Supporting Small Museum Colleagues

We offer a hearty thank you to AltaMira Press/Rowman & Littlefield for donating a copy of the Small Museum Toolkit for a raffle at the AASLH Small Museum Luncheon. Your small museum colleagues contributed almost $200 towards the Small Museums Scholarship to the AASLH Annual Meeting by participating in this raffle.

The Small Museums Committee, which both of us have chaired in the past, raises over $2000 annually to bring small museum people to the conference.  For the last three years, AltaMira Press has kicked off the fundraising with a generous donation of a raffle prize. And for that, we offer our sincere appreciation. Throughout the process of creating the Toolkit, the folks at AltaMira Press worked hard to understand people who work in small museums, both as writers and readers.

Hats off to our kind publishers, especially Deborah Hudson and Charles Harmon!

The Toolkit Talks at AASLH in Birmingham

Will you be attending the AASLH annual conference in Birmingham next week?

Meet with five contributors to the Small Museum Toolkit at The Toolkit Talks: Sharing Resources for Small Museums on Thursday, Sept. 19, 4 to 5:15 p.m., chaired by Janice Klein.

After a brief overview of the series, each contributor will share tips or next steps in 5 minute presentations: 

• Collections Management with Pat Miller
• Developing Exhibits with Janice Klein
• Museum Legal Issues with Allyn Lord
• Project Management with Rebecca Martin
• Visitor Studies with Stacy Klingler

After these quick presentations, you'll be able to choose a roundtable discussion lead by a presenters about one of the topics for 25 minutes. Then you can change areas during for the final 25 minutes of the session and interact with a different presenter and group of colleagues.

Through the discussions with the Toolkit contributors and your colleagues, we intend for you to travel home with practical information and further develop your personal  network and resource base.

We hope to see you there!

Sector 4: Assessment and Planning

Getting the answer to this question is
goal of the fourth sector.

Recognizing that the prioritization strategy Stacy Klingler and I have laid out over the past four weeks is technically an assessment process, there is still much more that can be done to assess your situation and plan future goals.  And, much has been written about strategic planning, including my chapter in the Small Museum Toolkit.  But in short, to move a museum forward, you need to know what assets you have, understand the gaps, identify what you want to accomplish, and outline the steps to get you there. 

Lucky for small museum folks, there are three organizations who want to help you in this effort and propel you to meet best practices.  The American Association for State and Local History, the American Alliance of Museums, and Heritage Preservation have developed assessment tools that help you put work in perspective, educate board and staff, kick start planning, and provide funding leverage. 

The Standards and Excellence Program for History Organization (StEPs) “is a voluntary assessment program for small- and mid-sized history organizations. The program, created by AASLH with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), encourages awareness and achievement of national standards.” This self-directed assessment process is a great way to get the ball rolling.

If you feel like the opinions of an outside professional and a more intensive self assessment process is what your organization needs, then you should look at MAP and CAP.

The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) “helps small and mid-sized museums strengthen operations, plan for the future and meet national standards through self-study and a site visit from a peer reviewer. IMLS-funded MAP grants are non-competitive and provide $4,000 of consultative resources and services to participating museums.”

Heritage Preservation’s Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) “provides a general conservation assessment of your museum's collection, environmental conditions, and site. Conservation priorities are identified by professionals who spend two days on-site and three days writing a report. The report can help your museum develop strategies for improved collections care and provide a tool for long-range planning and fundraising.”  CAP provides over $7,000 in consultative resources and services, sending a conservator and historic preservation professional (if applicable) on site. 

Ultimately, with an assessment in hand and an organizational commitment to keep moving forward, you will have board, staff, and volunteers on the “same page” which promotes efficiency and strengthens your chances for successful implementation of goals.  You also have a good benchmark to help you see when you’ve arrived at a goal.  You can look back and demonstrate for others where you’ve been which will fuel the new momentum you have.

And, you have a case to make to funders.  Do you need collections storage shelving? A new computer?  Funding for a museum educator?  Any one of these formal assessments offers excellent justification in a grant application, foundation proposal, or case statement for a potential donor.

With just one of these formal assessments in hand, you will know what kind of institutional planning you need – strategic or operational – and you will have a sense of what planning time frame you need.  To take the next planning steps, read “DIY Strategic Planning” in the Small Museum Toolkit, or tap the rich library of planning publications.  Here are a few to get you started. Good luck!

Recommended Resources

Alliance for Nonprofit Management

 

Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 2^nd Edition. San Francisco: Josey-Bass, 2005.

