December 11, 2024

ON TRACK TO CONTINUE RECEIVING OUR NEWSLETTER?

 

Beginning in January 2025, our newsletter will be available to members only.


If you are on staff of an institution with a membership, you will be able to continue to receive Tapestry. There are a couple of ways you can do this:


  1. Ask your membership administrator to add your email to your institution's membership. If you are the administrator, you can add all of your staff at our WildApricot membership site.
  2. Email us to add you at our end if you aren't sure who has the keys to your insitutional membership. Your administrator will receive an email that we have made changes to our system.


You get valuable, actionable information through this communication 25-30 times during the year. We have an array of affordable membership options. You can strengthen the museums community and continue receiving this useful communication: ensure your membership is up-to-date at the link below or become a new member. And thank you!

JOIN OR RENEW

ADVOCACY


PENNSYLVANIA HAPPENINGS


The Pennsylvania House and Senate do not return to session until January 7. In the final weeks of 2024, lawmakers have begun circulating memos about legislation they plan to introduce in the next session and inviting their colleagues to join as co-sponsors. Senator Phillips-Hill (R-York) included a memo for the Abandoned Museum Property Act that PA Museums has supported . This bill passed through the Senate last session, but the bill was not acted upon on the House side.


In some districts where faces have changed, museums and historical organizations have advocacy work to do in getting to know new lawmakers. We will provide a template you can use and share it out around the day new lawmakers are sworn in at the Capitol.




THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS (AAM)


Congress, unable to tackle its task of completing a budget, approved a continuation of current funding levels through December 20, 2024 to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate has recommended a reduced budget for the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) Office of Museum Services (OMS) for FY 2025, while the House bill proposes even deeper cuts. It is expected there will be another continuation to carry government operations through another 3 months.

As the House and Senate continue negotiations, take action with AAM's easy-to-use template and urge your legislators to oppose these cuts and support at least $55.5 million for OMS and support at least $209 million each for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.


Mark your calendar for February 24-25 in Arlington, VA, and Washington, D.C. The new headquarters hotel, the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel will host Monday's Museums Advocacy Day programming. Museums Advocacy Day 2025 is a critical opportunity to make the case for museums early in what is sure to be a high-stakes year for museums and other causes. This is a chance to meet with key decision-makers and advocate directly for the issues that matter most to museums. Stay tuned for additional information and registration details this fall.

MEMBERSHIP


The Erie Maritime Museum is looking for its next Museum Educator 2. If your organization has a job to post with PA Museums, please review our guidelines and contact us. You can also complete and submit your job posting on our easy-to-use form.


If you’ve ever had questions about caring for records, please consider joining archivists from the Pennsylvania State Archives for an Archives Without Tears (AWOT) live question and answer session via Teams on Tuesday, December 17, at 10:00 a.m. The event is free but requires registration. Please click here to register.



PA Museums Lunch and Learn


PA Museums will be offering Lunch and Learn sessions in 2025. Our first one will be on January 8 at noon thanks to the American Historical Association.


Museums and American Lesson Plan: Where Teachers Need You, and How You Can Help


About the Talk: The American Historical Association's American Lesson Plan (2024) shares findings and insights from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. Join Whitney E. Barringer, one of the report's authors, for insights into where Pennsylvania sits in the national landscape of US history instruction. Empirical evidence and rigorous analysis provide the clearest picture yet of what history instruction looks like in practice and where teachers most need support.


About the AHA: The American Historical Association promotes historical work and the importance of historical thinking in public life. Incorporated by Congress in 1889, its mission to enhance the work of historians also encompasses professional standards and ethics, innovative scholarship and teaching, academic freedom, and international collaboration. As the largest membership association of professional historians in the world (nearly 11,000 members), the AHA serves historians in a wide variety of professions, and represents every historical era and geographical area.


Speaker Bio: Whit Barringer is a program and data analyst at the American Historical Association. She previously served as a researcher for the AHA’s Mapping the Landscape of Secondary History Education project. She earned her BA from the University of Central Arkansas and her MA and PhD from the University of Mississippi, where she studied nineteenth and twentieth century US history and European Enlightenment and Revolution (1650–1870). She taught at the University of Central Arkansas for five years before coming to the AHA.

More about the Report: 

On September 19, the AHA published American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools, with findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. AHA researchers appraised standards and legislation in all 50 states, conducted a survey of over 3,000 middle and high school US history educators, interviewed over 200 teachers and administrators, and reviewed thousands of pages of instructional materials from small towns to sprawling suburbs to big cities. The report provides empirical evidence and rigorous analysis to inform current debates over how history is taught in our schools.


This Lunch and Learn Session will be free to members of PA Museums. Registration is $10 for all others. Please register here.

2025 PA MUSEUM CONFERENCE


Save the date for PA Museums' 2025 Conference. We'll be in Erie, PA, September 28-30, 2025.


Start planning now to join us! Our theme will be From Community Anchors to Community Catalysts. Our theme will explore the ways museums and historical organizations, rooted in place and traditions, can transform and influence communities and culture through partnerships and new strategies.


Information for exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers is available now. Please click here to see our 2025 pricing. Please email Rusty Baker, Executive Director of PA Museums to learn more. We encourage businesses and non-profits that work with museums to consider joining us an exhibitors!


PA Museums will be looking for conference session proposals early in 2025 Look for more details soon.

SUPPORT FOR YOUR WORK

 

National Endowment for the Humanities

Public Humanities Projects Optional Draft - 12/04/2024, Final - 01/08/2025

Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions - 01/09/2025

Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections - 01/10/2025


Call for Proposals: NEH Chair’s Grants, 160th Anniversary of Juneteenth

 

In celebration of the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth, the NEH Chair invites Chair’s Grant requests of up to $30,000 to support free Juneteenth Open House events exploring African American history and culture. NEH will accept applications from Friday, November 15, 2024, through Wednesday, January 15, 2025. Please click here for more information.


Marketing to Attract Tourists


The Marketing to Attract Tourists Program from Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development provides funding to support and development international tourism, sports marketing, outdoor recreation, and cultural attractions. A press release on Monday included links to the guidelines and application. Our partners at the PA Restaurant and Lodging Association have informed us there will be an informational webinar for the program in January, and we will let you know when more details are available regarding the day/time.


PA MUSEUMS IN THE NEWS


The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) announced awardees in its Historical Archives and Records Care grants program.


WHYY explored the Charles L. Blockson Collection at Temple University.


WJAC boosted the announcement that the PA Military Museum in Boalsburg will close for improvements.


The Times Online visited the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum's new exhibit on Hess' department store in Allentown.


Andy Masich, President and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, shed some light on the history of the Allegheny Arsenal on KDKA's Spotlight Sunday.


PennWatch covered December happenings at the State Museum in Harrisburg.


ArtNews reported that the US Senate approved the next steps for the Weitzman National Museum of Jewish History to join the family of Smithsonian museums.


RECOMMENDED


Most of us who work in museums have made some decisions about paint colors a time or two. Check out Pantone's Color of the Year for 2025.


The Museums Assoiation (UK) published a guide to museum success on the social media platform Bluesky.


Americorps' research on the state of volunteerism has been making the rounds with nonprofits. Is this good news for museums?


The Associated Press explored President Biden's announcing a Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument.


The Wall Street Journal was in Gettysburg last weekend to cover what it takes to become a licensed battlefield guide.

SUPPORT PA MUSEUMS - DONATE TODAY

PA Museums | rusty.baker@pamuseums.org 

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