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Lower Hudson Conference, Serving Historical Agencies & Museums in the Hudson Valley and Greater Metropolitan Region, Awarded Prestigious Federal Grant of $110,111 from the Institute of Museum & Library Services
Lower Hudson Conference will create and present a professional training program targeted to museum personnel from more than 165 historic house museums and historical societies. $110,111 in federal funding will support highly accessible, close-to-home workshops, lectures and hands-on learning opportunities at a variety of historic sites throughout the Hudson Valley and metropolitan New York. IMLS reports that 52 proposals were received, nation-wide, in 2006 requesting over $10 million from this grant program. Nine projects were selected through a peer review process to receive funding totaling $1,671,157 for projects representing a wide spectrum of activities that will help increase the capacity of museums to create and sustain a nation of learners by improving museum staff knowledge and skills in the range of museum operations. "The 21st Century Museum Professionals program promotes leadership at our nation's museums and ensures excellence in the services that benefit the American people. With today's grants, scores of staff serving hundreds of institutions, from zoos to art museums all across the country, will become expert in emergency planning and conservation, developing standards-based school resources, promoting economic tourism, and collaborating with their communities." - Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services The IMLS 21st Century Museum Professionals program supports a range of activities, including professional training in all areas of museum operations and leadership development. Museum professionals need high levels of knowledge and expertise to allow museums to play their essential role in the education of the American public: preserving our rich heritage and transmitting it from one generation to the next. In partnership with schools, community organizations, and other cultural institutions, the 21st Century Museum Professionals program helps museum professionals update their knowledge and skills. LHCs project aims to identify, demonstrate and help integrate the diverse aspects of historic house museum work, engaging and training museum personnel from historic house museums and historical societies found in nearly every urban, suburban and rural community of the greater Hudson Valley and metropolitan region, and to evaluate the effectiveness of their stewardship and their public presentation, according to LHC Executive Director Tema Harnik. National and regional studies have demonstrated an urgent need for staff training in conservation and preservation techniques at historic house museums, many of which are staffed solely by volunteers. Both paid and volunteer staff will enhance their knowledge and skills in the management and care of historic house properties and surrounding landscapes, and the preservation and interpretation of furnishings and other objects. The LHC website, www.lowerhudsonconference.org, will be enhanced with new resources for historic house personnel. Behind-the-scenes work of agencies such as Lower Hudson Conference, is significant in strengthening the capacity of heritage sites and history museums to meet the expectations of their diverse public audiences. Lower Hudson Conference staff and board will publicly announce receipt of this prestigious grant award at their annual meeting, Leading History Museums on the Right Track, to take place Friday, October 6th at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, NY. The Practicum Project in detail: The project will outline steps to follow and methods to learn in the professional quest to make historic house museums, their sites, stories and collections valid and valued in 21st century communities. A cadre of museum personnel and professional consultants* will present an annual symposium with case studies highlighting issues of the field; and workshops offering practical demonstration of assessment, planning and handling techniques as each years program focuses on one of three critical areas of concern: -the context, or public presentation of the house museum -the content, or collections in the historic house environment -the container, or the historic building and its surrounding landscape and site 2006-07 Historic House Museums in Context workshops: 1. Furnishing the Historic House Museum with Stories: Whats Your Message? 2. Furnishing Plans & Presentations: Putting the Message into Effect 2007-08 Evaluating and Handling Historic House Contents: The Collections workshops: 1. Objects of Domesticity: Handling, Storing and Exhibiting Domestic Textile Collections 2. Understanding Domestic Technology: How the 18th & 19th century House works; Controlling Light & Shade in the Historic Building Environment. 2008-09 Evaluating & Stewarding the Historic House Envelope, Landscape & Site workshops: 1. Site Matters: The Historic Building Envelope 2. Site Matters: The Historic Property: Sidewalk, Landscape, Trails & Gardens *The three-year grant from IMLS will support presentations and workshops led by the following distinguished project faculty (alphabetically):
A program announcement and registration brochure will be available at the end of the fall. For information about this federally funded project, or other Lower Hudson Conference programs and services, please contact LHC at 914-592-6726, e-mail lowerhudson@msn.com, or visit www.lowerhudsonconference.org. LHC acknowledges the support of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency that grows and sustains a Nation of Learners, because lifelong learning is critical to success. About the Institute of Museum and Library Services WINTER CALENDAR OF CONFERENCES, GRANT DEADLINES, WORKSHOPS, OPPORTUNITIES