How To Do Traditional Brainstorming

Lord, Gail Dexter and Kate Markert. The Manual of Strategic Planning for Museums. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press, 2007.

Merritt, Elizabeth E. and Victoria Garvin, editors. Secrets of Institutional Planning. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2007.

McNamara, Carter. Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC, 2003.

Skramstad, Harold and Susan Skramstad.  Handbook for Museum Trustees. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2003.

Strategic Planning for Smaller Nonprofit Organizations

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service.  

In the Company of Our Peers

“Annual meetings remind us that we are professionals among others in a field that is often not quite understood and that is sometimes poorly defined, but one that is always interesting, and sometimes really quite thrilling. We might work alone but we have so much to discuss with each other—to learn from each other.”—Carol Kammen

Salt Lake City Skyline

The best thing I’ve discovered about the history and museum field is its openness in sharing ideas, processes, and mutual support. I have always loved the energy and enthusiasm we all share for our work. And there is no better place to get that recharge than the AASLH Annual Meeting. As Carol Kammen, one of our field’s best thinkers (and most wonderful people), reflected in this column from early in my History News editorial tenure, “I liked overhearing the chatter, listening to others discuss a small point or large one, of being among people who love doing local history. There is no substitute for being amidst one’s own people.”[1]  

This year the AASLH meeting is in Salt Lake City and our theme is Crossroads: Exploring Vibrant Connections Between People and Place. The first day of each meeting is our official Small Museums Day.



As founding chair of the AASLH Small Museums Committee, Toolkit editor Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko initially proposed this idea. Her co-editor, Stacy Klingler, has carried on the tradition. This year’s program is packed with sessions that are relevant to institutions of all sizes—and we all know how much we can all learn from small museums!

The collegial attitude of our profession is true in spades within the small museum community. Representatives bring wisdom and expertise and every small museum session, luncheon, or affinity event I’ve attended has been packed. Whether they occur during or after the formal sessions, the resulting discussions always stimulate, inspire, and often spill out into the hallways.

Attending conferences like AASLH’s and the ones in your own state and region are an essential way for you to share your own experiences as well as learn from that of others. The bottom line is that no person is an island and you should never feel that you work in isolation. There is a large community of small museum professionals (paid and unpaid) that is ready and willing to lend a hand, offer a suggestion, or just listen. And more than that, you will learn the myriad ways history professionals are accomplishing the tasks and suggestions shared in the six volumes of the Small Museum Toolkit.

BUT WAIT…there’s more. We understand that often the cost of attending a conference each year can be prohibitive. For the past four years, AASLH has been offering an online conference in conjunction with our in-person meeting. We have put this program together with the small museum community in mind. For $55 ($95 for a group), AASLH members can participate in six live, interactive conference sessions, hear our Friday plenary and Awards Banquet speakers, and download podcasts of some of the other sessions.

Professional development is extremely important to our field is it not? As Carol noted, “Participating in our professional organization helps us to know what is happening, helps keep us on our toes. It is our adult education.”

And these days, programs such as the AASLH Annual Meeting and online webinars are available at the touch of a button. I hope you will join us either in person in Salt Lake City or online from the comfort of your own desktop.

Whether or not you attend the AASLH meeting onsite or online, I hope that you know there is an army of people out there ready and willing to help you fuel your professional development fire. And I hope that you are seeking and making opportunities to connect with your fellow local history and small museum soldiers.

A “history geek” since elementary school, Bob Beatty is Vice President of Programs for the American Association for State and Local History, a national history organization based in Nashville, Tennessee. Through his work at AASLH, Bob leads a variety of national committees serving the American historical community.  From 1999-2007, Bob worked as Curator of Education at the Orange County Regional History Center a $35 million history museum in Orlando, Florida.  Bob authored the preface to the Small Museum Toolkit.

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[1] I count among one of my greatest blessings getting to edit Carol’s columns each quarter!

Why are small museums great places to work?

When we’re knee deep in projects and tasks, we sometimes forget why small museum work is incredibly fulfilling and exciting.  Small Museum Toolkit co-editor, Stacy Klingler, and I developed this quick list to remind you why the work matters and possibly clarify why you feel fulfilled even when you’re more tired than you’ve ever imagined. 

Small museums provide you with:

·         The opportunity to be a leader.

Not everyone can be at the top and if you’ve wanted to spread your leadership wings and see how they fit, tackling the leadership of a small museum is a great place to start.  You may be surrounded by volunteers and board members helping to lift the heavy loads so you can afford to try out your leadership style.  This is especially a great leadership opportunity for younger professionals and folks new to the field. 

