The Wallace Foundation funded various initiatives to improve the performance (i.e., attract more people) to selected arts organizations. 

A few observations on focus groups:

• Proceed with caution.  Focus groups always generate results and because this is "research," these results may be assumed to be a meaningful basis for action.
• Looking at the before and after examples of the collateral and some of the other insights, the new direction and other improvements are just common sense, though apparently not common enough.  In some insular organizations, focus groups end up being a way to force the organization to engage with people outside of their staff and existing constituency.  It is a mistake to spend tens of thousands of dollars, regardless of the source, to get the folks at the organization out and engaged with the public.  That shortcoming is a failure of leadership, and if this is the problem, the results of the focus group will be fleeting.
• We should all be skeptical of self-reported behavior and intentions, especially when it comes to things that include widely understand societal norms (e.g., you’re supposed to be interested in the arts, you’re supposed to be interested in learning, you’re supposed to get off the couch and get out of the house).  Max von Balgooy, author of Engaging Places and the heads of a consulting practice that works with historic houses and other sites across the country explained his experience  this way: "I continually encounter the disconnect between what people say they want to do and what they actually do.  With my clients, I use the 'quit smoking' analogy to help them to understand that asking those types of questions isn't very useful."

Note that most of these are also applicable to survey research.

Experiments where you can test two approaches and compare the results would be interesting.  In other words, let’s not focus on what people say they will do, but rather on what they actually do.  The web is the best place to do this, with A/B testing for campaigns and landing pages, but we could figure out several other tests that would produce more generalizable results than the ones I read in the report.

Is there a foundation interested in underwriting research at historic sites and in historic institutions?

An article in today's Wall Street Journal about a thriving carriage and wagon builder and restorer in South Dakota mentioned Wells Fargo.  (Check out the "Shop In-Stock Wagons" page.)  Their well-known stage coaches—they have 24—appeared in 800 events last year.  In addition, they have 10 Wells Fargo history museums across the country.

In the case of Wells, their heritage is a brand asset and one that they have wisely hung onto and invested in. They even have a "head of historical services," Beverly Smith.

Before anyone dismisses what Wells is doing as "marketing" that will "make them money," realize that if more companies believed that there was a measurable ROI from investing in history, we'd have more historical iconography, more heads of historical services, and more (admittedly small) history museums and displays.

Surely all of us believe that understanding history is relevant and important in many ways. But where does that conviction start, and how do we get broader support for this view?

It begins with history being present:

presence → awareness → interest → engagement → understanding → relevance → action

From presence, to awareness, to something that sparks interest or curiosity, to learning more (engagement), understanding what you've learned, being able to connect it to decisions you make for yourself and in your family, community, state, country, and beyond (relevance), and ultimately action.  This action may take the form of reading, supporting historic preservation in your community, joining your local historical society, volunteering at your historic site, or helping instill an interest in history in your children.

Surely we all believe that history isn't just for the classroom or the history museum, historic site, or house museum. 

We need to encourage efforts to get history out and about so that people bump into it wherever they go and whatever they do.

Originally posted in the History Relevance Campaign LinkedIn group.  The History Relevance Campaign site.  Photo from the Wells Fargo site.

The History List is the largest list of history-related events across the country, and as we've said, "we're just getting started."

I'm looking for someone to help advance these efforts over the coming months who is . . .

• High-motivated
• Meticulous
• Curious
• Eager to learn
• Willing to take smart risks
• Fluent with social media
• An excellent writer
• Passionate about helping connect people to the history all around them
• Smart
• Clever
• Hard working
• Creative and analytical

Sounds like most every internship or first-job-out-of-college position description, doesn't it?

So why The History List?  For better or for worse, it's not the money—no one is drawing any salary.  Instead, The History List brings together a unique set of opportunities:

• Working in a micro startup with an entrepreneur with many years of experience across many different industries and markets
• Creating a SaaS platform
• Building a community of history organizations and individuals interested in history
• Leverages social media
• You'll see your impact from Day 1

Innovations from The History List

The History List has been an innovator in several areas, including creating the first events platform designed for history organizations and travelers interested in history throughout the U.S.

