News

The Call for Papers for the 2018 Annual Conference in Oklahoma is now available here.

Annual Conference attendees and ALHFAM members who are logged on can view the Attendee List and download conference presentations and hand-outs here.

The awardees of the 2017 Annual Conference Fellowships have been announced. The full list can be found here. Congratulations to the awardees!

ALHFAM Election

On behalf of the Nominating Committee, here are the 2017 ALHFAM election results:

Two-Year Vice-President term:
Susan Reckseidler

Three-Year Board term:
Sarah LeCount
Andi Erbskorn
Dawn Bondhus Mueller

Three-Year Nominating Committee term:
Derrick Birdsall

Sincere thanks to those elected and to Jim McCabe, Linda Evans, Jonathan Hallman, and Kimberly Costa for standing for election. Their willingness to serve is much appreciated.

My personal thanks to the Nominating Committee for their good work: Bruce Henbest, Dean Hardman, Kristyn Watts, and Vertie Lee. 

--Deb Arenz, Chair, ALHFAM Nominating Committee

After long and careful consideration and deliberation, your ALHFAM board of directors has unanimously voted to recommend that the office of Secretary/Treasurer be separated into separate offices to be held by two individuals, a Secretary and a Treasurer. This change requires a vote by the membership. Please download the entire notice about the bylaw change here.

The 2017 Annual Conference Booklet for the June 9-13, 2017 meeting at Genesee Country Village, Rochester, NY, is available here and registration is open!

Fellowships for the conference are also-- information is available here.

Please note that to get the ALHFAM member rate for the conference, you must be logged on to the website. 

The FARM PIG is happy to announce that the “Position Statement on the Use of Livestock in Museum Settings 2016” has been approved by ALHFAM’s board and has been added to the FARM page. Additionally, there are two other documents that ALHFAM members may find useful: “Handling Public Concerns on the Use of Livestock in Museum Settings 2016” and “Livestock Care in Museums 2016.”  Visit the FARM PIG page to see all three documents.

The New ALHFAM Website & Membership Management System

In the fall of 2015, ALHFAM began a new chapter in the way we communicate and interact with our membership. The most obvious change is visible through our redesigned and reorganized website. But the really big change will be the way you, as a member, will be able to manage your own membership profile and the way in which ALHFAM will communicate with you about your membership status. With this new system, we will communicate with you increasingly via email: Your membership reminders, renewal invoices, event registrations, etc., will come directly to you as email communications.

To help members with this change, and to continue to assist you, we have started a seven-month "training" series about the new membership system and the features of the new website. There will be a link in each upcoming eUpdate that will take you to a Membership Management System Information Sheet, each of which will provide you with the information you will need to know in order work with this exciting new membership system. The FAQ sheet will be continually updated as new question arise.

Sadly, ALHFAM and the greater museum and agricultural communities have lost
another influential and beloved friend. Darwin Kelsey, a Cooperstown
graduate and ALHFAM founder (and our second president) passed away on
Saturday. Among many other accomplishments, Darwin played a key role in
creating a historical agriculture program at Old Sturbridge Village,
developing the innovative Lake Farm Park in Ohio, and more recently promoting
local agriculture by founding the Countryside Conservancy which promotes
farmers' markets. He will be greatly missed.

Darwin's obituary can be found here.

The Ag Map has been updated and has a new site added. Check it out here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1lM267_v4IU1N3rEIHJAltSxCSZs