APPLY TODAY! Are you a mid-career museum professional looking to impact the museum field? VAM’s Leadership and Advocacy Fellowship provides opportunities to create valuable research, connections, and career advancement. This year's Fellow will focus study around VAM's Community Conversations: Facing Challenges in the Museum Field initiative. $1,000 stipend.

Learn more & apply by October 8.

Thank you to Richmond Conservation Studio for once again partnering to support the museum community, and provide a painting conservation treatment to one of our museum members. Learn more about the Richmond Conservation Studio Grant.

Deadline to apply is October 8.

Thank you to our Benefactor members for attending our first Benefactors-only appreciation event at Machicomoco State Park and Timberneck House (c. 1800) in Gloucester County. Members learned about the history of the land, Algonquin Indians at the site, and the property’s enslaved community. Thanks again to Park Manager, Terry Sims, and the Fairfield Foundation's co-directors, Dr. David Brown and Thane Harpole, for graciously hosting our group. We are planning more Benefactor events in the new year. Interested in becoming a VAM Benefactor? Contact Rebecca.

Have you joined our new Facebook Group Page for members only? Members are sharing articles, asking operational questions, advertising upcoming events, and sharing COVID protocols at their museums. Come join us and add to the conversation!

Don't forget to pay your VAM membership dues. To see if you have an open invoice, login to your VAM account. If we can be of any assistance, contact VAM's Membership and Development Manager, Rebecca Guest. Thank you!

October 7 - Peer Group Chat: College & University Museums

October 14 - Peer Group Chat: Historic Sites & House Museums

October 21 - Peer Group Chat: Museum Educators

October 26 - Webinar: Public Programs & the Long Pandemic

October 28 - Peer Group Chat: Collections & Exhibitions

The team at Quatrefoil Associates received the Gold Award in the AR, VR, Mixed Reality category of the 2021 MUSE Awards for its work on the Virtual Science Center exhibition, Reinventing Reality: Explore the Science of Virtual Reality. The American Alliance of Museum (AAM) MUSE awards recognize outstanding achievement in media and celebrate “scholarship, community, innovation, creativity, education, accessibility and inclusiveness.” 

In 2019, Historic Lexington Foundation (HLF) began an initiative to document slave dwellings in Rockbridge County as part of an effort to encourage preservation of these structures. As part of this initiative, representatives of HLF and the Brownsburg Museum hosted officials from Virginia Humanities in October 2019, and together they visited and documented four slave dwellings in the Brownsburg area.

National Park Service has awarded the James Solomon Russell–Saint Paul’s College Museum and Archives a $46,970 Underrepresented Community Grant to expand and update its historical records and documentation about St. Paul’s, a historically Black college dating to the 1880s. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will disburse and administer the grant, which will enable the museum to convene a “History Day” focusing on Lawrenceville and Brunswick County, conduct oral histories, and support the goal of listing the one-time campus as a historic district on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Through the recently formed Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab, which is located at the Virginia Museum of Natural History and developed in partnership with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, museum staff and a workforce of archaeologists, art historians, GIS experts, and other heritage practitioners are able to monitor threatened cultural heritage sites across the globe. The lab utilizes high-resolution satellite imagery provided by industry partners to rapidly identify destructive events and active threats to monuments, museums, archives, historic buildings, archaeological sites, and landscapes.

When Virginia Celeste Ellett passed away in January at 93 years young, Science Museum of Virginia staff began brainstorming ways they could honor the long-time supporter for her generous bequest of $2.4 million. Museum staff member, Timshel Purdum, will serve as the first Virginia C. Ellett Director of Education. Along with her collaborative team, Timshel helps audiences of all ages connect to, and enjoy, the science all around them.

Prince William County has received a $31,000 grant to conduct an archaeological dig at the historic Berea Cemetery, on the grounds of Forest Greens Golf Course in Triangle. The county’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism said its Office of Historic Preservation received the Certified Local Government grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The focus of the Berea Cemetery Project is to delineate the Sophia Carter Cemetery through archival research and archaeological testing; to garner more information on the grave site, landscape and potential for unmarked graves.

Norfolk Botanical Garden recently broke ground on its Garden of Tomorrow project. Among many amenities, it will include a new, state-of-the-art conservatory, which will focus on conservation of rare plant species in the world and include a tropical rainforest biome and two educational exhibit wings. The Hampton Roads Community Foundation awarded this historic project a $450,000 grant over four years.

Happy Birthday to our friends at Patrick Henry's Scotchtown and Preservation Virginia! On October 2nd, Scotchtown will celebrate 300 years. Built around 1720, by Charles Chiswell, Scotchtown is the only original standing home of Patrick Henry open to the public. 

Virginia Humanities announced $231,750 in new grants to twenty-four nonprofit organizations dedicated to amplifying lesser-known historical narratives and initiating conversations around topics relevant to all Virginians. To learn more, click here. Congrats to the following VAM members for receiving grants through this program: Birthplace of Country Music, Fairfield Foundation, Louisa County Historical Society, St Luke’s Historic Church and Museum, and the Mariners Museum & Park!

Best wishes to Stephen Bonadies on his retirement as Chief Conservator and Senior Deputy Director for Conservation and Collections at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Stephen joined the VMFA in 2009 and has enhanced the museum and its collection by implementing innovative collections management systems integrated with a new digital asset management system to improve access to works of art in VMFA’s care.

