Upcoming MAM events

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• Online Workshop: Planning Your Podcast

  • When
    25 Aug 2021
  •  
    11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EDT)
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    90

  Register

  Planning Your Podcast

  
  

  Podcasts are a great digital platform to leverage the unique assets in your collection and elevate voices in your community. In this 60-minute virtual workshop, Emily Kotecki, a museum podcaster and museum learning consultant, will lead participants in exploring the foundations and best practices of planning a podcast. This webinar will be best suited for those interested in or already creating a podcast for their institution. No equipment needed; just bring your ideas, imagination, and creativity!

  A recording of this event will be shared with registered participants.
  

  
  

  Your Presenter

  
  

  Emily Kotecki is a museum learning consultant and podcaster based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She recently published a free, downloadable guide called The Distance Learning Workbook: A Launch Guide for Museums. She is also the host and producer of both the Microsoft Libraries and Museums Podcast and her own podcast, Museum Buzz. Prior to consulting, she created award-winning distance learning programs and interpretive tools at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Her career began in political journalism at The Washington Post, where she hosted daily political podcast and weekly show on XM-Sirius Radio. Emily holds a master’s degree in museum education from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from American University..

  
  

  Attending an Online Workshop

  To participate in this online workshop you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection.  We will be using Zoom to host this workshop as an online videoconference.  Once you register, you will immediately be sent instructions for logging in via automatically sent email.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the participants or visuals. 

  
  

  Online registration will be open through August 25. Attendance is limited to 90 people; register soon to save your spot!

  Registration for MAM members is $25.  Non-members pay $40.

  Members of MAM enjoy discounted registration (MAM members please log in first).  If you're not a MAM member, join today!

  Show details
• Online Workshop: Museum Ethics

  • When
    14 Sep 2021
  •  
    5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (EDT)
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    40

  Register

  Museum Ethics

  An Exploration of New Approaches

  
  

  In our rapidly changing world museums and archives face increasing demands to engage with complex ethical issues that go beyond a simple "right and wrong." Museum ethics is among the most pivotal concerns of museum and archives professionals in the twenty-first century and is central to all areas of their work. However, the predominant twentieth-century approach to ethics as professional practice, which relies on ethics codes alone, revised perhaps once a decade and authored by like-minded individuals, behind closed doors, has proven to be a constraining factor, rather than an enabling process. For museums and archives to reach their transformative potential as agents of change, they must embed in their very fabric a changing concept of museum ethics.

  Janet’s presentation argues for a revitalization of museum ethics that is founded on the confluence of ethics codes, values and case studies. It also asserts that all practitioners have ethics expertise—built from the many large and small ethical decisions that they make every day that impact their family, friends and communities—from which they can draw.

  Through problem-based learning exercises, Janet’s workshop offers opportunities to explore how codes, values and case studies together empower individuals and colleagues to engage in ethics discourse leading to informed and responsive ethical decision-making.

  • What codes do we rely on and how? How are and aren’t they helpful? 
  • How might values provide another complementary level of guidance? What values might we embrace and why? How are values distinct from principles? 
  • What role should case studies play in ethics discourse and action? How might interdisciplinary case studies--beyond the archives and museum sector--be relevant?

  This event will be recorded and the recording will be shared with all registrants, regardless of whether or not they attended.

  
  

  Your Presenter

  
  

  Janet Marstine is Honorary Associate Professor of Museum Studies (retired), University of Leicester, UK. She has published five books on diverse aspects of museum ethics--from codes of practice to museum transparency to negotiating the pressures of self-censorship to artists’ interventions as drivers for ethical change. She has a particular interest in recognizing and supporting the agency of practitioners to make informed ethical decisions. Dr. Marstine sat on the Ethics Committee of the UK’s Museums Association from 2014-2019, helping to move their approach from one of policing to empowering. Previously, she was Founding Director of the Institute of Museum Ethics at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. She has received grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Janet’s first teaching position was at Bowdoin College where she made lifelong friends and fell in love with the Maine coast. She is now an independent scholar and consultant living in Yarmouth.

  
  

  Attending an Online Workshop

  To participate in this online workshop you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection.  We will be using Zoom to host this workshop as an online videoconference.  Once you register, you will immediately be sent instructions for logging in via automatically sent email.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the participants or visuals. 

  
  

  Online registration will be open through September 14. Attendance is limited to 40 people; register soon to save your spot!

  The fee for members is $20.  Non-members pay $30.

  Members of MAM enjoy discounted registration (MAM members please log in first).  If you're not a MAM member, join today!

