Follow the clues. Whodunits, daring escapes and murderers on trial make headlines. They also bring in record crowds for museums, especially when murder and mayhem are served with a side of beer and wine. Beltrami County Historical Society's "History Mystery," based on a real-life crime from the community's past, is a popular event. Played like the board game "Clue," visitors attempt to solve the case by interviewing costumed characters. (See Bemidji Pioneer's story.) Another interactive game for visitors is Cokato Museum's Escape Room, in which participants must solve a historical puzzle inside a locked room within the allotted time, or an alarm sounds. Minnesota Public Radio covered the creative approach to history. In Owatonna, the screaming headline "Was it Attempted Murder in Steele County?" does not pertain to a current crime. Instead it promotes "History Uncorked" at the Steele County Historical Society, where attendees get to sit on a jury and watch real life attorneys debate the case of an alleged murderer from the community's history. (Unlike real jurors, however, they get to sip on wine and beer in the "court room.") How can you combine history with fun and games to bring visitors to your museum? Learn how these three organizations brought history to life with interactive and inventive games at the 2017 MALHM Annual Meeting and Conference. Presenters Mike Worcester (Executive Director Cokato Museum and Akerlund Studio), Kim Purscell (Executive Director, Steele County Historical Society) and Gary Ruzman (Executive Director, Beltrami County Historical Society) will present a session called Gaming the Museum: Making History Fun While Staying True to Your Mission. Discover the secrets of their success! Register now! Registration is now open for the MALHM Conference, set for April 26-27 in Walker, MN. Register through our new online store. Attendees may also pay with a registration form and check by mail. With either method, attendees can indicate dietary needs, such as vegetarian and gluten free. Registration deadline is April 10. Chase on the Lake will offer a discount to MALHM attendees who book by phone by April 4. For more information, see our Annual Conference page. If you have additional questions, please contact MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson or Conference Chair Jill Wohnoutka. Look for a full conference schedule soon!
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At the 2015 MALHM Annual Meeting and Conference at Glensheen mansion in Duluth, the MALHM Historic House Museum Affinity Group met for the first time to share ideas and discuss common goals. One of those goals was more training. MALHM responded last fall with a one-day house museum workshop at Ramsey house in St. Paul. It will also offer a session on house museums at the 2017 Annual Meeting and Conference in Walker: Think Outside of the (Historic House) Box: How to Create Experience-Based Programming at House Museums Visitors, in ever-increasing numbers, are looking for experience-based programming at historic sites. But what does that mean and what does that look like at a historic house museum? This session looks at the nuts and bolts behind developing unique and creative programming for all ages. Participants will have the opportunity to “think outside of the historic house box” and learn how to create programs that attract new audiences and encourage repeat visitation. Discover what experiences historic houses can offer, while still staying true to their educational mission. Jayne Becker, program director for the Minnesota Historical Society's Ramsey and James J. Hill historic homes, will present the session along with Holly Johnson, manager of Hormel Historic Home in Austin, MN. Becker is chair of the House Museum Affinity Group, and Johnson is the vice-chair.
The conference will offer several other sessions of interest to house museum managers and staff, including a Facebook session by Glensheen Director Dan Hartman, as well as a variety of outreach and event sessions. House Museum Affinity Group The House Museum Affinity Group is one of two MALHM special interest groups. (The other is MALHM Curators.) The group has a Facebook page to share ideas. Follow the Facebook page for announcements of meetings and workshops, or contact us to be put on an email list. Register now! Registration is now open for the MALHM Conference, set for April 26-27 in Walker, MN. Register through our new online store. Attendees may also pay with a registration form and check by mail. With either method, attendees can indicate dietary needs, such as vegetarian and gluten free. Registration deadline is April 10. Chase on the Lake will offer a discount to MALHM attendees who book by phone by April 4. For more information, see our Annual Conference page. If you have additional questions, please contact MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson or Conference Chair Jill Wohnoutka. Look for a full conference schedule soon! A committee worked for years planning a community center in your town. The building is completed, and now the committee wants to donate its five boxes of meeting minutes, feasibility studies, contractor bids, and other papers to your history organization. Processing archives is different than accessioning three dimensional objects or individual photos. If you don't handle archives every day, you might have some questions: Should you cull the collection? How detailed should your accession records be? Should you remove the papers from non-archival binders and folders? What should you do with a promotional object, like a T-shirt or a campaign button, found among the paper? Lucky for you, you can find your answers at the 2017 Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museum Annual