernon, and the University of Virginia. The conference offered many of us the chance to reconnect and share our current work. Many of our members are doing exciting and new things in the field of history, and are a critical link in helping American's understand the world they live in, how it developed, and what it would be like without history to use as our guide. Our featured speakers were four award-winning presidential biographers: Joseph Ellis, Jon Meacham, Michael Beschloss, and Annette Gordon-Reed-who gave the closing address on the lawn of Monticello as she spoke of her current work on the Hemingses family and Thomas Jefferson. Audio files of all the sessions will be available soon to our members. The topics are universal to all history organizations, such as making history more engaging for students and the challenges of interpreting controversial topics. We will be sure to send out an alert when those files are ready. A full program guide is available here. Thank you to all our members and volunteers who made the conference a highly rewarding experience. It reminds us all of the importance of these events, and the opportunities to network, learn, and share. We hope to see you all in Oklahoma City this September for the AASLH and OMA Annual Conference. return to top | | | Help Teachers Justify a Trip to Your Museum | | Now more than ever, it's critical to help teachers justify participation in museum programs as valuable learning opportunities for their students. Sign up for AASLH's fourth annual Visitors Count! education survey program and begin collecting teacher feedback and data so you can better identify what teachers want and need for high quality learning experiences. For museums that already collect teacher evaluations, Visitors Count! is highly useful because of its benchmarking feature that shows how your museum's survey results compare with other institutions that have taken part in the program. No other program offers this important benefit! Visit www.aaslh.org/visitorscount for more information or contact Cherie Cook, Senior Program Manager. | | | AAM Announces Accreditation Revision | | Responding to increasing instances of threats to the sanctity of university museums and their collections, the American Association of Museums's (AAM) Accreditation Commission─in collaboration with the Task Force on College and University Museums─has revised its existing policy on "Statements of Support from Parent Organizations." The revisions specifically emphasize the role, value, and use of the collections, and related museum ethics and standards. The revised policy requires parent organizations—college/university, government, corporate foundation, state historical society operating multiple sites, etc.—of accredited museums to include language in a required statement of support which specifically prohibits museum collections from being considered as disposable assets. "This new accreditation policy will play a significant role in educating academic leaders about the intrinsic value of their museums and collections, as well as their obligations to sustain both," said David Alan Robertson, president of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries and the Katz Director of the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. Click here for more information about this revision. | | | 21st Century Skills and Community Engagement | | The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced a national campaign aimed at engaging museums, libraries, and civic leaders in meeting the 21st-century learning needs of their communities. The national campaign, Making the Learning Connection, is intended to help communities assess their needs and contribute to a shared vision for 21st-century learning. It includes an eight-city workshop tour, a national contest, new online tools and resources, and a series of interactive webinars. The eight-city tour kicked off June 21 at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The tour will provide an opportunity for museum, library, and other community leaders to discuss the 21st-century learning landscape of their city and explore strategies for furthering 21st- century learning goals. The Making the Learning Connection campaign is part of IMLS's continuing initiative to engage libraries and museums, community stakeholders and policymakers to meet the educational, economic, civic, and cultural needs of communities. This campaign builds upon the release of Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills, which provides an online self-assessment for libraries and museums to encourage a strategic approach to 21st-century learning and a report for library and museum practitioners and policymakers. Workshop participants will leave each session with a better understanding of the role museums and libraries play in the learning landscape. Each workshop will end with a defined set of action steps to ensure museums, libraries, and community stakeholders continue to collaborate in order to meet the 21st-century learning needs of their community. In the coming months, IMLS will announce the other workshop tour stops, dates for webinars, and contest details. Click here for more information on Making the Learning Connection. return to top | | | Storycorps to Visit IMLS Medal-Winning Museums | | Each year, select museums and libraries with outstanding records of community service receive the Institute of Museum and Library Services's (IMLS) National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor for museums and libraries. This year, for the first time, personal stories demonstrating the ongoing impact of these award-winning institutions will be documented through a cooperative agreement between IMLS and StoryCorps, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. Trained facilitators with StoryCorps's Door-to-Door Program will help pairs of participants record a conversation about the medal-winning museum or library. Interviewees will include staff, patrons, community members, and others who have first-hand knowledge of the institution. One interview from each recording event will be edited into a StoryCorps-style segment provided to the host institution and posted on the IMLS website. The complete collection of stories recorded will be archived by the host institution and by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. return to top | | | AASLH Oral History Resources | | Do you want to capture the history of your organization or community? Oral histories provide valuable insights into our past. This bundle will help you capture the voices in your organization or community and use them effectively to help tell stories that will enlighten and engage your audience. TL35 Tape-Recording Local History (1966) TL123 Using Oral History for a Family History Project (1980) TL145 Using Memoirs to Write Local History (1982) TL191 Using Oral History in Museums (1995) TL210 A Guide to Oral History Interviews (2000) Individual technical leaflets may be purchased for $5 each/$6 for nonmembers. Save and order the whole bundle listed above for $22.50/$27 nonmembers. Electronic bundles are available. Visit the bookstore at www.aaslh.org. These resources may help institutions achieve the standards as set forth under the Audience, Interpretation, and Management sections of the AASLH StEPS program.
