The 40th Anniversary ALHFAM Annual Meeting & Conference: hosted by Old Sturbridge Village, June 20-24, 2010.

See the conference schedule.

Download the Complete Conference Booklet

Follow the Conference Activities On-line - Conference Galleries

For members to get Information/Handouts from sessions, be sure to be logged-in and click on the Session Handouts to the left.

The Roots and Branches of Living History

Hosted by Old Sturbridge Village
Headquarters at Worcester State College
Worcester, Massachusetts
June 20-24, 2010

In the fall of 1970, twenty three enthusiastic historians and museum professionals met at Old Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts to share ideas and discuss the challenges of interpreting historical agriculture and living history.  Realizing that this gathering was only a beginning, within months they incorporated as ALHFAM (originally the Association of Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums).  Like all things, the field of living history and ALHFAM itself (now more inclusively called the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums) has evolved, grown, and changed over the ensuing forty years.  Innovative ideas and time-tested techniques will continue to be combined as we face new challenges and opportunities in the years ahead.

On June 20-24, 2010 ALHFAM returns to its roots even as we look to the future. This international gathering will explore how the roots and branches of living history can better feed the minds of our public, making earlier times relevant in the 21st century, and discuss what cultivation is needed to ensure a healthy future for the past.
 
We invite those working in historic agriculture, education, interpretation, curation, and all branches of living history to central  Massachusetts for ALHFAM’s annual meeting and conference, hosted by Old Sturbridge Village.  The conference will take place at Worcester State college, in New England’s second largest city, “the heart of the Commonwealth.”

The field of living history has deep and varied roots, and ever growing branches. From the nostalgic vignettes at America’s centennial exhibition in 1876 and the opening of Skansen, the world’s first living history museum in 1891; through the founding of Colonial Williamsburg and Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in the 1920s; historic farming at Old Sturbridge Village and role-playing realism at Plimoth Plantation in the 1960s and ‘70s; the Canadian model of government-funded museum villages promoting cultural tourism; teaching through museum theater; to the growth of immersive “hands-on” learning opportunities; creative programming in museum education; and innovative use of electronic media, hundreds of historic houses, farms, parks and recreated settlements staffed by thousands of costumed interpreters, along with military and civilian re-enactor hobbyists, all demonstrate that living history is growing a great many fruitful branches.

ALHFAM is an organization of people who bring history to life, serving those involved in living historical farms, agricultural museums and outdoor museums of history and folklife. For almost 40 years, ALHFAM has been at the forefront of the growth and professionalization of living history techniques in museum programs.  It achieves this through the exchange of ideas, information, experience, tools, crops and livestock centered around active, authentic, participatory object-based historical interpretation.  Through its membership, ALHFAM is committed to leading interpreters, educators, researchers, administrators, curators and volunteers in all branches of living history.  ALHFAM members and member institutions can be found across the United States, Canada, and in many other countries.

Hosted by Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts

Conference venue: Worcester State College,   Worcester, Massachusetts

The conference planning committee thanks our host institution, Old Sturbridge Village, as well as our sponsors, supporters, and advertisers for their generous support in cash and in kind.  Most of all we thank the ALHFAM membership for sharing their time and talents to make this conference program possible.

Your ALHFAM 2010 Conference Committee:
Tom Kelleher, conference chair
Lauren McCormack, program coordinator
Deb Friedman, local arrangements coordinator
Christie Omasta, proceedings editor
Linda Peterson, artistic design and program layout
Edward Baker, advertising and sponsorship coordinator
Sue Cain, vendors coordinator
Ron Kley and Jane Radcliffe, liaisons to Strawbery Banke
Rhys Simmons and Ryan Beckman, coordinators of Old Sturbridge Village visit.