  Show details
• 2021 Online Annual Conference

  • Start
    07 Oct 2021
  •  
    1:30 PM (EDT)
  • End
    08 Oct 2021
  •  
    12:15 PM (EDT)
  • Location
    Online!

  Register

  
  

  Mind the Gaps

  MAM 2021 Online Annual Conference

  Presented by Odyssey by HistoryIT

  
  

  The MAM Conference Committee is excited to bring our annual conference online again this year! You can learn and network from your home or office.
  

  The 2021 conference will offer a mixture of professional development sessions, networking activities, and a dynamic keynote address that will leave you feeling recharged, connected, and inspired with new ideas to assist you in the care and management of your collecting institution.  

  The main body of the event will consist of three blocks of professional development sessions, punctuated and bracketed by rousing plenary and keynote presentations over a Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

  
  

  Keynote Speaker: Gretchen Sullivan Sorin

  
  

  Gretchen Sullivan Sorin is Director and Distinguished Service Professor at the Cooperstown Graduate Program, a training program for museum curators, educators, and directors that is part of the State University of New York College at Oneonta. With over thirty years of experience in the museum profession, she has served as guest curator for many exhibitions and written and lectured on museum practice, diversity and inclusion, and African American history. Her books include Touring Historic Harlem, Four Walks in Northern Manhattan; In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art; Case Studies in Cultural Entrepreneurship: How to Create Relevant and Sustainable Institutions; and Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights. She is also co-writer and senior historian for the documentary film Driving While Black: Race, Space, and Mobility .

  
  

  
  

  Event Program

  
  

  THURSDAY, OCT 7

  1:30PM-2:15PM Opening plenary presentation by Catherine Besteman of Freedom & Captivity: Art on Abolition
  

  2:30PM-3:30PM 4 Concurrent professional development sessions

  4:00PM-5:00PM 4 Concurrent professional development sessions

  5:30PM-7:00PM Trivia Night

  
  

  FRIDAY, OCT 8

  9:00AM-10:00AM Keynote address by Gretchen Sullivan Sorin

  10:30AM-11:30AM 4 Concurrent professional development sessions

  11:45AM-12:15PM Closing plenary presentation by Chris Newell, Executive Director and Senior Partner to Wabanaki Nations at the Abbe Museum

  
  

  Opening plenary: Catherine Besteman

  Catherine Besteman (she/her) teaches Anthropology at Colby College and directs the Freedom & Captivity project. Her research focuses on racism, immigration/mobility, inequality, and social transformation. A 2012 Guggenheim Fellow, she has also recently received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, and in 2020 received the Distinguished Achievement Award for the Critical Study of North America from the Society for the Anthropology of North America. In 2018, she co-curated the statewide Making Migration Visible project with Julie Poitras Santos, which was supported by an NEA grant. She has published 10 books. Read her message to MAM members.

  
  

  Thursday 2:30PM Session choices

  • One Stone, Many Stories: The Hill Family Billboard Monument
  • What Unites Us: Collaborating Across Organizations
  • Social Media 101
  • From the Intern’s Perspective: Navigating a Remote Internship

  
  

  Thursday 4:00PM session choices

  • Into the Darkness: Shining a Light on the Rick Hautala Papers
  • Including Crew, Children, and Women's Voices in Merchant Marine Interpretation
  • Discussing Mental Health Through Historic Collections
  • Franco-American Pathways: Outreach for Archives and Special Collections Using Podcasting

  Session descriptions and presenters listed here

  
  

  Trivia Night

  All conference attendees are invited to gather Thursday evening for a fun social event to connect with others across Maine. MAM Executive Director Dugan Murphy will be hosting an online trivia game. The winner will get one year of free membership (or renewal) with MAM. Drinks and snacks welcome!

  
  

  Friday 10:30AM session choices

  • Front and Center: Telling Forgotten, Ignored and Hidden Stories
  • Finding Hidden Materials: Three Case Studies of Inadvertent Erasure
  • Impactful Collections: How Our Past Informs Our Present and Future
  • Using Omeka to Share Stories

  Session descriptions and presenters listed here

  
  

  Closing plenary: Chris Newell

  Chris Newell is Executive Director and Senior Partner to Wabanaki Nations for the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. He is a multi-award-winning museum professional born and raised in Motahkmikuhk (Indian Township, ME) and a proud citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the New England Museum Association and current member of the Maine Arts Commission. Chris is a long time singer with the acclaimed Mystic River singers based out of Connecticut and has travelled the US and Canada singing and participating in cultural celebrations, pow wows, and live stage performance. Chris is a co-founder of Akomawt Educational Initiative, an educational consultancy working with schools, universities, museums, and all areas of education to incorporate Native perspectives in a culturally competent manner.

