For Immediate Release

 

Arlington, VA – The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, today announced one first time accreditation award and forty reaccreditation awards made at the February 2023 meeting of the Accreditation Commission. Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, 1,103 are currently accredited.

Through a rigorous process of self-assessment and review by their peers, these museums have demonstrated they meet standards and best practices, and are educational entities that are appropriate stewards of the collections and resources they hold in the public trust.

Recognized as the field’s gold standard for museum excellence for over 50 years, AAM accreditation signifies a museum’s quality and credibility to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies, and to the museum-going public. The Accreditation Program helps to ensure the integrity and accessibility of museum collections, reinforce the educational and public service roles of museums, and promote good governance practices and ethical behavior.

 

The following museum earned accreditation for the first time:

• Macculloch Hall Historical Museum & Gardens, Morristown, NJ

 

The following museums were reaccredited:

• Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
• Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
• Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
• Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL
• Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
• Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass, Neenah, WI
• Boston Children’s Museum, Boston, MA
• Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA
• Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL
• Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA
• Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
• Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA
• Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, Evansville, IN
• Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
• Historic Cherry Hill, Albany, NY
• International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, NE
• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
• Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
• Museum of Discovery and Science, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago, IL
• Museum of South Texas History, Edinburg, TX
• Museum of the Grand Prairie, Mahomet, IL
• Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton, OK
• National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque, NM
• National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright Patterson AFB, OH
• Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay, WI
• Office of Historic Alexandria, Alexandria, VA
• Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL
• Paul Revere Memorial Association (The Paul Revere House), Boston, MA
• Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA
• Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC
• Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
• Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, VA
• The Frick Collection, New York, NY
• The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX
• The Visual Arts Center at Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD
• Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
• The White House – Office of the Curator, Washington, DC

 

To earn accreditation, a museum submits a self-study questionnaire and key operational documents for evaluation, then undergoes a site visit by a two-person team of peer reviewers which produces a report for the Accreditation Commission. The Commission uses these materials and its collective expertise to determine whether to grant accreditation.

The Accreditation Commission meets 3 times a year (February, June, and October) and can make one of the following decisions:

• Grant accreditation (usually for 10 years)
• Table its decision for 1 year so specific issues can be addressed
• Deny accreditation due to failure to meet multiple Core Standards
• Defer a decision to gather additional information

A museum’s accredited status is not changed during a period in which a decision is tabled or deferred. Read more about the Alliance’s Accreditation program.

 

About the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos. Since 1906, we have been championing museums through advocacy and providing museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward.

 

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Press Contact:

Natanya Khashan

media@aam-us.org