We hope you are enjoying your summer. Our PastPerfect support team is here to help! If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Our normal business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm Eastern. You can reach us by calling 1-800-562-6080 or emailing support@museumsoftware.com.

Please note our support and sales office will be closed for Labor Day on Monday, September 2nd.

The United States is turning 250 on July 4, 2026! Planning for events and educational programs has been in the works for a number of years, but there is still time and resources available for your organization to be part of the commemoration. The American Association for State and Local History is one of the leaders coordinating this effort. AASLH recently released its annual report with information about national, regional, state and local programs, and a handbook to assist with program planning. For more information, visit https://aaslh.org/programs/250th/.

The National Park Service is offering competitive grants to restore and preserve sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places that relate to the founding of the nation. For this grant program, the "nation founding" period ends December 31, 1800, when there was a peaceful transfer of power following the contested election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Applications are anticipated to open in fall of 2024 and are due in winter of 2025. Grant applications must be made through Grants.gov. For more information, visit

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/historicpreservationfund/semiquincentennial.htm.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services offers grants designed to support small organizations through Inspire! Grants for Small Museums. For the FY2024 grant cycle, the IMLS invites applications that commemorate America’s 250th anniversary as part of the agency’s IMLS250: All Stories, All People, All Places initiative. IMLS believes that the semiquincentennial is an opportunity to commemorate all lived experiences through civic engagement, public programs, and collections stewardship in preparation for 2026. For more information, visit https://imls.gov/grants/available/inspire-grants-small-museums.

PHMC's Historical and Archival Records Care (HARC) grant program is offering funding to historical repositories such as historical societies, libraries, universities, local governments, and school districts for archival collections care projects. Eligible projects include surveying, inventorying, preserving, arranging, and describing historical records significant to Pennsylvania. The grant may also be used for records reformatting and equipment. Projects for works of art, textiles, artifacts, and museum objects are not eligible.

Single organization grants are funded up to $5,000. Two or more organizations may apply for collaborative grants for up to $15,000. No match required. Applications are due August 1st.

For more information, visit https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Preservation/Grants-Funding/Pages/Records-Care-Grants.aspx.

Did you know you can choose which fields you see in the Browse screen? If you are using PastPerfect 5.0 on a network, each workstation can have their own set of fields selected for Browse.

To select fields:

1. Go to the Setup drop-down menu from the Main Menu
2. Select "Browse"
3. Select the program area you want to select fields for: Objects, Photos, Archives, Library, Contacts, Accession, Temporary Custody, Incoming Loans, Outgoing Loans, Exhibits, Sites & Localities
4. Review the list of Available Fields. When you find a field you want to add to the Browse screen, double click on the field. This will move the field to the Fields to Include in Browse column. Now the field will be available when using Browse in that program area.
5. To change the order in which the fields appear, click on the gray box to the left of a field. Then using your mouse, slide the field up or down.
6. Click "Exit" when done making changes

At the bottom of the Setup Browse Fields screen, you can select Edit in Browse Options.

We recommend leaving "No Edit & No Delete" selected. However, there are options for "Edit Only", "Delete Only", and "Edit & Delete". Please note if you select "Edit Only" or "Edit & Delete," some fields will appear as "Memo" on the Browse screen. These are fields like Description, Notes, Provenance, etc.

Additional Resources:

• How do I change what columns I see on the Browse screen? Knowledge Base article
• Setting Up Browse Fields in PastPerfect 5.0 Video Tech Tip

PastPerfect 5.0 includes an Outgoing Loan Form and Terms of Loan that enables your organization to provide an agreement between your organization and the borrowing institution. The Loan Form includes dates, the purpose of the loan, transportation and insurance information, list of items on the loan, and places for the signatures of your organization's representative and the borrowing institution's representative. The Terms of the Loan enables you to outline the terms of the loan based on your organization's collections policy.

To change the default text for the Terms of Loan, go to the Setup drop-down menu from the Main Menu and select "Collections". Click "Outgoing Loans" in the left sidebar. Enter your organization's outgoing loan terms in "Default Terms of Outgoing Loan." Click "Exit" and the changes will be saved. You can also create custom terms for each loan by clicking the Loan Terms button in the left sidebar on an Outgoing Loan record.

If you need to customize the layout of either of these documents, you can modify the reports by going to Reports and selecting "Loans Outgoing" in the left sidebar. Select the report to change, then select a custom layout and click "Modify Selected Layout". Once you are done modifying the report layout, return to the Outgoing Loan record.

On the Outgoing Loan record, click Print and select the documents to print. You can also print a detailed list of the items on the loan, as well as blank documents if needed.

PastPerfect 5.0's Pledges & Receipts screen enables you to view, add, and report on Contacts' pledges, monetary donations, and dues payments. The screen displays entries in three columns: Pledges, Donations, and Membership Dues. Entries can be viewed one month at a time or for an entire year. You can view the current year's pledges and payments or change the year to view past years' entries. The left sidebar contains the action buttons to enter new pledge and payment records and run reports.

