Alliance Announces Latest Accreditation Awards – 23 Museums Receive This High Honor

March 6, 2020

Arlington, VA – The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, today announced seven new museum accreditation awards and 16 reaccreditations made at the February 2020 meeting of the Accreditation Commission. Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, 1,087 are currently accredited.

Through a rigorous process of self-assessment and review by their peers, these museums have demonstrated they meet standards and best practices and are educational entities that are appropriate stewards of the collections and resources they hold in the public trust.

Recognized as the field’s gold standard for museum excellence for nearly 50 years, AAM accreditation signifies a museum’s quality and credibility to the entire museum community, to governments and outside agencies, and to the museum-going public. The Accreditation Program helps to ensure the integrity and accessibility of museum collections, reinforce the educational and public service roles of museums and promote good governance practices and ethical behavior.

The following museums were accredited for the first time:

Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill AFB, UT

Living History Farms, Urbandale, IA

Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Little Rock, AR

Museum of Contemporary Art – Bogota / Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá, Minuto de Dios University, Bogota, Colombia

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Museum of Geology, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City, SD

National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX

The following museums were reaccredited:

Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH

Holland Museum, Holland, MI

John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida State University, Sarasota, FL

Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT

Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle, Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, PA

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT

Roberson Museum & Science Center, Binghamton, NY

San Diego Model Railroad Museum, San Diego, CA

Sangre De Cristo Arts and Conference Center, Pueblo, CO

South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum, Columbia, SC

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN

Texas Maritime Museum, Rockport, TX

USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA

Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

“The cultural diversity in this group of awardees includes a museum focused on exploring Arkansas’ African American history and culture, the country’s only museum dedicated to contemporary Native art and artists, and the second museum outside the U.S. to earn accreditation,” said Amy Bartow-Melia, Accreditation Commission Chair. “This group of awardees overall also includes a strong showing from academic museums—with over 25% located on a university campus.”

To earn accreditation, a museum submits a self-study questionnaire and key operational documents for evaluation, then undergoes a site visit by a two-person team of peer reviewers which produces a report for the Accreditation Commission. The Commission uses these materials and its collective expertise to determine whether to grant accreditation.

Read more about the Alliance’s Accreditation program.

About the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 35,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions, and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance stands for the broad scope of the museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.

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Press Contact:

Natanya Khashan

nkhashan@aam-us.org