Research: In the past few weeks Gale Johnson, our Native American Historian, was awarded a grant to fund her research about Native Americans. Gale is of Cherokee descent and has great knowledge of her tribes history. Through her research she plans on learning more about Native American History. It takes a lot to apply and win a grant so I want to congratulate Gale on her accomplishment and wish her the best with her research!
Connections: Tom Weidner has joined a group called The Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM). This group was originally created for living history type museums but has now grown to include a wide variety of museums. ALHFAM’s mission statement is “ . . . shares practical knowledge and skills among those who make history relevant to contemporary lives. We draw strength from our diverse network of members, sharing experience, research and passion for participatory learning.” By making a connection with this group Tom is able to learn from other museums like his. A quarterly newsletter is sent out that talks about different teaching techniques, how things should be displayed, how the world of museums is changing, and much more. Tom is also able to attend the yearly conferences and instructional program. Joining a group like ALHFAM has been great not just for Tom but for the whole museum.
School: Over the past year and a half I have been enrolled in a School of Continuing Education through Northwestern University. The school offers many programs but I chose the Museum Studies course as my area of focus. The classes I took helped me see all that goes into running a museum and how the museum world is changing. It is no longer a collection of objects in a case but a story that should be made accessible to all. From my experience I learned that I would like to pursue the field deeper and maybe one day be paid for what I do! Until then, I plan on taking my new education and applying it to my volunteer jobs.
No one is ever done learning because it is a lifelong process. By making extra efforts to learn our staff has been able to make themselves better for you! One expects to learn and trust what they are reading is true when they are in a museum. We want to be that for you. A well educated staff is very important!