Learn how to tell your story
All of us who work and volunteer for collecting institutions know that much of our activity centers around telling stories. But how can those working in museums and archives best tease out the many hidden stories in their collections? This year’s MAM conference will focus on the many ways we tell stories in Maine’s collecting institutions, celebrating what we do well and seeking ways to do better. How can studying an artifact, understanding its documentation, and putting the pieces of the story together offer opportunity to understand diverse points of view or help shape and reflect our history? How can the stories of local, ordinary, historical figures find resonance with a modern audience?
Keynote speaker, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Ph.D.
The 2016 MAM conference will feature a dynamic keynote address from special guest Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Ph.D., 300th Anniversary History Professor at Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize winner for her groundbreaking work A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812.
What else to expect at the 2016 conference
View the conference program.
The conference will offer a mixture of sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities that will leave you feeling recharged, connected, and inspired with new ideas to assist you in the care and management of your collecting institution.
Session topics include
- Learning circle method for building stories that communicate public value
- Unconventional methods for highlighting collections
- Emerging issues in collections digitization in Maine
- Letters as an interpretive resource
- Giving great speeches
- Developing ideas for Maine's bicentennial
- How to get a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places
The annual meeting of MAM's membership also takes place at the conference each year--this is your chance as a MAM member to vote on new officers or changes in policy, or to address issues that affect the organization and its membership.
The Venue
The conference will be held at the Collins Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono. It is located near the Belgrade parking lot at the corner Flagstaff Rd and Belgrade Rd.
See this campus map for details: https://umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/08/2015-16-Campus-Map.pdf
Sponsors and Exhibitors
Thank you to our presenting sponsor!
And to our host sponsors:
As well as our venue sponsors:
Hudson Museum
At the conference, look for our gold sponsor exhibitors:
Virtual Archive
Curran Homestead Homestead & Living History Museum
And thank you to our silver sponsors!
Sponsoring and exhibiting at the Maine Archives & Museums Annual Conference are great ways to reach museum and archives professionals throughout Maine. See the link below for an outline of opportunities.
2016 Sponsor and Exhibitor Opportunities
Support from the Maine Humanities Council
The conference is funded in part by the Maine Humanities Council as part of the Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative, a joint venture of the Pulitzer Prizes Board and the Federation of State Humanities Councils in celebration of the 2016 Centennial of the Prizes. The initiative seeks to illuminate the impact of the humanities on American life today, to imagine their future, and to inspire new generations to consider the values represented by the body of Pulitzer Prize winning work. For their generous support for the Campfires Initiative, we thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Pulitzer Prizes Board, and Columbia University.
