Programs

The Heritage League hosts socials throughout the year for members to promote communication and networking among those working in area history/heritage organizations. Check the League’s homepage, calendar, and subscribe to the League’s “E-Blast” (all three of which are linked at the top of the League’s website).

And, keep in touch with our Heritage League friends and colleagues on Facebook! Send your images from Heritage League socials to [email protected] for posting here.

The Heritage League holds an annual meeting for members. The League’s Board of Directors meets bi-monthly, each meeting hosted by a different historical agency in the community. Meetings are open to all League members and provide opportunities for those interested in preservation to visit area agencies and to tour behind the scenes.

Special membership meetings are also held for members to promote communication and networking among individual members. Examples include: “Jail Break,” a social event hosted by the 1859 Jail, Marshal’s Home and Museum in Independence; a barbecue dinner and tour of the Smokey Hill Railway Association rail yard preceded by an 8-mile ride on a restored train; “Meet the Authors” of regional history books on Kansas City Barbecue and The Irish in Kansas City; and a a tour of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame by Buck O’Neill and the American Jazz Museum at 18th & Vine.

Emergency Contacts and Resources

Need help right away? If so, go to EMERGENCY CONTACTS and start calling the contact people on your own institution’s disaster plan’s list. Also see our recommendations for a master list of supplies to help you clean up after a disaster, and regional conservators who can help restore damaged collections.

Disaster Plan

We’ve gathered guidelines and tools to help you create a new (or expand an existing) emergency preparedness disaster plan for your institution. With a current plan, you will have the necessary response information at hand and ready to access in the event you ever do face a water incursion or another calamity at your cultural heritage institution. See our list of web and print disaster resources for help formulating your plan.

More about disaster planning >>

The Heritage League of Greater Kansas City offers a $500 scholarship and complimentary registration for beginning professionals to attend the American Association for State and Local History annual meeting in honor of Robert W. Richmond, Heritage League founder and past president 1985-1986 of the American Association for State & Local History.

To apply for the Robert W. Richmond Fund Scholarship, new professionals (less than 5 years in the museum profession) from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, or Iowa, who are Heritage League members-in-good-standing and have never attended an AASLH conference, should submit a letter of application discussing their goals in the history field, and how their organization will benefit from their participation in the AASLH annual meeting. With this letter, attach a current resume and a letter of support from their supervisor or board chair by July 1.

Applications should be sent to:

Richmond Scholarship Fund Committee
Heritage League of Greater Kansas City
P.O. Box 7298
Kansas City, MO 64113

Past recipients include:

Jennifer Sturbois, Director, Wornall House Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, 1990;
Alisha Stockton, Curator/Director, Shoal Creek, Kansas City, Missouri, 1991;
Jennifer Alexander, a graduate of the Master of Arts in Historical Agency and Museum Administration program at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 1992;
Dana Prader, from Lansing, Kansas, 1994;
Priscilla Henning, a masters degree candidate in History at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, 1996;
Susan Dame, Assistant Curator, Boot Hill, Dodge City, Kansas 1997;
Raymond Doswell, Curator, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, 1999;
Linda Barnickel, Archivist at the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, 2000;
The annual meeting for the American Association for State and Local History was cancelled due to events of September 11th, 2001;
Rita Shelley, Interpretation Specialist; Big Muddy Workshop, Omaha, NE, 2003.
2004, no recipient;
Daniel Carey, Education Coordinator, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS, 2005;
Erin Befort, Curator of Education, Johnson County Museum, Shawnee, KS, 2008;
Melinda Mehaffy, Economic Development Administrator, City of Gladstone (Atkins-Johnson Farm), Missouri, 2011;
Jennifer Crane, Curator of Education, Johnson County Museum, Shawnee, Kansas, 2012.

Since 2001, the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City has offered “Healthy Collections Care Habits” workshops annually to serve curators, registrars, collections managers, directors and site managers for smaller historic sites, historical societies and museums, board members and volunteers. Through lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on activities, these workshops provide museum professionals with information, hands-on training, and skills to improve the care of collections in museums and historic sites.

EXAMPLES OF RECENT HEALTHY COLLECTIONS CARE WORKSHOP OFFERINGS:

• Exhibit Makeovers

• Making Collections Meaningful: Documenting & Researching Collections

• Exhibiting Artifacts Safely

• Improving Storage for Museum and Archival Collections

• Basic Policies, Procedures and Record-keeping Systems

• Interpretation in Museums and Historic Sites

• Preserving and Maintaining Your Historic Structures

• From Armoires and Bassinets to Totem Pole and Wood Planes: Care of Wooden Artifacts

A sampling of comments from past workshop participants:

“The speaker made a complicated subject easy to understand!”

“The information I am taking back will raise our operation to a new level.”

“I can better identify problems and formulate solutions for our collection.”

“This was an excellent overview of the subject.”

“I think the handouts will be a good future reference.”

“The content of this course has provided products and updates and marvelous hands-on techniques that can be used in small and large parks/historic sites.”

“The Heritage League Collections Care workshops offer, by far, the best value in professional, ongoing, practical education in the Kansas City area. “

Check back for our next workshop offering.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

BOOK & PERIODICAL LENDING LIBRARY

(Revised November 2013)

Heritage League of Greater Kansas City members enjoy many benefits, including a lending library of equipment and publications specializing in the conservation of archival and museum collections.

POLICY & PROCEDURE

Simply express your interest in checking out an item by sending an e-mail to: [email protected]. Materials may be borrowed by Heritage League members in good standing for FREE, and for any length of time for which it is needed (unless another request for the same items is submitted). Borrowers assume liability for loss, theft, breakage, or other damage to the materials should any occur while the material is on loan or in transit.

More Information