LHC Ratifies New Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles Statements in Preparation for Release of New Strategic Plan VISION: We envision communities that value the exploration and preservation of their heritage and culture, and are empowered to save it for and interpret it to future generations, through the leadership of museums and history organizations. MISSION: Lower Hudson Conference serves the museum and history communities as a catalyst to:
GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
October 6th Annual Meeting, "Leading History Museums on the Right Track," Field Forum, Heritage Health Index/Collections Care Keynote, Cultural Heritage Award Presentation, and 21st Annual Awards Towards Excellence Program to be Hosted by the Harness Racing Museum Lower Hudson Conference will hold its Annual Meeting, "Leading History Museums on the Right Track," on Friday, October 6, 2006 at the Harness racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York. The LHC Board of Trustees will honor Dr. Roger Panetta with the 2006 Cultural Heritage Award, in recognition of extraordinary service through education, inspiration and contextual presentation of Hudson Valley history and culture, and its links to the growth of greater metropolitan and suburban New York. Keynote Speaker, Kristen Laise of Heritage Preservation in Washington, D.C., will address results of the national Heritage Health Index study; a Collections Care Field Forum will profile the microcosm of regional and statewide conservation, funding and training needs for history collections and their keepers. Following a buffet luncheon and brief business meeting, LHC will confer the 21st Annual Awards Towards Excellence to 15 winning organizations and projects that exemplify creativity and professional vision resulting in a contribution to preservation and interpretation of the historic scene, material culture and diversity of the greater Hudson Valley and metropolitan region. About the 2006 Awards Towards Excellence Winners: We think you'll see that the fall awards recognize the publicly accessible, educational, often innovative work undertaken by museums and heritage organizations pursuing missions that embrace and enhance the 21st century communities in which they reside. They connect their stewardship of the past to communities as narrow as a single Hudson Valley Main Street, and as broad as the world wide web. They provide the public with tools for deeper investigation and inquiry into the carefully collected objects and archival volumes residing in any one institution. As a group, the awardees exhibit excellence and professionalism in exhibits, public programs, publications, preservation and collaborative efforts between organizations and newly identified community audiences. On every level, the educational value of our cultural heritage products is clear, and their content widely accessible. We encourage you to call these award-winning institutions, speak with their staffs and boards, ask about how the projects and collaborations worked, and how they were funded. Network through their good work to inform your own missions and add your own communities to the list of those who are making "Keeper's Progress." Congratulations to: BEDFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Bedford, NY (Westchester) for the exhibition and catalog Bustles & Bloomers: A Costume Exhibit, an exhibit that accomplished twin goals, making the Society's costume collection accessible and bringing local history to the public. BRONXVILLE HISTORICAL CONSERVANCY, Bronxville, NY (Westchester) for the publication The Bronxville Journal, Volume 3, an example of keen scholarship devoted to fostering awareness of Bronxville's architectural, artistic and cultural heritage. CITY OF YONKERS and STEPHEN TILLY, ARCHITECT, Yonkers, NY (Westchester), for the historic preservation publication, Yonkers Historic Design Guidelines, clear, educational, instructive guidelines that serve to improve efforts to preserve historic neighborhoods in Yonkers. DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MARIST LIBRARY PARTNERSHIP & SADIE PETERSON DELANY AFRICAN ROOTS LIBRARY, Poughkeepsie, NY (Dutchess) for the educational program, Travel Through Time, a summer program which motivates, educates and helps children aged 12-14 develop a greater sense of pride of place and understanding of local history. THE GRACIE MANSION CONSERVANCY, New York, NY (NY) for the New School Tour Curriculum and Educator Outreach Program, a comprehensive program that expands community engagement and promotes document-based education. HASTINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY (Westchester) for the public education and interpretive program, Museum in the Streets, a unique, illustrated bilingual walking tour and street exhibition using archival materials and presenting them to citizens, school children, and heritage tourists alike in a direct and engaging way. THE HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM, THE KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART, JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER & WESTCHESTER ARTS COUNCIL, Westchester County, NY, for the programming, Celebrate the Suburbs, a collaboration that brought a comprehensive view of suburbia to the Hudson Valley Region, by linking related topics at each of the four collaborating institutions to promote participation in cultural events. The programming ignited a buzz around the area and moved people around the county. THE HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM, Yonkers, NY (Westchester) for the exhibition