Congratulations to Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz, for starting a new position as Director of Education and Historic Interpretation at the Virginia Executive Mansion at Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Additionally, Kelley is the Director of Collections and Visitor Engagement at Stratford Hall.

Cheers to Alicia Thomas for joining the Virginia Quilt Museum as its new Executive Director. Alicia has worked in museums, historic sites, and non-profits for the past 14 years. Most recently she served as Operations Manager for a conservation non-profit that she helped guide through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Branch Museum of Architecture and Design bids farewell to Penelope Fletcher, who served as Executive Director for the past five years, and welcomes Sharon Aponte as the new ED. Sharon previously served as Deputy Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs and Interim Co-Director at Wolfsonian-Florida International University in Miami, Florida, before consulting for clients including the National Academy of Design and the Asia Society in New York City.

Congrats to Alyssa Bouselli, the new Suzanne McKown Education Coordinator at Clarke County Historical Association Museum and Archives. Alyssa has a background in archaeology, history, and education. She recently taught U.S. History and Geography to middle school and high school students in Massachusetts.

Best wishes to Jackie Spainhour as she leaves her position as Executive Director at Norfolk's Hunter House Victorian Museum to assume the role of President of Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. (Jackie was a 2018 VAM Leadership & Advocacy Fellow. View her research project.) Congratulations to Renee Evans who will move from Collections Manager at the museum to Executive Director.

Huzzah to Trades Technician, Donnie Jones, for 20 years of service to the Virginia Museum of Natural History!

Cheers to Austin Englund, the new Restoration Craftsman at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest.

Congratulations to Virginia Humanities' 2021-2022 Academic Fellows. The five new authors and researchers in residence at Library of Virginia, include: Meredith Henne-Baker, Lois Leveen, D’Anne Graham, Arlisha Norwood, and Rachel Stephens.

Congrats to Shelley Davis and Susan Shibut for joining Riggs Ward Design. Shelley is member of the West Coast team, and is an Associate Director and Project Manager. Susan is a member of the Richmond team as a Coordinator and Producer, and has a background in history and museum

We are sad to learn of the passing of Patricia “Tish” Rodman King, after a short illness. Tish was active in the Northern Neck community. She was involved in numerous civic organizations including the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and the Menokin Foundation.

We are also sad to learn of the passing of the Honorable W. Tayloe Murphy, Jr. Tayloe was a founding member of the Menokin Foundation. He followed his late wife Helen's term as President of the Menokin Foundation from 2010-2016, and continued her legacy stabilizing the Menokin ruin. Tayloe was the Secretary of Natural Resources of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2002-2006, and Delegate of the Virginia General Assembly from 1982-2000. As a lawmaker, Delegate Murphy was the father of most major pieces of environmental legislation in Virginia.

In addition to exclusive savings, members also have access to ($15, $25 and $50 off) coupons valid through 10/4/2021.

$15 OFF | your qualifying order of $100 or more.

$25 OFF | your qualifying order of $250 or more.

$50 OFF | your qualifying order of $250 or more.

To avoid unnecessary shopping trips, shop online and receive free next business-day delivery**or call 1-800-MEMBERS (800-636-2377), M-F: 8am-5pm ET, for more information.

*Exclusions Apply. Expires 10/4/2021. See Terms and Conditions on coupon. **Free Delivery: Minimum purchase required after discounts and before taxes. Orders outside our local delivery area and most furniture, oversized, bulk items, cases of bottled water and other beverages and special order items do not qualify. Non-qualifying orders incur a delivery charge (minimum charge of $9.99). Many orders can be delivered next business day (between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM) if placed online or via phone by 5:00 PM or via fax by 3:00 PM, local time (in most locations).

To see other promotions and opportunities from VAM Business members, visit our Member Discounts page!

Museums and related organizations across the United States have six opportunities in the coming months to apply for grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Award amounts range from $5,000-$250,000. Applications are due November 15, 2021. Click on each grant, to learn more and apply.

Recordings at Risk is a national program administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources to support preservation of rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of high scholarly value through digital reformatting. The program is generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $50,000. Learn more. Application deadline: December 15

The Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history. Public Humanities Projects supports projects in three categories (Exhibitions, Historic Places, and Humanities Discussions), and at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Award amounts range from $75,000 to $400,000. Applications are due January 12, 2022. To learn more and apply, click here.

AASLH has published Making History at 250: The Field Guide for the Semiquincentennial. Featuring big-picture ideas and guiding historical themes, this free publication can help museums, historical societies, and history institutions of all types, sizes, and in all regions of the country think about why they should connect to the 250th anniversary commemoration and how they can do it. The guide is free, and can be downloaded here.

Museums are at the heart of our cultural lives: they are where we go to learn and gather collectively. But the pandemic has restricted access to these spaces, and national conversations around equity are asking museums to reckon with where their collections came from, who they represent, and who has access to them. Watch this presentation from Chicago Humanities for a conversation about how museums will shift and change as we move into a new stage of the pandemic and come back together in public spaces.

Our friends at the Virginia Commission for the Arts recently held a webinar to review the latest guidance on capacity, safety, health and sanitization, as well as planned and best practices for patron and event management. The resources are available for free online. Watch on YouTube, here. Download the FAQs & Resources, here. Download the Slideshow, here.

Search VAM's Career Center for information on the only certificate in museum management offered by a museum association, plus resume review help, job listings, and more.

Search the Job Board for these current listings and more: