I began my job at a county historical society in Minnesota over 20 years ago. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, but I’ve reached a point where I’ve served enough time that I can look back and pick up on themes within my work. Path to Museum Succession Planning A big theme has been succession planning, only I didn’t know I was doing this from the beginning. When I started, I was…
In order to explore The Litter Layer I brought up in the last post, I’ve created a challenge to get you thinking about it. The Litter Layer is my term for what I expect archaeologists of the future will find in terms of dumps, landfills, and litter everywhere within this era’s layer of earth, especially in comparison to archaeological digs of previous eras. Take a walk a block or two from your home and make…
I walk my dog twice a day. One of the things I note on our walks is how much litter there is. Aside from food wrappers and plastic bottles, the detritus has included a lens from sunglasses, a knife, random clothing, pens, plastic bags, receipts, and the odd coin. Pretty much anything that can be dropped or discarded eventually becomes litter. When I was a kid, there was not nearly as much litter as there…
Forgive the click-baity title on this post, but, seriously, folks, I have met really wonderful people within the history museum field and many of them share a bunch of admirable traits that are well worth imitating. You’re not likely to hear this directly from history museums workers (whether staff, interns or volunteers) because most of them share the first trait on this list. Instead, I’ll take the time to reveal 12 of the best characteristics…
When I was visiting the Beltrami County Historical Society for the Legacy Strategic Agenda Collaborative (LSAC) meeting I mentioned in my last post, our group learned a bit more about a long-term partnership called Minnesota’s Historic Northwest. Minnesota’s Historic Northwest is a regional collaborative of about 20 history and culture organizations in northwestern Minnesota. Minnesota is a large state and the northwestern portion has some areas that are sparsely populated. Banding together allows these organizations…