Meeting and Conference, in a session called Curators Affinity Group session - Archival Work for the Non-Archivist: In most history organizations, processing archival collections is often a curator’s responsibility. This session, featuring Tom Steman, University Archivist/Professor at St. Cloud State University, will provide an overview of archival processing for the non-archivist (of course, actual archivists are welcome to attend, too!). Tom will cover the basics of processing, standards/best practices, retention schedules, and so on, giving participants an overview of the process from start to finish. His presentation will be followed by a Q & A. Then, if time permits, the Affinity Group will enjoy a roundtable meeting. Curators Affinity Group This session was organized by MALHM's Curator Affinity Group, which first met at the 2015 MALHM Conference and has since met occasionally for training. Members also share ideas through email and a Facebook group. No matter what your job title is, if you deal with collections, this group is for you. The group's description states: "Curators are often Curator, Registrar, Collections Manager, Exhibits Manager, Historian, Researcher, and Author all rolled into one! While the nature of our work is broad, most of us encounter similar situations. Through this group, curators from local history organizations can get to know one another in hopes of supporting one another and sharing thoughts, problems, ideas, strategies, and solutions." For more information on this Affinity Group, contact Theresa Norman, Curator, Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. Register now! Registration is now open for the MALHM Conference, set for April 26-27 in Walker, MN. Register through our new online store. Attendees may also pay with a registration form and check by mail. With either method, attendees can indicate dietary needs, such as vegetarian and gluten free. Registration deadline is April 10. Chase on the Lake will offer a discount to MALHM attendees who book by phone by April 4. For more information, see our Annual Conference page. If you have additional questions, please contact MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson or Conference Chair Jill Wohnoutka. Look for a full conference schedule soon! How many scythes should a museum, located in the heart of farm country, have in its collection? Pope County Historical Society Collections Manager Ann Grandy pondered this question in a blog post entitled, "The Size of Our Scythes Makes Me Sigh." There's the one on exhibit (photo at left): "This strikingly beautiful tool was critical in the early years of Pope County when wheat was king. As the blade mowed the stalks of grain, the long fingers caught the stalks and laid them down in an orderly fashion. This made the threshing process much easier. It is an elegant and well balanced tool. Is it important for us to have a cradle scythe in our collection? ABSOLUTELY!" Grandy writes. But PCHS has four more in storage, she noted: "We have 5. Yep 5. And that isn’t counting the plain scythes without the extra fingers to catch the stalks. These things are BIG. And dangerous with the long blade." Museums do not have unlimited storage. PCHS is among several museums around the state that are completing collections inventories and reassessing how many scythes - or ox yokes, wedding dresses, carpenter planes and other commonly donated artifacts - are needed to tell a community's history. Before getting rid of duplicates, however, what do museums need to consider? What are the legal implications? And what should be done with the deaccessioned items? Grandy and four collections colleagues will answer those questions and more in a session at the 2017 MALHM Annual Meeting and Conference, titled "Deaccessioning: Considerations from the Field": At some point or another, every historical society will have to engage in deaccessioning. With this in mind, five museum professionals are coming together to share their thoughts, experiences, and considerations on how to make deaccessioning collections easier for our colleagues and an easier practice in the field itself. The session will begin with the basics of deaccessioning – what it is, why we do it, and how we do it. Special attention will be given to how NAGPRA laws and culturally sensitive items affect local museums and what should be done at each museum with these collections. The discussion will also cover obsolete media formats in the collection and the importance of reappraisal of items. Real-life experiences will be shared regarding what can be done with items after they are removed from the collection from the perspective of what has worked and what has not worked at a local museum. And finally, the link between accession and deaccession will be considered as well as how collections practices have and will continue to change deaccessioning. Presenters:
When MALHM staff traveled around the state this fall to regional history group meetings, many groups requested a conference session on this topic. Thanks to these presenters for coming through! Register now! Registration is now open for the MALHM Conference, set for April 26-27 in Walker, MN. Register through our new online store. Attendees may also pay with a registration form and check by mail. With either method, attendees can indicate dietary needs, such as vegetarian and gluten free. Registration deadline is April 10. Chase on the Lake will offer a discount to MALHM attendees who book by phone by April 4. For more information, see our Annual Conference page. If you have additional questions, please contact MALHM Coordinator Marci Matson or Conference Chair Jill Wohnoutka. Look for a full conference schedule soon! |
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