history museums pragmatic historian

Museum Subsidies

Okay, one more post related to the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums conference, then I will be on to other things. (See how much fodder a conference can provide for a blog?) While I work at a museum and my employer could have paid for my attendance at the conference, I chose to pay for the conference and its related expenses (hotel, mileage, meals) personally. Why? One major reason, but there is an ancillary…

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history museums pragmatic historian

Leaving Breadcrumbs: Succession Planning the Hansel & Gretel Way

In my last blog post, I discussed attending the 2019 annual conference of the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums at Treasure Island Resort & Casino. While that post covered the sessions I attended, I also led a session and figured that warranted its own blog post, which is what this post is devoted to. My session, “Leaving Breadcrumbs: Succession Planning the Hansel & Gretel Way,” appears on page 20 of the conference guide. My…

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history museums pragmatic historian

MALHM Conference 2019

‘Tis conference season in the Minnesota museum world. It starts in early spring and runs through the fall, with all sorts of fascinating conferences available for further education and networking. I’m not terribly keen on the term “networking” in the context of conferences, partially because networking has such a glad-handy, inauthentic reputation, partially because conferences often don’t give people time to network, and partially because folks in the Minnesota museum field tend to be toiling…

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history pragmatic historian

Have You Heard of the LSAC?

Last week I attended an LSAC meeting at the Beltrami County Historical Society in Bemidji, Minnesota. I’ve been with the LSAC for the past couple of years. When I first joined, I couldn’t seem to grasp what the LSAC was trying to do. It’s not a group with an easy-to-state mission. How did the LSAC arise? The Legacy Amendment In 2008, Minnesota voters passed a constitutional amendment to collect a sales tax to be dedicated…

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