• Easy for organizations of all sizes to use, including small, all-volunteer organizations.
• Affordable.  There is no cost to list your history organization or event.
• Includes the ability to list events, organizations, and venues, perfect for organizations that own multiple properties.
• Provides organizations and their events and venues with a permanent page that they can update at any time. For annual events, this means that they don't have to re-enter information about the event.  Instead, they can simply enter the dates for the next year and anything else that's changed.
• Nearly unlimited room for text, video, and photos.  
• Easy to copy and paste text from an existing site or from another document, such as a press release.
• Includes every event repeating pattern imaginable.
• Incorporates all of an organization's social media accounts; supports event hashtags.
• Create a list of upcoming events that you can embed in your own site.  Enter your events once on The History List and they appear automatically and immediately on your site.
• Create a combined list of events from multiple organizations based on the name of the organization or a tag. The combined event list is updated automatically and immediately when any additions or changes are made on The History List. 

In addition, The History List publishes . . .

• the only guide dedicated to summer camps for kids and programs at historic sites and history organizations
• the award-winning holiday campaign for history, "Make this holiday historic!"
• the definitive list of Patriots' Day activities in Massachusetts
• the most comprehensive list of history and preservation conferences for professionals in the U.S.
• original research, case studies, and other resources to help history organizations attract new visitors and members

And we organized History Camp, the first unconference or barcamp dedicated to history.

Logistics and expressing your interest

In terms of location, you could be in the Boston or Metrowest areas, or across the country working and collaborating via Skype.

You don't have to be a history major, but you do have to have a demonstrated passion for and interest in historic sites and history organizations (e.g., historical societies or history museums).  We're definitely not looking for any of the people listed in the broadside below.  (It's from around 1855 and is today in the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.)

Interested?  Let me know the skills you'd apply and the ones you'd  like to learn and develop, and please send examples of your work, with links to social media, papers, presentations, videos, or other work.

— Lee Wright, Founder of The History List

Updated Spring 2015: History Camp was not selected by the NCPH conference organizing committee.  However, the format is being adopted elsewhere, including for History Camp Iowa on November 14, 2016 in Des Moines.  History Camp Iowa is being organized by a group of local volunteers, and the State Historical Museum will host the event.  More information is in the new History Camp site.

History Camp is the unconference (or "barcamp") focused on history.  The first one was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 8, 2014.

More than 130 people from throughout New England and the Northeast attended 23 presentations and two panel discussions on historical accounts, research tools and techniques, managing a historic site, becoming a published author, and employment options for history lovers.  

Videos of three of the presentations and one of the panels are available online:

• "How the Patriots Almost Lost the Battle of Saratoga," Liz Covart (@LizCovart)
• "The Boston Bankruptcy That Led to the American Revolution," JL Bell (@Boston1775)
• "Free Advertising: Popular Magazines and World War II Bond Drives," Matt Wilding(@MatthewWilding) 
• "Employment Options for History Lovers" panel

More information, including before and after articles, the session descriptions and schedule, the list of supporters and more is on the event wiki.

With summer coming up, an archivist in New England lays out what he looks for when he hires an intern.  Great tips, including the one thing that will take your resume to "the top of the pile."

• Resume—"The resume is important, but if someone has some experience in museums and archives along with something outside the field I'll give it a look."
• Cover letters—"I read those with a fine-toothed comb looking for reasons not to take someone on.  For me, a cover letter with spelling or grammatical errors is a sign that the person is not detail-oriented.  I work in an archive that requires a lot  of attention to detail, and if someone can't do that in a cover letter, then they won't be able to write a finding aid or exhibit label.  I've learned that from experience."
• Well-rounded—"I tend to look for well-rounded interns.  They need to be able to work with patrons, do exhibits, handle archival material and be willing to learn. . . . I'm the only person in my department, so I do everything, and that has helped me land many of my public history jobs over the years. Though I'm an archivist, I have experience that would allow me to work at just about any institution."
• Cursive—"I really prefer someone who can read and write cursive. With texting and computers, it is hard tofind interns who can read cursive. I have hundreds of letters and journals that are written in cursive that I can read because I can write in cursive, but many interns can't.  If someone can read and write in cursive, then they get to the top of the pile."
• Working independently—"The projects I assign or have an intern work on require them to be a self-starter who can work independently of what I'm doing."

More resources for job seekers:

• Post: "Getting a job as an interpreter at a historic site: What to include on your resume and why"
• Video of panel discussion at History Camp Cambridge: "Employment options for history lovers" — Panel discussion at History Camp in Cambridge
• Professional development: Conferences, workshops, and online courses for history professionals — Sign up to receive this list ever month
• Resources, nearly all free, for your career working at a historic site, history museum, or historical society
• Newsletters, including the occasional "Marketing Tips for History Organizations.