# American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward."
AAM represents the scope of museums, professionals, and nonpaid staff who work for and with museums. AAM represents more than 25,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, 4,000 institutions, and 150 corporate members. Individual members include directors, curators, registrars, educators, exhibit designers, public relations officers, development officers, security managers, trustees, and volunteers.
Museums represented by the members include art, history, science, military, maritime, and youth museums, as well as public aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens, arboretums, historic sites, and science and technology centers.
At the 2014 American Alliance of Museums conference, the Institute of Museum and Library Services announced there are now at least 35,000 museums in the US.

## History

An informal meeting was held at the National Museum in Washington, D.C., on December 21, 1905, for the "purpose of discussing the advisability of endeavoring to establish an association of the museums of America." Major events in the history of the Alliance include:
* 1906: Founding
* 1911: Directory of North and South American museums published
* 1923: Headquarters established in the tower of the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C.
* 1925: Code of Ethics for Museum Workers adopted
* 1925: $2,500 grant from the Carnegie Corporation for research on museum fatigue
* 1961: Museum directory published (4,600 institutions)
* 1964: Museums included in the National Arts and Cultural Development Act
* 1966: National Museum Act passed
* 1968: Belmont Report recommends developing an accreditation program to help support museums
* 1969: Accreditation program created on the recommendation of a committee chaired by Holman J. Swinney
* 1971: The Public Museum of Grand Rapids and fifteen additional museums are the first accredited
* 1976: New constitution adopted
* 1980: Museum Assessment Program (MAP) created on the recommendation of a committee chaired by E. Alvin Gearhardt, with MAP supported through a cooperative agreement with IMS, the Institute of Museum Services (later renamed IMLS, the Institute of Museum and Library Services)
* 2003: Launch of the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal (NEPIP)
* 2006: Year of the Museum – 100th anniversary of AAM
* 2009: First Comprehensive Strategic Plan "The Spark" adopted
* 2012: Name changed to "American Alliance of Museums"

## Media and Technology Committee

Media and Technology (M&T) is a Professional Network of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). The M&T Network is the AAM link between museums and media technologies. It identifies, examines, and advocates appropriate uses of media technologies in helping museums meet the needs of their public. Membership is limited to institutions or individuals that are members of AAM.

## Presidents/Chairpersons

* Hermon Carey Bumpus (1906–1907), director of the American Museum of Natural History
* William M.R. French (1907–1908), director of the Art Institute of Chicago
* William Jacob Holland (1908–1909), director of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
* Frederic A. Lucas (1909–1910), director of the American Museum of Natural History
* Frederick J.V. Skiff (1910–1911), director of the Field Museum of Natural History
* Edward S. Morse (1911–1912), director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
* Henry L. Ward (1912–1913), director of the Milwaukee Public Museum
* Benjamin Ives Gilman (1913–1914), secretary of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* Oliver C. Farrington (1914–1916), curator, Field Museum of Natural History
* Henry R. Howland (1916–1918), director of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences
* Newton H. Carpenter (1918–1918), executive secretary of the Art Institute of Chicago
* William Powell Wilson (1918–1919) director of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum
* Paul M. Rea (1919–1921), director of the Charleston Museum
* Frederic Allen Whiting (1921–1923), director of the Cleveland Museum of Art
* Chauncey J. Hamlin (1923–1929), president of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science and a founder of ICOM
* Fiske Kimball (1929–1932), director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
* Paul J. Sachs (1932–1936), associate director of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
* Herbert E. Winlock (1936–1938), director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Clark Wissler (1938–1945), curator of the Department of Anthropology, Yale University
* David E. Finley (1945–1949), director of the National Gallery of Art and chairman of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
* George Harold Edgell (1949–1951), director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* Albert E. Parr (1951–1953), director of the American Museum of Natural History
* William M. Milliken (1953–1957), director of the Cleveland Museum of Art
* Edward P. Alexander (1957–1960), vice president for interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
* Froelich G. Rainey (1960–1963), director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania
* Charles Van Ravenswaay (1963–1966), director of the Missouri Historical Society
* Charles Parkhurst (1966–1968), director of the Baltimore Museum of Art
* William C. Steere (1968–1970), president, the New York Botanical Garden
* James M. Brown III (1970–1972), director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
* Charles E. Buckley (1972–1974), director of the Saint Louis Art Museum
* Joseph M. Chamberlain (1974–75), director and president of Adler Planetarium
* Joseph Veach Noble (1975–1978), director of the Museum of the City of New York
* M. Kenneth Starr (1978–1980), director of Milwaukee Public Museum
* Craig Call Black, director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History
* Dan Monroe, director of Portland Art Museum
* Robert MacDonald (1985–1988), director of the Museum of the City of New York
* W. Richard West (1998–2000), director of the National Museum of the American Indian
* Louis Casagrande (2002–2004), director of the Boston Children's Museum
* Jeffrey Rudolph (2004–2006), director of the California Science Center
* Irene Hirano (2006–2008), director of the Japanese American National Museum
* Carl R. Nold (2008–2010), president and chief executive officer of Historic New England
* Douglas G. Myers (2010–2012), executive director of San Diego Zoo Global
* Meme Omogbai (2012–2014), chief operating officer of the Newark Museum
* Kaywin Feldman (2014–2016), director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Art
* Douglas Jones (2016–2018), director of the Florida Museum of Natural History
* Kippen de Alba Chu (2018–2020), executive director of Iolani Palace
* Chevy Humphrey (2020–2022), president and CEO of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

## Directors/Presidents

* Charles R. Richards (1923–1927), director of Cooper Union
* Laurence Vail Coleman (1927–1958)
* Joseph Allen Patterson (1958–1967)
* Kyran M. McGrath (1968–1975)
* Richard McLanathan (1975–1978)
* Lawrence L. Reger (1978–1986)
* Edward H. Able (1986–2006)
* Ford Watson Bell (2007–2015)
* Laura L. Lott (2015–present)