The "Print Pledge" report enables you to print a summary list of pledges tied to a campaign and/or made within a date range. As an example, if you want to view pledges made within the first two months of a campaign, you would select the campaign using the drop-down and enter the dates. This report includes the following fields: Date, ID #, From, Campaign, Payment Interval, Amount, Paid, Last Paid, and Balance.

For donations there are two reports, "Print Receipts" and "Print List." The "Print Receipts" report enables you to narrow results by fund, date range, and/or donations over a specific amount. If you choose to include all funds, you can group donations by fund and include each fund's subtotal by checking the Subtotal by Fund option. The "Print List" report enables you to report on donations for the selected month or year. Choose the month or year first by clicking the appropriate tab at the top of the screen, then click "Print List" in the Donations section of the left sidebar. 

There are also two reports for dues payments. The "Print Receipts" report allows you to report on membership dues narrowed by Membership Type, Membership Subtype, and/or made within a date range. If you want to include dues receipts from all Membership Types, you can group the results by Membership Type and include a subtotal for each by checking the Subtotal by Membership Type option. The "Print List" report includes all dues received within a specific month or year. First choose the month or year by clicking the appropriate tab, then click "Print List" in the Dues section.

Each of these reports can be previewed, printed, exported to Excel, and browsed as raw data. Clicking Print allows you to choose from multiple options including sending to a printer or saving as a PDF.

The June update includes keyword search function enhancements, new outgoing loan document, and interface changes for moving items between home and temporary locations.

• Upgrades to Full Catalog Search and Public Access Keyword & Advanced Searches to improve speed and functionality
• Full Catalog Search provides count of records instead of count of pages
• New "Outgoing Loan Return Receipt" document added for Returned Outgoing Loans
• Image Management | Download Image uses Object ID (Objects, Photos, Archives, and Library catalog records) or Name (People, Contacts, Exhibits, and Sites) for the file name
• New "Move to Temporary Location" button added to the Location accordion, which must be clicked in order to populate Temporary Location fields
• Certain types of attachments (PDF, MP3, TXT, etc.) now open in the browser window instead of automatically downloading

To see a full list of features and fixes from each update, click "Version History" in the footer while you are logged into the Web Edition software. You can also find more information about some of these features in the User Guide.

The Outgoing Loan Return Receipt has been added to the Accessions & Loans Documents available in PastPerfect Web Edition. This document can be used to acknowledge the return of borrowed items to your organization.

You can customize the Outgoing Loan Return Receipt from Settings | Accessions & Loans Documents. Click "Edit" and expand the Outgoing Loan Return Receipt accordion. Begin by entering the text of your return receipt. The "Place Holder Field" drop-down will allow you to select the merge fields to include in the document. Return receipts typically include signature lines for the borrower and your organization's representative as well as the date when the loan was returned. Use the tool bar at the top to add your organization's logo or header and format the text. Click "Save" when you are done modifying the document.

Once an Outgoing Loan has been returned, you can print the Return Receipt by going to the Returned Outgoing Loan record. Then click "Document" and select "Print Return Receipt". You can then email this document, save it as a PDF, or send it to a printer.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get is about reporting on dues payments. The steps outlined below focus on producing a report from Pledges & Receipts | Membership Dues Received, but can be applied to all areas within Pledge & Receipts. Web Edition's Pledges & Receipts offers multiple functions including entering payments and producing thank you letters as well as searching, viewing, and reporting on dues payments, donations, in-kind gifts, and pledges. More information on Pledges & Receipts can be found in the User Guide.

To produce a report of dues payments received within a specific date range:

1. Select "Pledges & Receipts" from the Development drop-down menu
2. "Membership Dues Received" is selected by default
3. In the Filter & Option Field Settings section, click "Add Filter"
4. Select "Date" from the first drop-down
5. Select "Between" as the condition in the second drop-down
6. In the date fields, use the calendar to select the from and to dates
7. To add fields to the report, expand the "Options" accordion
8. Select a field name in the "Available Fields" column and use the right arrow button to move it to the "Included Fields" column
9. The order the fields appear on the report can be changed by dragging the fields up or down in the "Included Fields" column
10. Choose which field to "Sort By" and select either "Descending" or "Ascending"
11. Click "Apply". The Browse Grid will update to return only results that match the filter statement and will include the fields you selected in "Options". The Total Amount in the left sidebar will also update to reflect the total amount of dues received within the date range specified in your filter statement.
12. Click "Print" to select either the "Grid" or "List" report layout
13. Click "Print" to preview the selected report layout

Curious about upgrading to PastPerfect Web Edition? We invite you to register for our hour-long, on-demand or live webinars that walk through the collections and contacts capabilities of our cloud-based software. Register for either webinar here: https://museumsoftware.com/demo.html.

After the webinar, if you think Web Edition is the right choice for your organization, contact the team at webedition@museumsoftware.com to get started on the next steps.