FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Alliance of Museums has announced that nine museums earned re-accreditation at the October 6–8 2014 meeting of the Accreditation Commission. Accredited status from the Alliance 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 responsibilities. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for over 40 years, the museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability. Alliance accreditation signifies excellence and credibility to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies and to the museum-going public.
“Accredited museums have met and exceeded the highest standards of the museum field, in everything they do,” said Ford W. Bell, Alliance president. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement, of which both the institutions and the communities they serve can be extremely proud.”
This group of accredited museums is representative of the breadth and scope of America’s museums, encompassing all types and sizes of institutions and every region of the country. It includes such diverse institutions as the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, as well as museums focused on art and the study of play. There are also museums which tell the stories of place through state and local history, including the Allen County Museum in Lima, Ohio and the Concord Museum in Massachusetts.
This group also includes institutions from a pilot group that underwent the new, streamlined reaccreditation process that emerged after several years of study and reinvention. They are noted with an asterisk (*) in the list below.
The following museums were awarded accreditation:
- Allen County Museum, Lima, OH
- Bowdoin College Museum of Art*, Brunswick, ME
- Concord Museum*, Concord, MA
- Harpers Ferry National Historical Park*, Harpers Ferry, WV
- Hickory Museum of Art*, Hickory, NC
- Sam Houston Memorial Museum, Huntsville, TX
- South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, SD
- The Strong*, Rochester, NY
- Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
Of the nation’s estimated 35,000 museums, 1,033 are currently accredited. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, and then undergo a site visit by a two-person team of peers. The Accreditation Commission—a body of museum professionals appointed by the alliance Board—considers the self-study and site visit report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation.
For more information about the Alliance and the Accreditation Program, including a complete list of accredited museums, please visit www.aam-us.org.
About the American Alliance of Museums
The American Alliance 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 18,000 individual, 3,000 institutional and 300 corporate members, the Alliance 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.