  
  

  Annual meeting: Register separately (free, members-only) for the Annual Meeting of MAM membership on Thursday, October 14 at noon.

  
  

  
  

  Attending an Online Conference

  To participate in this online conference you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection. We will be using Zoom videoconferencing to host the plenary presentations, keynote address, concurrent sessions, and networking activities. When you register you will immediately get an automatic email with Zoom details. If you do not receive this email, call 207-400-6965 or email info@mainemuseums.org.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in to the sessions on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the presenters, participants, or visuals. 

  
  

  
  

  Registration
  

  Online registration opens August 1, 2021.

  Early bird rates available online through September 10, 2021

  • MAM Members $35
  • Non-members $55
  • Student/Bridge Rate* $25

  Regular rates available online through October 8, 2021

  • MAM Members $45
  • Non-members $65
  • Student/Bridge Rate* $25

  
  

  *The Bridge Rate is for anyone experiencing economic hardship connected to the pandemic.

  
  

  Sponsors
  

  Thank you to our presenting sponsor!

  
  

  
  

  Host Sponsors
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Gold Sponsors

  Colby College Museum of Art

  Maine Office of Tourism

  Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center

  SmallCorp

  UMaineOnline

  Biddeford Cultural and Heritage Center

  
  

  Silver Sponsors
  

  Northeast Document Conservation Center; Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine; Center for Painted Wall Preservation; Maine Historical Society; Brick Store Museum; Maine Contemporary Archives; Lucidea; Gnome Landscape, Design, Masonry & Maintenance; Maine Preservation; History Live! North East

  
  

  Please get in touch about sponsor opportunities.

  Sponsoring and exhibiting at the Maine Archives & Museums Annual Conference are great ways to reach museum and archives professionals throughout Maine. See here the opportunities available for sponsors.

  Show details
• 2021 MAM Annual Meeting Online

  • When
    14 Oct 2021
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (EDT)
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  2021 Annual Meeting of MAM Members

  Online

  
  

  The Annual Meeting of MAM membership is everyone's opportunity to discuss and be a part of potential changes to the bylaws, election of officers and other members to the Board of Directors, and to hear addresses on the state of the organization from the Board President and the Executive Director.

  When the Annual Conference is held in person, the annual meeting is included in that event's program to take advantage of having so many members in one place.  Like last year we are hosting it online and scheduling it separate from the conference to reduce Zoom fatigue.

  One member in attendance will be selected to receive free conference registration next year!

  
  

  Agenda

  Check back to view the agenda for the 2021 Annual Meeting. We will be electing board officers, approving 2020 Annual Meeting minutes, electing board members, hearing from the President and Executive Director about the health of the organization, and possibly voting on proposed changes to the organization's bylaws.

  
  

  Attending an Online Annual Meeting

  To participate in this online meeting you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection. We will be using Zoom to host the chat. Once you register, you will immediately be sent instructions for logging in via automatically sent email.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the participants. 

  
  

  Online registration is free and unlimited to all members. Once you register you will be emailed information on how to attend online. 

  Registration will be open through October 14.

  Members of MAM must log to access registration. If you're not a MAM member, join today!

  Show details
• Online Workshop: Dealing with Difficult Visitors

  • When
    04 Nov 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EDT)
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    90

  Register

  Dealing with Difficult Visitors

  
  

  As museum professionals, we generally interact with visitors who are eager to experience our spaces or programs, visitors who range from pleasant and memorable at best to nondescript at worst. But what about those sticky situations we find ourselves in with more difficult visitors? How do we handle the people who are disappointed, challenging, or just downright rude? Join us for a virtual workshop covering the nitty gritty of an ever-present issue facing frontline staff. We’ll identify the types of difficult visitors, develop strategies for dealing with each type, role play, and discuss the parallels between a good facilitator and a good customer service rep. You’ll come away feeling more confident in your ability to command scenarios with unhappy guests graciously and professionally.

  This workshop serves any museum professional who interacts with the public regularly, and is specifically geared toward educators, docents, volunteers, and visitor and retail services. Be prepared to participate in conversations and to take and share notes. This fast-paced, fun, and active workshop is NOT a gripe session as we will work together to find potential solutions and to remind ourselves of everyone’s humanity. Bring your questions, ideas, patience, and empathy!

