The League's highly rewarding and instructive 2008 Professional Basics Series will return for an eighth year and will present Back to Basics: Putting the ‘Fun’ Back in Fundamentals.  The series offers intensive workshops on best museum practices to CLHO members and instructs participants to improve and increase the professionalism and community value of their institution's programs.

Web sites & Online Courses of Interest

The Basics of Archives-Participants proceed at their own pace through this online workshop that covers the basics of archives management and practices including acquiring collections, processing, housing and preservation, and providing access. It will take approximately 15-20 hours to complete this workshop. Workshop developed in cooperation with COSHRC, the Michigan Historical Center, the New York State Archives, and the Ohio Historical Society, and with a grant from IMLS. Dates: March 10 - April 11, 2008. Registration begins December 1.

News of Interest
Wanted: Town Historian Job Descriptions
Does your town have a town historian? If so, do they have a written job description? The CLHO is making an informal survey of town historian job descriptions across the state. Once we collect and analyze the data, we will make the findings available statewide. If you would like to participate, please write Liz Shapiro, Executive Director, Sharon Historical Society, P.O. Box 511, Sharon, CT, 06069 (or e-mail her at sharonhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com) by March 31. Please include: a copy of the most recent job description, the average number of hours per week (or month, or year) the historian spends doing the job, and the amount of salary or other compensation the town historian receives. For more information, call Liz at (860) 364-5688 or e-mail her at sharonhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com.


Call for Papers: East and West of the River: A Comparative Approach

The Association for the Study of Connecticut History (ASCH) invites proposals for presentations at its fall meeting on Saturday, November 1, 2008. The program seeks to highlight comparisons and contrasts between the regions east and west of the Connecticut River, but individual presentations may focus on subjects linked to one side of the river or the other. For more information, contact  Guocun Yang, Social Sciences Department, Manchester Community College, Great Path M.S. #4, P.O. Box 1046, Manchester, CT 06045-1046, email gyang@mcc.commnet.edu, (860) 512-2782. Deadline for proposals is May 1, 2008.

SOS:

Dear CLHO Member,

The board of directors of the Kent Historical Society is discussing the possibility of establishing an acquisitions fund for the purpose of buying important items for the collection should the opportunity arise unexpectedly. We recently saw a highboy with strong Kent provenance slip past us due to lack of readily available funds. We would like to know how other small museums and historical societies address this dilemma. We are all on tight budgets which usually preclude setting aside a sum of money for long periods of time. So, what are the options? Hold specific fundraising events, with a certain percentage of the proceeds earmarked for acquisitions? Designate a small percentage of all revenues, including dues, donations, etc. to be set aside for acquisitions? Once the fund is established, how are the expenditures administered? There are many questions with multiple answers. We greatly appreciate any information that you have on this subject. Please email kenthistoricalsociety@juno.com or call Marge McAvoy at 860-927-4587.

 HELP:

Dear CLHO Members:

I am the new exhibitions review editor for Connecticut History. I hope to serve the Connecticut history community by providing a forum for us to think critically about the medium of exhibition and the importance of engaging the public in exploring our shared pasts. To do that, I need your help. Please contact me if you know of an exhibition that you would like reviewed in the journal. Permanent as well as temporary exhibitions are eligible, as long as they are open to the public with regular hours, have a clear interpretive or didactic intent, and a focus on Connecticut history. We hope that the process of review will be helpful to the exhibitions’ creators, both in raising the profile of their accomplishments and in providing them with professional and scholarly feedback. I am also recruiting new reviewers. If you would like to become a reviewer, please send me an e-mail with a list of your professional qualifications (a resume or C.V.) and a statement of your historical subject matter expertise. I am an associate professor of history and coordinator of the public history at Central Connecticut State University CCSU. My email is Greenfieldb@ccsu.edu and telephone number is 860-832-2821.

Thank you. Brianne Greenfield

Web sites of Interest

www.igive.com

When consumers use www.igive.com, a portal for shopping at a wide range of online retailers, they raise money for the charity of their choice. The site’s mission is “to enable the economic power of individuals to benefit their chosen communities.” Participants log in to their igive.com account before proceeding to a store. The retailer tracks purchases and sends a percentage (which varies by retailer) to igive. Checks are sent to the charities on a monthly basis, or as soon as $25 is raised for your cause. You can sign up a cause that is not listed, and once your organization receives its igive cause password, you can even generate a “cause newsletter” to let your supports know about the program. If you would like to support CLHO, please choose us as your cause.