“Farm Fresh: Keeping Museums Fresh in the 21st Century”
June 12-16, 2005

ALHFAM seeks papers for presentations, panels or workshops for its 2005 Annual Meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. The meeting’s theme “Farm Fresh: Keeping Museums Fresh in the 21st Century” explores the ways living history museums are able to keep their long standing programs, events, and everyday operating processes meaningful in a new century. Today’s museum audiences demand invigorated approaches to old practices and fresh insights into traditional historical presentation. Innovations in collections, membership development, fundraising and programming offer fresh opportunities for institutions to grow while making significant contributions to their communities. In this era of modernization, museums must decide what aspects of their own past are worth keeping and which need to be refreshed. We are seeking sessions exploring the latest trends in all areas of the living history museum field, especially those addressing how to evaluate traditional programs and routines in the light of those trends. Proposals should include a one-page summary of each presentation and a resume for each presenter, along with the completed Proposal Submission Form. Presenters will be expected to submit their presentation in a written form at the conference. Selected papers will be published in the 2005 Conference Proceedings.

Download your proposal submission form here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader® to download and print it. The software required is free and can be obtained here.

If you have questions, call or email:
Janet Clair Dennis, 2005 ALHFAM Conference Program Committee Chair
Phone: 515.278.5286
E mail:ALHFAM@lhf.org

ALHFAM Mission:
ALHFAM is an organization of people who bring history to life. ALHFAM enables its members to make history a valuable part of the lives of museum visitors. It achieves this purpose through the exchange and sharing of ideas, information, tools and experiences centered on accurate, active participatory, object-based historical interpretation. ALHFAM, through its membership, is committed to leading museum interpreters, educators, researchers, administrators, curators and volunteers in these fields: historical agriculture, historical trades and manufacturing, historical clothing and foodways, living history programming, historic site administration, care of collections, and program delivery with the above specialties.

ALHFAM is an affiliate member organization of the American Association of Museums, with a membership international in scope.