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Should There Be a Core Document for Education?: An Update on the EdCom Task Force
As a prerequisite to accreditation, museums must submit five Core Documents for verification, a set of plans and policies considered fundamental to professional museum operations, values, and practices. As of now, this includes documents … -
Leveraging MAP for Capacity Building: The Sierra Mono Museum experience
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 … -
How Science Museum of Minnesota Put Its Collections and Research on the MAP
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 … -
Time to Reassess: A university art museum plans its next chapter with the MAP program
As the director of education for the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University (DOMA) in Muncie, Indiana, I am always on the lookout for resources to help us meet new challenges. The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) offers … -
How the MAP Program Helped the expERIEnce Children’s Museum Move Full Steam Ahead
When I became the executive director of the expERIEnce Children’s Museum in 2013, the museum was seeing tremendous growth in attendance and reinventing itself in the community. With these changes afoot, it was important to me and the rest … -
What to Expect from the Core Documents Verification Process
In 2018, the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) decided to embark on museum accreditation, taking the key step of participating in the Core Documents Verification program. The Japanese Friendship Garden is an institution … -
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) announces three new museum accreditation awards and 18 reaccreditations
Arlington, VA – The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, today announced three new museum accreditation awards and 18 reaccreditations made at the June 2019 … -
Shaping a New Assessment on Museum Education and Interpretation
On March 21 and 22, 2019, AAM brought together thirteen experts on museum education for a professionally facilitated exploration of trends, needs, and opportunities in the museum education field. The insights from this convening are … -
Double Duty: How a historic botanical garden reached a balance in managing its plant and art collections
All museums face many challenges maintaining and displaying their collections. But these challenges are exacerbated when collections of vastly different needs and care protocols share the same display space. At Phipps Conservatory and … -
AAM Names Beaulieu and Richardson New Accreditation Commissioners
AAM has appointed Rebekah Beaulieu and Evans Richardson IV as new Accreditation Commissioners, with terms that begin January 1, 2019 and end Decembe…
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Upcoming Events
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Preparing for the US 250th at History Organizations
Event Date:Presented by: American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) -
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Green Museums Summit
Event Date:Presented by: MuseumNext
Latest Stories from AAM
AAM Statement Regarding the December 18 White House Letter to the Smithsonian Institution
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Press Release
The American Alliance of Museums is aware of the White House’s December 18, 2025 letter …
December Advocacy Alert: Museums Advocacy Day Registration Open, IMLS Grants Restored, and more
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Advocacy Alert
Advocacy Alert – December 12, 2025 In this Alliance Advocacy Alert: Museums …
The Next Incarnation of Dispatches from the Future of Museums
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Center for the Future of Museums Blog
On September 2, 2009, the Center for the Future of Museums sent the first edition of …