The State of Museums: Voices from the Field

Introduction
Rebekah Beaulieu, Dawn E Salerno and Mark S Gold

The Past as a Brave Space: Reframing Relevance 
Elisabeth Nevins | Seed Education Consulting, Boston, MA

Trauma and New England Museums
Kisha G Tracy | Associate Professor of English Studies, Fitchburg State University, MA

Transforming Academic Art Museums 
Stefanie S Jandl | Independent Museum Professional, Acton, MA

Evaluation and Audience Research in Museums: Past, Present and Future  
Christina Smiraglia | Senior Research Manager, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
Lynn Baum | Principal, Turtle Peak Consulting, Needham, MA

Public Art Inside and Outside the Museum 
Laura A Macaluso | Independent Scholar and Grant Writer, Lynchburg, VA

Investing in Museums: A New Paradigm for Professional Compensation
Dawn E Salerno | Executive Director, Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum, New Bedford, MA
Mark S Gold | Partner, Smith Green & Gold LLP, Pittsfield, MA

The Place-Based Museum 
Rebekah Beaulieu | Director, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT

The State of the Playing Field 
Kathryn Leann Harris | Independent Public Historian, Cambridge, MA
Douglas Stark | Museum Director, International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, RI

The Future of Deaccessioning After the Berkshire Museum Case 
Julia Courtney | Independent Curator, Boston, MA

The Value of Museum Studies 
Tara Young | Independent Museum Professional, Shrewsbury, MA

Museums and the Paradox of Tolerance 
Tegan Kehoe | Exhibit and Education Specialist, Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation, Boston, MA

Why Do Museums Matter? 
Andrea Woodberry | Museum Professional, St. Paul, MN

Rebekah Beaulieu is Director of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut. She has been a museum professional for almost twenty years, with experience in civic museums, academic museums, and historic sites. She has extensive experience in non-profit financial management, fundraising, and board relations and has presented workshops on grant writing, budget management, and fiscal sustainability in historic sites. Rebekah is a board member of the New England Museum Association and active in the American Alliance of Museums as a certified Accreditation/MAP Peer Reviewer.

Mark S Gold is a partner in the law firm of Smith Green & Gold, LLP, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and International Studies from The American University, a law degree from Georgetown University, and a Masters in Museum Studies from Harvard University. His practice includes business and corporate law, venture capital and traditional financing, and non-profit and museum law. He formerly served as a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of New England Museum Association.

Dawn E Salerno is Executive Director of the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She previously served as Deputy Director for Public Engagement and Operations and Acting Director at Mystic Museum of Art in Connecticut. She has been a grant reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and for Connecticut Humanities. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of New England Museum Association and was elected President in 2017. She earned her Masters degree in Museum Education Leadership at Bank Street College and her BA in Classical Studies and Religion at Boston University and completed the Getty Leadership Institute program in 2017.

Max A. van Balgooy | Director, History Leadership Institute; Assistant Professor of Museum Studies, George Washington University
This provocative series of wide-ranging essays on the mission and impact of museums are sure to spark conversations and debates about community engagement, visitor research, public art, collections deaccessioning, contemporary relevance, education, employment, and professional training. These voices in the field may all be from New England, but they share concerns, ideas, and opportunities that are being discussed around the country today. 

Kristina L. Durocher | Director, Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
This book is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Its diverse collection of essays by museum practitioners and academics offers readers timely case studies, models, and new ideas for how museums of all disciplines can address complex challenges facing the field and move forward in a changing world.

Kay Simpson | President, Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA
This book tackles the important role that museums can play in the public discourse about race, immigration, trauma and tolerance, and also addresses critical issues that include training and compensation, evaluation and audience research, and the perils of financial instability. The State of Museums is an essential must-read for museum practitioners at all levels of experience.

Robert Wolterstorff, | Executive Director, The Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
I love this book! It really is the state of the field, addressing the issues that are most vexing museum directors, staff, and trustees today. These are broad, quick overviews, but thoughtful, up-to-date and at the cutting edge. Though I have been in the field more than 20 years, I found much that is useful here, that opens new trains of thought.

Lawrence J. Yerdon | President & CEO, Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH

The State of Museums should be read by everyone interested in the future of museums in America...  thought-provoking essays explore the big questions facing museums in rapidly changing times... one of the most useful and needed books I have read in years. 

Pages 308
Colour illustrations 25
Size 216 x 140 mm
Publication October 2018
Editions £39 [paperback] | £29 [eBook] 
ISBN 978-1-912528-09-7 [paperback]