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Time is of the Essence: 5 Ways to Keep Your Exhibit Design Project on Schedule

By David Whitemyer, AIA

Design and construction projects are notorious for taking longer than expected, and the unique undertaking of a museum exhibit design project is no exception. A number of factors routinely throw these projects off track. Unrealistic …
Access and Inclusion Case Study: Connecting Students to the Museum Field

By Amy Miller and Sarah Sims

In a session at the 2017 AAM Annual Meeting in St. Louis, a look around the room revealed a small sea of mostly mid-career museum professionals with experience and interest in education and interpretation. The presenter posed a question: …
Giving school groups a place to sit—Tips for Creating Museum Field Experiences from a Teacher’s Perspective

By Lisa M. Thayne

I teach fifth-grade students in a small town in Northern Virginia. I’m lucky in many ways—first, fifth graders are full of life and energy and are still excited by learning. There’s nothing better than seeing a student’s face light up and …
Excellence in Label Writing-Awards

By Elizabeth Wessells

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The Power of Amusement

By David Allison

David Allison is the Manager of Onsite Programs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. How do museums fit in, confront, or adapt to a rapidly changing world? Now more than ever, this question becomes important for museum leaders. A …
Taking a Stand: Prisons Today, The Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site Award Winner

By Nicole Frankhouser

The Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site’s Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration exhibition won first place in the 2017 Excellence in Exhibition award presented jointly by the following Professional Networks …
Leaving the Museum Field

By Sarah Erdman, Claudia Ocello, Dawn Estabrooks Salerno, and Marieke Van Damme

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Don Wildman: Why does the Museum of Science & Industry look the way it does?

By Don Wildman

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Why Museums Should Care About Young Children

By Anna Forgerson Hindley, Cynthia Raso, and Tiffany McGettigan

Anne Forgerson Hindley is the Supervisory Early Childhood Education Coordinator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Cynthia Raso is Assistant Director of the Center for Innovation in Early …
Sustainability at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

By James Deutsch and Eric Hollinger

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival won AAM’s PIC-Green Professional Network 2017 Sustainability Excellence Award for Programming. Here, James Deutsch, Program Curator for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, …