Skip to content

Posts

The Shifting Sands of Excellence: A Q&A with Accreditation Leaders

One of AAM’s closest-watched programs is Accreditation, the flagship program on a continuum that measures and confers excellence, giving museums an external seal of credibility which …

A Modest Proposal for Museum Collections: Apply the principle of direct costs for deaccessioning

Some years ago, shortly before I assumed the directorship of the Ringling Museum of Art—the state art museum of Florida—the leader of the Florida Legislature declared, “I love Rubens.” The …

Closing the GAAP on Direct Care

As lawyers with backgrounds in horticulture (Lori) and material culture studies (Sarah), we never thought we would be passionate about an accounting rule. Yet here we are. In 2015 we wrote …

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…

Museums and their Observers Debate the Field’s Deaccessioning Ethics

August 1, 2018; Hyperallergic "Deaccessioning-the permanent removal of objects and/or art from a museum's collection-has been at the forefront of many discussions of museums of late," notes …

On the hard work of building the future

Currently I’m watching the birth of two movements in our field. #MuseumsRespondtoFerguson and #MuseumWorkersSpeak are both grappling with issues of what museums can do, should do, and …

Prodding Sacred Cows: The Mission Statement

When I was pulling together the book National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums, I found myself increasingly uneasy with the way that the standards use mission statement as …

How a Cookbook Can Help Your Museum Engage with Food

I hope you’re planning to join us for the free Feeding the Spirit webinar, Friday, Feb. 17, 1:45-5 p.m. (ET). To help you plan your discussions before, during or after the webcast (as well …

Forecasting the Future of History Organizations and Their Leaders

For three weeks every November leaders and practitioners from the field of the public history meet at the Seminar for Historical Administration to discuss challenges and future directions …

The Backward ABC’s of Museum Data

This week’s blog post comes from Philip M. Katz, assistant director for research at AAM. This was going to be an essay about the power of museum financial and operating data—robust, …

When Trends Collide: The New Gilded Age Meets the Rise of the Amateur Expert

Museums have long struggled to resist pressure from wealthy donors or sponsors who want to call the shots. How might this play out in a future in which museums loosen their grip on …

Museums & Wikipedia: The Future of Collaboration and Accessibility

Lori Byrd Phillips is a museum studies graduate student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the current Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Children’s Museum of …
Show more stories in this category

Upcoming Events

Courier Training Workshop

Event Date:
Presented by: Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS)
Portland, OR
View All Events

Latest Stories from AAM

#AAM2023 Keynote: Gregg Deal

Category: Annual Meeting
Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) took the stage as the 2023 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo keynote speaker. Deal is a multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and “disruptor.” His …

Empathy Interviews: A Tool for Museums to Understand the Feelings and Experiences of Others

Category: Alliance Blog
Imagine sitting down with local community members and hearing stories about the places they feel they can show up as their most authentic selves, or where and how they have learned …

Techno-skepticism: Rethinking the Costs and Benefits of Digital Technology

Category: Center for the Future Of Museums Blog
The night before my flight to Denver for #AAM2023, I went over my slides for the annual presentation on TrendsWatch. The talk was formatted around the chapters of the latest report (access …

Subscribe to Field Notes!

Packed with stories and insights for museum people, Field Notes is delivered to your inbox every Monday. Once you've completed the form below, confirm your subscription in the email sent to you.

If you are a current AAM member, please sign-up using the email address associated with your account.

Are you a museum professional?

Are you a current AAM member?

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription, and please add communications@aam-us.org to your safe sender list.