  A recording of this event will be shared with registered participants, though any activity in breakout rooms cannot be captured.

  
  

  Agenda

  2:00 – 2:25: Identify types of difficult visitors

  2:25 – 3:00: Develop strategies for dealing with difficult visitors

  3:00 – 3:20: Consider qualities of a good facilitator/customer service rep

  3:20 – 3:35: Respond to frustration and disappointment

  3:35 – 4:00: Role playing scenarios and questions

  
  

  Your Presenter

  
  

  Erin Wederbrook Yuskaitis, Principal for Yellow Room Consulting, is an experienced museum educator and Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) facilitator specializing in adult learning, innovative program development, and cross-discipline meaning-making. She spent 15 years in the art and museum worlds, working for four different cultural institutions in both Alabama and Massachusetts. Erin received her BA from the University of Virginia in art history and archaeology, her MA from the University of Alabama in American studies, and her Certificate in Museum Studies/Education from Tufts University. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Greater Boston Museum Educators Roundtable and as the Education Professional Affinity Group Co-Chair for the New England Museum Association. Erin also lectures and leads gallery talks on art + medicine topics with her physician-scientist husband in museums, hospitals, and schools. They live in Boston with their children where they root for the Red Sox.

  
  

  Attending an Online Workshop

  To participate in this online workshop you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection.  We will be using Zoom to host this workshop as an online videoconference.  Once you register, you will immediately be sent instructions for logging in via automatically sent email.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the participants or visuals. 

  
  

  Online registration will be open through November 4. Attendance is limited to 90 people; register soon to save your spot!

  Registration for MAM members is $30.  Non-members pay $45.

  Members of MAM enjoy discounted registration (MAM members please log in first).  If you're not a MAM member, join today!

  Show details
• Online Interview: The Maine State Archivist

  • When
    18 Nov 2021
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (EST)
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    88

  Register

  The Maine State Archivist

  Who, What, Why

  
  

  Join Susie R. Bock and Pat Burdick for a Zoom conversation with Kate McBrien, the new Maine State Archivist. Learn about the position and McBrien's plans and vision for the future. Following the interview, there will be time for questions, comments, and discussion.

  Kate McBrien was appointed as Maine State Archivist in March 2021, after serving a year in the position as the Deputy Secretary of State for Archives. As curator of the award winning exhibition “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives,” Kate continues to serve as historian for the Malaga Island community. She previously held positions as Chief Curator and Director of Public Engagement at the Maine Historical Society and as the Curator of Historic Collections for the Maine State Museum. Kate earned a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program and a BA in British history from the University of New Hampshire. She began her career in the history field as an intern at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC where she helped to reunite family members. Kate brings to her current position at the Archives a passion for making history accessible and a deep knowledge of Maine’s history.

  A recording of this event will be shared with registered participants.

  
  

  Leading the discussion

  
  

  Susie R. Bock, Coordinator of University of Southern Maine Special Collections, came to USM in 1999 to build that department. A graduate of Bates College, Bock earned a MS in European History and MLS majoring in archival management from Columbia University. Positions at Yale’s Beinecke Library and the University of Colorado at Boulder honed her technical services skills. Her work building collections of primary sources preserving the story of underrepresented communities, the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, has meant developing public programming to engage communities and educate the public—many of which can be viewed on USM's digital commons.

  
  

  
  

  Pat Burdick, Assistant Director for Colby College Special Collections & Archives, has been working with Colby's rare and unique materials for over 20 years. She received her MLS degree with an archival concentration from Simmons College and continues to serve as an archival consultant and workshop presenter throughout the state of Maine. One of her professional passions involves exploration of the serendipitous intersections that occur between people, time periods and collections such as those captured in the History of Special Collections @ Colby website she created during a sabbatical in 2015. She lives on North Pond in the Belgrade Lakes area with her covivant, artist Kevin E James, and two lovely felines. She is a Master Gardener and an active volunteer in local and regional environmental and social justice organizations.

  
  

  Attending an Online Workshop

  To participate in this online workshop you will need access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection.  We will be using Zoom to host this workshop as an online videoconference.  Once you register, you will immediately be sent instructions for logging in via automatically sent email.

  If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection, you will still be able to call in on a telephone, but you will unfortunately not be able to see any of the participants or visuals. 

  
  

  Online registration will be open through November 18. Attendance is limited to 90 people; register soon to save your spot!

  Registration is free for members.  Non-members pay $15.

  Members of MAM enjoy discounted registration (MAM members please log in first).  If you're not a MAM member, join today!

  Show details