Tapestry Newsletter | June 5, 2019

ADVOCACY MATTERS

The Pennsylvania House and Senate resumed holding session days on June 3 after a few weeks off. The Pennsylvania Museum Preservation Act has not been introduced, and even if it were, it would be unlikely to progress quickly enough to become any part of budget negotiations for Pennsylvania’s fiscal year 2019-2020. When lawmakers are in Harrisburg for the next few weeks, the Pennsylvania budget will take shape. Revenue predictions for the Commonwealth are creating optimism about the state’s spending’s being in line with what is coming in, and the general feeling from staffers and journalists is that an agreement will be reached on or close to on time around July 1. The Executive Budget included a small increase for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) and flat funding for the grants program at $2 million. 

It is our understanding that the organizations that receive support through the PHMC's Cultural and Historical Support grants program have or are getting their 2018-2019 funding now. Closeout reports for the previous year's funding, FY 2017-2018, are due July 31, 2019, and the completion of those reports is required to be eligible for future funding.
SUPPORT FOR YOUR MUSEUM

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) and the Pennsylvania State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) are now accepting applications for the Historical & Archival Records Care (HARC) grant program. The application deadline is August 1, 2019.

Funding is available to historical records repositories, such as: historical societies; libraries; universities; local governments; and school districts for collections care. Applicants may apply for up to $15,000 with a 50/50 cash or in kind match. Smaller grants in amounts up to $5,000 are available with no match required. Funding is provided by PHMC.

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

PA Museums will host a free webinar on best practices for deaccessioning on June 10 at 1:30 p.m. led by Ellen Endslow, Robin Lawrence, and Cara Seitchek.   Please contact us if you would like to participate.

Check out other opportunities at our website.


AASLH SCHOLARSHIPS

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will hold its Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, August 28-31, 2019. AASLH’s Small Museums Committee is offering scholarships to AASLH members who are full-time, part-time, paid, or volunteer employees of small museums.

For more details, please visit AASLH's website.
MEMBERSHIP

Current members' information on file with PA Museums has been transferred to our new Wild Apricot platform. You will receive renewal notices from there. You can immediately login, set your password, and choose what other info you might want to share, including a photo. You can choose to pay for your membership renewal securely through the site as well.

If you have questions about your renewal date or questions regarding this change, please contact us . PA Museums is grateful for the support of our membership, and your participation is critical to our growth. If you are not currently a member of PA Museums, we certainly hope that you join us .

There may be a few hiccups as we make this switch, so please bear with us. We will continue to update you about membership in the coming months as we make this transition.


JOB POSTINGS

If your institution has a vacancy, please see our job posting guidelines at the bottom of  our jobs page or  pass our contact information along to your hiring manager.


NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING

Advertising in the PA Museums newsletter is available for six week runs for $150. Our newsletter reaches around 400 museum professionals every two weeks. Please email us to have your ad run in Tapestry.
PA MUSEUMS IN THE NEWS

Pittsburgh Quarterly took a tour of The Frick.

The David Library is leaving Bucks County to become part of the American Philosophical Society.

Congratulations to LancasterHistory for receiving funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop their Thaddeus Steven-Lydia Hamilton site.

The Da Vinci Science Center is looking beyond Easton to expand.

TribLive shared Soldier and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum's plans to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Knowledge@Wharton featured the Barnes Foundation's use of analytics.

TribLive covered commemorations in Johnstown upon the anniversary of the 1889 Johnstown Flood.


RECOMMENDED

Listen to the Museopunks podcast about salary information in museum job postings.

On 5/31, a spreadsheet detailing the salaries of museum workers began making the rounds, and while it sparked conversations about compensation in the field, it has since been taken down.

A guest post at the Leadership Matters blog tried to tackle what is wrong with big museum conferences.

What is an "online exhibition?" This article about Museums in the Digital Space tries to find answers to the question.
PA Museums | 717-909-4951 | rusty.baker@pamuseums.org | pamuseums.org