Urgent: Ask Your Representative to Support America’s 250th Dear Members and other friends of AASLH, I am reaching out today with an urgent request. Last week AASLH circulated an alert about the U.S. Senate. Today we need your help to ask your House member to prioritize America’s 250th anniversary in Congress’s appropriations process. For the last several months, AASLH has met with many Congressional offices to advocate for federal investments in the nation’s history community to support the commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary. At the local, state, and national levels, the Semiquinc ..read more

Web Publishing as a Tool for the Raupp Museum’s Cultural Preservation and Community Engagement By Haley Twist, CatalogIt  Nestled in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, the Raupp Museum stands as a testament to the importance of preserving local history and making it accessible. With a commitment to empowering their community to participate in preservation and an ever-growing collection that spans generations, Raupp Museum staff sought to streamline collections management, leading to the transition from a legacy system to a cloud-based CMS. Learn how the staff’s web publishing efforts shaped thei ..read more

Unexplored Topics in State and Local History By Bruce W. Dearstyne The state and local history field continues to be exciting and innovative, with new ideas emerging all the time. The field is evolving and adjusting to keep up with advances in technology and changing areas of public interest. Sometimes, though, it seems as if state and local history are in the shadow of U.S. history, which gets more public and media attention, coverage in major history books, study in the schools, etc. Several topics in our field merit more research, publication, and promotion in public programs. These migh ..read more

The Health of Our Volunteer Programs By Alexandra Rasic, James N. Gamble Executive Director National Volunteer Appreciation Week is here! At The Gamble House, we’ll be celebrating our dedicated docents at a special sunset reception on Friday evening. Events like these are always a wonderful opportunity for volunteers to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones without the pressing need to get to post or cover a shift! Like many organizational members of AASLH, we rely heavily on volunteers to fulfill our mission, and we can’t say thank you enough. Last year, members of AASLH’s Standards ..read more

Urgent: Contact Your Senators for America 250 Funding Dear Colleague, I am reaching out today with an urgent request, one AASLH rarely makes. We need you to reach out to your Senators to help secure major, new federal funding for the work of history organizations. For the last several months, AASLH has met with many Congressional offices to advocate for substantial federal investments in the nation’s history community to support the commemoration of the America’s 250th anniversary. At the local, state, and national levels, the Semiquincentennial presents an opportunity to engage all people ..read more

Calling All Gamemasters! By Kurt Griesemer, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI Do you have a set of polyhedral dice? Have you enjoyed guiding adventurers deep into darkened dungeon corridors? Does the phrase “What do you want to do?” stir a longing to explore fantastical worlds? Then we’re looking for you! Wisconsin Adventures combines the stories and legends of Wisconsin’s past with the deep learning opportunities of fantasy roleplaying games. Given anticipated interest we’re looking for a few seasoned gamemasters to help take on the task of running gamers through a mini adventure dur ..read more

Standards and Ethics Committee Seeks Nominees By Erin Richardson, AASLH Standards and Ethics Committee Chair AASLH’s Standards and Ethics Committee is currently seeking nominees for terms beginning October 1, 2024. If you are interested in museum and public history ethics or know someone who is, this may be an ideal opportunity. I’ve been serving on the Ethics Committee since 2018, and as Chair since October 2020 (I served two terms as Chair to provide continuity during the pandemic, but I’ll be stepping down in September 2024). This committee provides considerable value to AASLH’s members an ..read more

Helping the History Community Thrive in 2023 In 2023 AASLH hewed to its mission: helping the history community to thrive and making the past meaningful to all people. What kept the association grounded in this busy year were two things: always asking how our work could help small history organizations in particular and always focusing on inclusive history. Highlights of the last year include: Creating seven courses in the Arcus program. The return of in-person Workshops, the first since the pandemic began. The launch of AASLH Summits, including three held virtually. Continuing to help histor ..read more

By Hannah Danielson, former Director of Education, W.H. Stark House For several years now, the term “STEM” has buzzed around the education field, touted as one of the best ways to prepare learners for the future. The addition of an “A” to this acronym incorporates the arts, creating the term “STEAM”: science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. As a former educator for a historic house museum, I didn’t initially understand the relevance for my site in particular and I certainly didn’t think we had the staff or resources to implement this type of programming. But a few years later ..read more

With a focus on establishing accessible introductions to timely topics in public history, the Practical Guides for the Public Historian series from AASLH will appeal to an audience comprised of practitioners, trustees, volunteers, and students looking to build careers and solve practical issues in the field of public history. Books in this series are designed to provide a brief introduction to fundamental skills and topics of interest to those working with state and local history using clear language and real-world examples and offer actionable steps for public historians of all backgrounds ..read more