Western Museums Association (WMA)

As we enter the holiday season and begin to wrap up the year, the American Alliance of Museums 2024 Annual National Snapshot of U.S. Museums may help us to situate the work we've done. Read the report here:

Check out this awesome article by American Alliance of Museums "Three Core Values That Will Boost Your Museum Writing"

Don't miss the American Institute for Conservation & Foundation for Advancement in Conservation's upcoming webinar "Contamination and Pesticide Residues for Small and Mid-Sized Cultural Institutions." Sign up here:

It's finally here! Photos of WMA24 are now live on Flickr. Let us know if you spot yourself. ??

Do you have a vision for the future of museums? Are you interested in helping to serve your institution?and colleagues? WMA is currently seeking nominations to its Board of Directors for the 2025-2028 term!

Do you have an archival project that needs funding? The Society of American Archivists is now accepting applications for its Catalyst Grants Program. Check it out:

Calling all emerging museums professionals! Check out this networking opportunity offered by CAM:

“We are in America, and we have, each one of us, a right to express our views. […] Do you think anyone would work, devote himself entirely to a cause—without a salary—if he did not believe in it? Then you know we must all work for this thing—that the American Indian must have a voice.”—Zitkala-?a (Yankton Sioux, 1876-1938), 1919 Five years after Zitkala-?a spoke these words, the Indian Citizenship Act (ICA) of 1924 became law. Zitkala-?a (“Red Bird,” or Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) spent her life advocating for American Indian citizenship rights and sovereignty. She hoped citizenship would offer Native people a way to gain government representation while maintaining cultural identity. The ICA should have guaranteed the vote, but discriminatory tactics kept Native people from the polls as recently as the 1970s. One hundred years on, the fight to ensure the right to vote is accessible to all American citizens continues. Zitkala-?a left the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota at age 8 for a Quaker missionary-run boarding school. The US government policy of forced assimilation through boarding school education left an indelible mark on her. However, she excelled in English and music, earning a college scholarship, and going on to study violin. As a young adult, Zitkala-?a became increasingly outspoken and firmly against the “Americanization” of Indigenous people, writing personal essays about living between cultures. She used her musical talent to advocate for the preservation of Native cultural identity. She co-created the first Native opera “The Sun Dance Opera,” based on a sacred ceremony, then outlawed by the US government. In 1917, she joined the Society of American Indians to urge the US Congress to pass the ICA among other bills. In 1926, she and her husband, Raymond Bonnin of Yankton-European ancestry, and a fellow boarding school survivor, co-founded the National Council of American Indians. The council fought for healthcare, legal status and land rights for Indigenous peoples. She served as president until her death in 1938 at age 61. Zitkala-?a is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband, a World War I veteran. Zitkala-?a is featured on the newest quarter in the American Women Quarters? Program. which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women of the United States with new quarters released by the United States Mint in partnership with Smithsonian American Women's History Museum. Join us at our Washington, DC museum on Friday, Nov. 29 to mark Native American Heritage Day and the release of the Zitkala-?a quarter with hoop dancer Starr Chief Eagle (Sicangu Lakota Sioux). Learn more: https://s.si.edu/3NLULCe Image: Joseph Turner Keiley, 1869-1914. "Zitkála-?á," (Feb. 22, 1876-Jan. 26, 1938), 1898. Photogravure print, courtesy of Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, currently on view in the exhibition “The Struggle for Justice.” S/NPG.79.26 #SmithsonianNAHM #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

Apply to be an Institute of Museum and Library Services museum grant reviewer! In 2024, 99.1% of Museum Grant Reviewers found the experience satisfying. It's a great opportunity to see what's going on in museums across the country, and to think critically about the impact of our work as a whole. The application deadline is Friday, December 6. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gzWQDMvV

Looking forward to CAM 2025? I know we are! Early bird registration ends November 18, so secure your spot soon...