Museum aims for AAM accreditation

In February the Heritage Preservation Organization of Washington, D.C., awarded a $3,490 grant to A.T. Still University’s Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, which paid for a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) review. The museum’s last CAP review was in 1997, a report that indicated the museum was woefully lacking in all areas. ATSU has since offered support for the museum to become an institutional museum. The University has provided much needed space, staff, and a budget, challenging the museum to make necessary improvements in all areas.

The latest CAP assessment, received this week, shows that the museum is doing outstanding work and is a model for other museums. It has a qualified staff, provides important research globally, has excellent preservation policies, collection care, adequate space and storage, and meets the expectations to make the collection of osteopathic material available to both a national and international audience.

In light of the stringent requirements from its professional organization, the American Association of Museums (AAM), the museum has done exceedingly well and is on a solid path to meet the expectations for AAM accreditation – the highest recognition that a museum can achieve.

At the end of the report is an executive summary and conservation timeline for what the museum staff will be working on to improve and achieve accreditation. Striving for excellence has been the museum’s mission for the past 14 years.