July 22, 2020

 ADVOCACY

PA Museums has learned that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's (PHMC) 2019-2020 Cultural and Historical Support grants have been approved by the Governor's Budget Office for payment. Grantees have been notified, and funding should be forthcoming.

PA Museums signed on to a letter prepared by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) requesting museums be included in any additional pandemic relief legislation. Statewide, regional, and national associations were invited to support this letter. There may be a call to action issued more broadly later in the summer.



 THE STRATEGIC MUSEUM: MISSION IN COMMUNITY

 Registration is now open for our 2020 Virtual Statewide Museum Conference.

PA Museums will honor registrations for our postponed April 2020 Conference for our Virtual Conference as well as our 2021 Conference as a thank you for the support of those who registered in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Our Virtual Conference is “Pay What You Wish,” and we invite you to donate before, during, or after the conference at  this link . We appreciate your support for our conference.

MEMBERSHIP

The PHMC's Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums is looking for directors for the Erie Maritime Museum and Brandywine Battlefield Park . I f your organization has an opening, please send it our way .

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has shared new resources in light of concerns about choices museums may make in the coming months that could threaten the welfare of collections. Here is background on this work and a link to specific resources .

PA Museums' membership includes institutions, businesses that work with museums, and individual. Our association has advocated for museums and served our membership since 1905 with programs like our annual conference. We invite you to join PA Museums today if you would like to support our work. We appreciate our members, and thank you for being a part of PA Museums.

PA MUSEUMS IN THE NEWS

Philadelphia's Mutter Museum reopened , and Ars Technica shared a story that included what can be learned from Civil War vaccines in the museum's collections.

Lancasteronline covered Rock Ford 's new branding efforts.

Trains Magazine had the scoop on a new museum in the works in Shippensburg for the Conrail Historical Society .

Flooding caused damage at the Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society .

The COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL Fund announced awards and relief to many organizations, including Philadelphia museums .

Bruce Bomberger of the Lebanon County Historical Society talked about the importance of documenting history.

The Pennsylvania Capital-Star covered Juneteenth celebrations in Scranton with historian and advocate Glynis Johns .
SUPPORT FOR YOUR MUSEUM

The PHMC announced that applications are open for the Historical and Archival Records Care (HARC) grants program .   The application deadline is October 1, 2020.

Funding is available to historical records repositories, such as historical societies, for collections care, including surveying, inventorying, preserving, arranging and describing historical records significant to Pennsylvania, as well as for records reformatting and equipment.

A webinar will be held at 10:00 A.M. on July 29, providing an overview of eligibility, guidelines and offering tips for a competitive proposal. See the grant announcement webpage for registration information.


RECOMMENDED

Allison Titman, Executive Director of the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, wrote Advocacy is (Always) Essential for AAM's professional forums.

Food for thought: Hong Kong's museums have reopened three times.

Colleen Dilenschneider had a look at how visitor intention data is tracking.