2016 – American Alliance of Museums

Breaking the Cycle of Youth Incarceration: museums and alternative sentencing

By Elizabeth Merritt

Back in August, I shared a blog post describing how the Eastern State Penitentiary is moving “beyond neutrality” to tackle the injustice of mass incarceration. The massive interest in that post (it is, to date, the most highly read post …
Flexible pathways to graduation in Vermont energize museum-school partnerships

By Elizabeth Merritt

I gave a shout-out to Vermont museums last September, asking them “wassup” with new legislation in their state giving students the right to personal learning plans. Nina Ridhibhinyo wrote back offering to share how she and her colleagues …
Alliance Welcomes 57 Army Museums As They Take the Pledge of Excellence

By American Alliance of Museums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 19, 2016 ARLINGTON, VA– The Army Museum Enterprise has adopted the excellence programs of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) as 57 Army museums in 23 states and abroad joined the Alliance and took …
10 Easy Ways Museums Can Be More LGBTQ-friendly

By Katie Slivovsky

Have you ever been bothered by something, found co-workers who were bothered by the same thing, put your heads together, and made change happen? That’s pretty much how in 2010 we got Chicago Children’s Museum’s LGBTQ Inclusion initiative …
Future-Oriented Paleontology at the La Brea Tar Pits

By Elizabeth Merritt

One of the things I love best about social media is its power to connect me with strangers. When Jon Christensen tweeted, back in November, about a panel exploring extinction and de-extinction to be held at the La Brea Tar Pits, I tweeted …
Jill Hartz Appointed as Accreditation Commissioner for American Alliance of Museums

By American Alliance of Museums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 12, 2016 ARLINGTON, VA–The Board of Directors of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has ratified the appointment of Jill Hartz as a new accreditation commissioner. Hartz is the executive director of the …
Access and Equity in Museum Internships: A Case Study

By Elizabeth Merritt

In the US in 2015, 17.5 percent of persons with a disability were employed–compared to a 65 percent employment rate for people without a disability: a troubling statistic that should influence our discussions of museum labor and …
What’s the secret ingredient in the Tsongas Industrial History Center’s success?

By Kristin Gallas

Officially opened 25 years ago as a partnership between the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Graduate School of Education and Lowell National Historical Park, the Tsongas Industrial History Center provides hands-on, interdisciplinary …
Kindergarden Readiness in the PreK Classroom

By Sarah Erdman

Peek into an early childhood classroom and you’ll most likely be greeted by a hum of energy and activity. Block structures being built, art being made, worlds being created with dress up and props. In case you would be tempted to say “But …
The power of storytime

By Sarah Erdman

Storytime is a mainstay of early childhood programming in museums. It’s versatile, good for lots of different ages, can be relatively low prep and encourages literacy. Wins all around! However, educators have to be careful that they don’t …