AAM Announces Three Newly Accredited Museums and 25 Museums Re-Accredited
Washington, DC, 5/4/2009 -

The American Association of Museums announced today that three museums have been awarded accreditation and 25 earned re-accreditation at the most recent meeting of the Accreditation Commission. Accredited status from AAM is the highest national recognition achievable by an American museum. Accreditation recognizes high standards in individual museums and ensures that museums continue to uphold their public trust. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for more than 35 years, AAM’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability. 

 

This group of accredited museums is representative of the breadth and scope of America’s museums. It includes such institutions as the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis, the Atlanta Historical Society, and a number of university-affiliated museums (two from Indiana University in Bloomington). In addition, this group includes the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum in Clewiston, Florida, which becomes the only tribal-affiliated accredited museum in the United States.

 

The characteristics of an accreditable museum establish outcomes toward which all museums can and should strive and can achieve in ways appropriate to their resources. To best serve their communities, it is essential that museums be committed to institutional improvement, maintaining the highest standards in collections stewardship, governance, institutional planning, ethics, education and interpretation and risk management.  AAM accreditation signifies excellence and accountability to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies and to the museum-going public.

 

“As accredited institutions, these 28 museums have achieved the highest standards of service to the public,” said Ford W. Bell, AAM president. “The communities that these museums serve can take great pride in having a invaluable public asset in their midst. Likewise, the museums can find inspiration in the fact they have been recognized by their peers as one of America’s finest museums.”

 

The following museums joined the distinguished list of accredited institutions:

 

• Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Clewiston, Fla.
• National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
• Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, Mass.

 

All accredited museums undergo a subsequent review within 10 years of their last accreditation award. The following museums were awarded subsequent accreditation:

 

• Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
• American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Ver.
• Atlanta Historical Society, Atlanta, Ga.
• Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
• Historic Annapolis Foundation, Annapolis, Md.
• Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, N.Y.
• Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Ill.
• Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Ind.
• Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Miss.
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis, Mo.
• Museum of Flight, Seattle, Wash.
• National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Ill.
• Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, Calif.
• Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Okla.
• Prehistoric Museum, Price, Utah
• Reading Public Museum, Reading, Penn.
• Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, Ver.
• Sioux City Public Museum, Sioux City, Iowa
• Smoky Hill Museum, Salina, Kan.
• The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Brunswick, Maine
• University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, Kent.
• University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Neb.
• Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn.
• William Hammon d’Mathers Museum, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

 

Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 774 are currently accredited. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, then undergo a site visit by a two-person team of peers.  The Accreditation Commission, an autonomous body of museum professionals appointed by the AAM Board, considers the self-study and site visit report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation.  While the time to complete the process varies by museum, it generally takes as much as three years.

 

AAM recently announced a research effort focused on accreditation, designed to explore means of making the program more accessible for museums of all types and sizes. That effort, funded by grants from The Kresge Foundation and the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, is currently underway.

 

For more information about AAM and the Accreditation Program, including a complete list of accredited museums, please visit www.aam-us.org.

 

About AAM

The American Association of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. With more than 15,000 individual, 3,000 institutional and 300 corporate members, AAM is dedicated to ensuring that museums remain a vital part of the American landscape, connecting people with the greatest achievements of the human experience, past, present and future. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.

 

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Press Contact:
Dewey Blanton
202-218-7704
dblanton@aam-us.org

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