and catalog, Got Cow? Cattle in American Art,1820-2000, tracing a populist theme and its relationship to the latest trends in contemporary art. THE HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM, Yonkers, NY (Westchester) for the exhibition and publication, Westchester: The American Suburb. A scholarly addition to the exploration of suburbia, challenging the prevalent notion of a dull, homogenous, sterile environment and offering more nuanced definition by identifying key issues that place suburbs at the intersection of American values and aspirations. THE JUDAICA MUSEUM OF THE HEBREW HOME AT RIVERDALE, Bronx, NY (Bronx) for community documentation, along with Congregation Ohav Sholaum of Inwood, to promote education about, and return to individuals, cultural property (prayer books) brought to the US prior to WWII. NEW YORK TRANSIT MUSEUM, Brooklyn, NY (Kings) for the exhibition TheTriborough Bridge: Robert Moses and the Automobile Age, educationally right on the mark, making a complicated subject accessible to all ages. NYACK PUBLIC LIBRARY, HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE NYACKS, and CARL NORDSTROM, Nyack, NY (Rockland) for the book Nyack in Black & White: Race Relations Over Three Centuries, a scholarly documentation of the history of African-Americans in Rockland County, reflecting the county-wide changes in attitude of both blacks and whites. PUTNAM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & FOUNDRY SCHOOL MUSEUM, Cold Spring, NY (Putnam) for the publication, The Gilded Age: High Fashion and Society in the Hudson Highlands, 1865-1914, by Curator Trudie Grace. An informative work that offers a fascinating look at local history and women's fashion, while contributing to fashion scholarship on a national level. SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK LIBRARY RESOURCES COUNCIL, Highland, NY (Ulster) for the website, Hudson River Valley Heritage (www.hrvh.org), a collaborative initiative among libraries and cultural heritage institutions in eight Hudson Valley counties to provide online access to unique historical materials for researchers, students and the general public. ULSTER COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE, Kingston, NY (Ulster) for the curriculum guide, The Builder's of Ulster County, A Curriculum on the History of Immigration, a professional and exemplary educational resource full of document-based materials for students, educators and the public. CALENDAR OF OPPORTUNITY, GRANTS, MEETINGS & WORKSHOPS SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
GOVERNANCE: The Lower Hudson Conference Board of Trustees will increase to 25 at October's Annual Meeting Election Lower Hudson Conference organizational and individual members attending the Annual Meeting on October 6, 2006, will be able to cast their votes for the slate of LHC Trustees, recommended by the Governance Committee of the Board. The LHC Board continues to be divided into three class years. Continuing Trustees will be joined by the election of the following **new trustee nominees (in italics): Class of '06/ to be elected to '09: Leslie Bedford, Director, Graduate Museum Leadership Program, Bank Street College of Education, NYC (NY) Richard deKoster, Director, Constitution Island Association, West Point (Putnam) Robert Engel, Director, Rensselaer County Historical Society, Troy (Rensselaer) Dr. Trudie Grace, Curator, Putnam County Historical Society-Foundry School Museum, Cold Spring (Putnam) Dr. Jacquetta Haley, Haley Research & Consulting, Ridgefield, CT (Fairfield, CT) Dr. Thom Wermuth, Director, Hudson River Valley Institute; Dean, Marist College, Poughkeepsie (Dutchess) **Elizabeth T. Martin, Landscape Designer, Stephen Tilly Architect, Dobbs Ferry (Westchester) returning to Board **Jennifer Plick, Education Curator, Rye Historical Society, Rye (Westchester) **Dianne Shewchuk, Historic Site Director, John Jay Homestead, State Historic Site, Katonah (Westchester) Class of '07: Bill Burback (Independent Museum Consultant, Garrison (Putnam) Amy Campanaro, Director, Southeast Museum, Brewster (Putnam) Katie Hite, Executive Director, Westchester County Historical Society, Elmsford (Westchester) Mary McTamaney, Newburgh City Historian, Newburgh (Orange) Kathryn Slocum, Independent Development Consultant, Dobbs Ferry (Westchester) **Frank Futral , Decorative Arts Curator, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, Hyde Park (Dutchess) **Mimi Sherman, Curatorial Consultant; Lecturer, NYC (NY) returning to Board **Carla Smith, Director, Woodstock Guild/Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Woodstock (Ulster) Class of '08: Charles Bradley, Attorney; Archivist, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow (Westchester) Karen Franklin, Director of Family Research, Leo Baeck Institute, NYC (NY) Charles T. Lyle, Independent Museum Consultant, Chelsea (Dutchess) Julia Warger, Historic Site Manager, Stony Point Battlefield & Lighthouse, State Historic Site (Rockland) Stephen Yarabek, Hudson & Pacific Design, Saugerties (Ulster) **Jane Macnamara, Program Officer/Special Projects, New York Council for the Humanities, NYC (NY) **Ellen Pierce, Director, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Ossining (Westchester) **Lillian O'Brien, President, The Interactive (Children's) Museum, Middletown (Orange) Ads: Westlake Spicer Thanks to these Sponsors and Exhibitors of the 2006 Annual Meeting and Awards: in formation Hudson River Valley Greenway Conservancy and National Heritage Area Hudson MicroImaging Landmark Facilities Group Rockefeller Archive Center . LOWER HUDSON CONFERENCE OF HISTORICAL AGENCIES & MUSEUMS 2199 Saw Mill River Road Elmsford, NY 10523 |
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