MALHM offers three ways to reach decision-makers at Minnesota's more than 500 local history organizations: advertising in the annual conference program, sponsoring a conference event, and connecting with attendees at a vendor hall table.

Printed programs are given to the more than 150 attendees expected at the annual conference, and online copies are promoted statewide and published on MALHM's website.

Attendees will begin arriving April 24 for a pre-conference event, and stay for the April 25-26 conference at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
 
Help attendees choose your business for dining and entertainment. Reach managers of Minnesota museums making purchasing decisions. Raise your profile with the more than 500 local history groups in the state. See our brochure for ad rates and additional benefits. Reserve your spot by Nov. 1! Camera-ready copy is due Dec. 1. For more information, contact MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson.

With the 2017 MALHM Annual Meeting and Conference set for next week in Walker, Minnesota, we're already looking ahead to the next sites for our biggest annual event: Marshall (2018), Red Wing (2019) and Austin (2020).

MALHM solicited bids to find the locations and bring on new partners in planning activities to explore the area. "Who better to connect us with local history than the organizations that collect, preserve and tell the history of their own communities?" said Jill Wohnoutka, MALHM Treasurer and Conference Chair.

Each host committee, composed  of local museums and the area Convention and Visitors Bureau, will help plan pre-conference activities, mixers and possibly sessions that occur outside of the conference room setting.

2018 - Marshall, Minnesota
Local history groups sponsors: Lyon County Historical Society. The conference will be held at the beautiful Southwest Minnesota State University campus, which offers a full-service large conference center. We'll have room to grow and possibly offer a vendor hall for the first time. Expect to enjoy some Schwan's ice cream, as the Lyon County History Museum offers an ice cream counter to visitors.

2019 - Red Wing, Minnesota
Local history groups sponsors: Goodhue County Historical Society and the Pottery Museum of Red Wing. 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of Minnesota's oldest county historical society, GCHS, located in the historic river town of Red Wing. The community is also home to Red Wing Pottery, Red Wing Shoes, the American Ski Jumping Museum and more!

2020 - Austin, Minnesota
Local history group sponsors: Hormel Historic Home, Mower County Historical Society and SPAM Museum. Austin offers a large Holiday Inn and Conference Center and room for the Conference to expand. With the community's connections to SPAM and the Hormel family, expect to see some "SPAMples" on the appetizer menus, along with other local products.

MALHM's annual conference grew out of a one-day workshop and has grown to two days with 24 sessions, as well as a pre-conference event. This year's conference brings in record attendance of more than 120 people from 70-plus history groups throughout the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The MALHM Conference offers more sessions than ever this year, with 24 sessions over two days. We worked hard to find speakers and topics that the local history community requested. (See our Program Guide for details.)

We also listened to survey feedback and comments that attendees wanted more time for networking. Sure, people learn in a classroom setting, but attendees also get as much help from chatting with their peers at our mixer events, connecting over lunch, or trading ideas after the sessions are done for the day.

So this year, you'll see more time allotted for lunch, as well as our traditional evening events, like this one held last year at the Kandiyohi County History Museum.

We'll have an informal mixer to open the conference at Chase on the Lake's cozy fireside bar, beginning at 8 p.m., Tuesday, April 26. As an incentive to arrive on time, we'll provide free beverages and appetizers the first half hour followed by a cash bar.  Please come even if - or maybe especially if - you don't know anyone. This is a great time to put names with faces, relax and get to know others in the local history community.

On Wednesday after the conference ends for the day, the Cass County Historical Society in downtown Walker will provide special open hours for MALHM, from 4:15 to 6 p.m. Chat with colleagues while checking out the exhibits and learning about the Leech Lake area.

Explore Walker and have dinner on your own, or join a group heading to Benson's Eating and Drinking Emporium. We've reserved a party room for dinner, followed by an evening mixer at 7:30. The evening will include informal networking time, as well as - drum roll, please - our first Minnesota History Trivia Challenge!

We're on track to break attendance records at the 2017 MALHM Annual Meeting and Conference (April 26-27 in Walker, MN), with more people signed up today than there were last year just a few days before the 2016 Conference.

Join us! There's still time to register, either online with a credit card or by mail with a check. See our Annual Conference page for more details.

If you want to see what's in store this year, we now have the completed program guide available online. Attendees will receive a print version, but you might want to take some time to browse and pick which of the 24 sessions you'll want to attend.

Please share with your local history colleagues and invite them to check out what they've been missing. For those who can't spare the time away or don't want to stay overnight, this year we've added the option of signing up for just one day, in addition to the full two-day package.

If you have any questions, please contact Conference Chair Jill Wohnoutka or MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson.