American Association for State and Local History
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a non-profit association for state and local history, with a primary focus on history professionals, history volunteers, museums, historical societies, and other history-related organizations and public history professionals. Since 1964, it is headquartered in Nashville, TN, and currently has about 6,000 members. The organization has ten full-time staff members. Publications. AASLH publishes a quarterly magazine called "History News". A series of instructional articles call Technical Leaflets are published quarterly and distributed with "History News". AASLH also publishes books through Rowman  & Littlefield Publishing Group including "Nomenclature 4.0","Small Museum Toolkit", and the "Interpreting History" series. StEPs (Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations). In 2009 AASLH launched the "Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations," or StEPS. This program helps small- and mid-sized history museums, historic sites and houses, including all-volunteer ones, assess policies and practices, manage daily operations and plan for the future. As opposed to a certification program, StEPS is a self-study program without a set timeline. Participating organizations use a workbook to assess and improve operations. They achieve certificates from AASLH after completing sections. As of  2015, over 650 organizations have participated in StEPs. Advocacy. AASLH sponsors, advocates, and lobbies on behalf of state and local history at the national level through strategic partnerships with several organizations. In 1998, it began its American Indian Museums Program (AIMP) to advocate for and provide professional development to America's tribal museums. In 2004, it spearheaded a movement advocating for a new federal program within the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Office of Museum Studies to provide grants to states to facilitate statewide support for museums, with funds granted to states, where states would then re-grant funds  to museums depending upon each state's needs. AASLH awards Certificates of Merit to individuals and organizations to recognize their outstanding contributions to local history and genealogy, such as those awarded to the East Tennessee Historical Society, New Brunswick Genealogical Society and Heinz History Center. Annual Meeting. Since 1941, AASLH has held an Annual Meeting. In recent years, the Annual Meeting has attracted about 1,000 participants for four days of workshops, sessions, tours, and other events. In 2008, AASLH launched an Online Conference, which features hybrid sessions at the Annual Meeting designed to incorporate virtual attendees through an online classroom  platform. History. In 1904, the American Historical Association, itself at the time a fledgling professional body, established the semi-autonomous Conference of State and Local Historical Societies to serve the leaders of those agencies. In 1939, a group of Conference members, chaired by Christopher C. Crittenden, director of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, proposed the creation of an independent entity. Its job would be to better coordinate the activities of historical societies and stimulate the writing and teaching of state and local history in North America. On December 27, 1940, the Conference of State and Local History  met and disbanded itself. Then the American Association for State and Local History was born. Its first charter stated that AASLH's purpose was, simply, “the promotion of effort and activity in the fields of state, provincial, and local history in the United States and Canada.”