return to top | | | Grants NEH has posted the new application guidelines on their website for the America's Historical and Cultural Organizations and Interpreting America's Historic Places grant competitions. The next deadline is August 18. The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma seeks applicants for its Visiting Scholars Program. For more information, email channeman@ou.edu. Meetings The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers announces its 12th Annual NATHPO Meeting, held the week of August 9. The joint annual meeting of the Council of State Archivists, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, and the Society of American Archivists will be held August 10-15, in Washington, DC. The Civic Tourism III conference will be held August 11-14 in Fort Collins, CO. The Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will be held August 18-21 in Knoxville, TN. Sitka National Historic Park and the International Association of Specialists on the Study of Russian America, are sponsoring a conference on Russian America at Sitka, AK, August 18-22. For more information, contact Dusty Kidd. The International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection 12th Annual Conference, Seminar, Exhibits & Certification Program, will be held August 21-25, in San Francisco, CA. The Mountain Plains Museum Association Annual Conference will be held September 13-17, at Rapid City/Mount Rushmore, SD. Professional Development The Legacy Oral History Program will hosts its annual workshop on August 5-7 in San Francisco, CA. The Society of American Archivists will host its Managing Architectural Design, and Construction Records on August 9, in Washington, DC. Americans for the Arts Webinars has archived webinars produced from September to December 2008. The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies 2010 Course Catalogue is available online. The Regional Oral History Office Summer Institute will be held August 16-20, in Berkeley, CA. return to top | | | | | The July issue is our inaugural issue of the new Dispatch! Last month, we let you know that Dispatch will now be exclusively online. This gives us a chance to give a fresh look to the newsletter and dedicate more space to history news. We hope you enjoy the new and engaging Dispatch as we continue to improve our member benefits. Thank you for your support of AASLH and the field of History! You can check to make sure we have your current email address in your membership records by accessing your online account on our website. Go to the Members Only section of our website and login in with your username and password. From there, you can change and maintain your personal information. | | | Monthly Membership Survey | | We want to hear from you! This month's member survey is all about social media. We want to know what you are using in your organization and in which AASLH social media groups you are participating. Click here to access the quick two question survey. Last month, we asked how you feel about the business and economic prospects for your organization in 2010. Of the respondents, the majority (57%) felt cautious. 18% felt optimistic; 16% felt pessimistic, while 4% were unsure. Thank you to everyone who responded. | | |
It is time to recommend individuals to serve on the AASLH Council and Leadership Development Committee. Recommendations are hereby solicited for the following positions for the 2011 election cycle: AASLH Council—four members will be elected from a slate of six;
Leadership Development Committee—two members will be elected from a slate of four
Please send recommendations by October 1, 2010, to: Chair Leadership Development Committee AASLH 1717 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37203-2991 | | | The AASLH Educators and Interpreters Committee invites you to participate in the Educator's Showcase on Thursday afternoon, September 23 during the AASLH/OMA annual meeting in Oklahoma City. If you are going to attend the AASLH conference and feel that you have samples of engaging programming you'd like to share, the showcase is for you! Please contact Greg Hardison by July 15 at greg.hardison@ky.gov if you are interested in participating. | | | Joyce Burner has joined the staff of the National Archives at Kansas City, MO, as the new archivist. | | |
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