·         A variety of work.

No day is alike in a small museum.  And, rarely is there a dull moment.  If you bore easily or are prone to multi-tasking (and maybe a little hyperactivity!), small museum work can keep you energized.  Plus, you can get your hands dirty in a variety of ways – collections care, fundraising, construction projects, volunteer management and more – making you a museum generalist.  You’ll be supremely qualified to move into your next job because you’ve “seen it all!”

·         The opportunity to develop new expertise.

Have you wanted to learn more about trade and hand tools?  Membership programs?  Textile storage? The immigration story of your hometown?  The possibilities are endless and if there’s a question you’ve always wanted answered, you can spend time becoming an expert and have space to exercise your curiosity.  You can always use what you’ve found to develop an exhibit, improve the collections storage environment, or raise funds for your organization. 

·         A flexible work environment.

While being available for public visitation hours may be critical to operations, you can make a case for structuring the hours so that you can get important work done and take a vacation when needed.  With enough volunteer power, there is the potential to have flexible workdays and with a limited budget, you can explore flexible benefits if a comprehensive benefit plan is not available.  But, you need to advocate for this which will make you a stronger manager and employee.

·         A visible and tangible impact in the community.

Where else can you lead a group of school kids through a program and then at a PTO meeting the next night, you meet the mom of one of the kids?  Likely her child has not stopped talking about what she learned and how much fun she had.  You have immediate proof that your work made a difference in a child’s life.  Your impact is especially felt when wherever you go - you meet people who know who you are and what your organization has accomplished.  Your fingerprints will be on practically every project and you will feel proud.  Just don’t go to the grocery store wearing your pajamas.

Are there other reasons?  Please share with us and we’ll add your thought to our Small Museum Leadership conference sessions that we’re presenting around the country. 

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008. She is co-editor of the recently released Small Museum Toolkit from AltaMira Press.

An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit

Carol Bolton Betts, editor for the Illinois Heritage Association, wrote an overview of The Small Museum Toolkit as part of the IHA’s Technical Insert series.  The IHA has graciously allowed The Small Museum Toolkit to share this introduction in seven blog posts during July and August. The posts will help you to get to know about the content of the Toolkit from an outside perspective.

Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Stacy Klingler, editors of the six-volume Small Museum Toolkit, note that small museums have all the responsibilities of larger institutions but lack the resources those organizations enjoy. Small museums of all types must engage in strategic planning, fundraising, collections management, exhibit plan­ning, programming, and many other tasks, but they must do so with small staffs made up of few, if any, trained professionals. Catlin-Legutko and Klingler, along with the American Associa­tion for State and Local History (AASLH), recognized a great need for a way to help small museums to achieve and maintain high museum standards and best practices. They have produced a boxed set of books that admirably fills this need. The set is part of the American Association for State and Local History Book Series.

Although the word museum appears in the title of the set and shows up frequently in the texts, much of the information in the books will be useful to staff and volunteers in other types of non­profit organizations. The books in The Small Museum Toolkit are packed with helpful information. This series of blog posts offers just a sampling of what they contain.

Each 6" × 9" paperback has a cover of a different bright color, addresses a different topic, and contains chapters by authors from different museum backgrounds, but there are features shared by all six. All of the books, which average around 153 pages in length, are clearly written and accessible; when specific terms are used, they are explained. The chapters are augmented by tables and textboxes that present items such as forms, checklists, outlines, and tips for accomplishing recommended procedures. The books contain endnotes and resource lists, and all volumes are well illustrated and well indexed. Most important, the authors of the essays in all of the books are recognized authorities who have extensive experience with small museums, which is detailed in the notes on the contributors that conclude each book. These authors uniformly recognize many others who aided them in their work on The Small Museum Toolkit.

The books in The Small Museum Toolkit are more than how-to manuals. While they give invaluable advice for a hands-on ap­proach to museum issues, they also offer thoughtful discussion of the reasoning behind the advice.

Adapted from Carol Bolton Betts, “An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit,” Illinois Heritage Association, Technical Insert 177 (May-June 2012). As a volunteer, Ms. Betts has done editorial work for the Illinois Heritage Association (illinoisheritage.org) since 1982. She was an editor at the University of Illinois Press for twenty years, working primarily on books about art and architecture, film, women’s history, and subjects related to the history of Illinois. Earlier she served on the staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and taught art history at Villanova University and at California State University–Los Angeles.