At the AASLH annual meeting in St. Paul, the History Relevance Campaign presented an update on their work to a packed audience. During the session, we presented the Impact Project, a year-long process for identifying and studying historic sites and history museums that are making history relevant in their community. The goals of the Impact Project are to:
- Increase the use of history as a way to understand and address critical community issues.
- Help board members and staff make an impact in their communities by integrating best practices into their strategic and interpretive plans
- Encourage AASLH and other professional associations to include standards on community relevance and impact
- Encourage academic programs in history, public history, and museum studies to include community relevance and impact in their curriculum
- Encourage elected officials, funders, and communities to provide more support for history organizations that are making an impact
- Provide every Governor with at least one example of history organizations that are making an impact in their state
We Need Your Help
We are looking for history museums, historic sites, and similar organizations that are making an impact on their community using history. After we’ve collected a list of suggested history organizations, we will interview them to begin to identify exemplary practices and model programs to share with the field.
If you have suggestions for museums, sties, or organizations for this study, please send us the name of the organization as well as the name and contact information (if you have it) of the staff person we should interview to one of the following individuals by October 22:
- Conny Graft, Research and Evaluation
- Max van Balgooy, Engaging Places
- Tim Grove, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
To learn more, read “What is the History Relevance Campaign?” or join the LinkedIn History Relevance Campaign group.
