Alliance Blog

The Alliance blog provides the museum community with a place to share stories and insights, in their own voice, reaching thousands of people across the global museum field.

Explore all Publications from the Alliance.

Explore the AAM Resource Library by topic, and further filter by subtopic or resource types to find what matters most to you!

The Intergenerational Museum

By Bill Tramposch

“I consider that [the old] have gone before us along a road we must all travel in our turn, and it is good that we should ask them of the nature of that road.” –Socrates, The Republic In an article called “Aging and Learning: The …
Leveraging MAP for Capacity Building: The Sierra Mono Museum experience

By Sam Shogren, MPA

The Sierra Mono Museum and Cultural Center—a small, rural, nonprofit museum set in the California foothills just south of Yosemite National Park—is today undergoing a one-million-dollar renovation thanks, in large part, to its recent …
2019 Award Winner for Excellence in Practice: David Rios

By David Rios

According to his nominator, David Rios, Director of Public Programs and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), “excels in building experiences and shaping content in ways that create engagement and …
How Museum Stores Support Their Institutions and the Public

By Stuart Hata

Throughout my thirty years as a museum retail professional, I have often had to explain to others—whether colleagues, friends and family, or complete strangers—how museum stores support their institutions and the public at large. From my …
You’re Doing What?!: Becoming “The Founder”

By Elizabeth Williams

Museum professionals have creative aging journeys of their own, which might mean figuring out how best to cap off a career in the field. But in today’s world, with more people enjoying active and engaged lifestyles later into life, …
Is History Haunted?: Three museums explain their supernatural programs

By Andrea Malcomb, Mark Nardone, and Kristen Sheldon

Around October, the weather gets cold, the days get shorter, and the spine begins to tingle. People start looking for eerie activities to scratch the itch, whether haunted houses, horror movies, or ghost tours. This is an interesting …
Using Your RFP Process to Reduce Third-Party Risk

By Tom Rogers

Creating a well-written request for proposals (“RFP”) takes a lot of time and effort. As tempting as it can be to rush through the RFP writing process, you need to do it carefully to prevent problems down the line. A good RFP (and …
Creative Aging and Social Prescribing

By Bill Tramposch

“You’re doing what?!” This is often the response one gets when they say they are involved in the field of creative aging. I am asked it a lot, from people who want to know what on earth “creative aging” even is. When I begin to describe it …
Collection Ranking: Making deaccessions work for you

By Caitlin Podas

For all the objects in a museum’s collection that meet the standard criteria for accessioning—they fit the museum’s mission, are in good condition, and have thorough provenance—a significant percentage meet only one (or none) of these …
How Science Museum of Minnesota Put Its Collections and Research on the MAP

By Charlie Iverson

The timing was right for Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) to participate in the Collections Stewardship Museum Assessment Program (MAP) program in 2018. Since our last MAP, in 1985, we had experienced many changes. Most recently, our new …