Museum Studies Research Guide

The AAM Member Resource Library provides more than 2,000 how-to guides, articles, and tools to help you excel at standards and best practices and operate a thriving, sustainable museum.

The Smithsonian Learning Lab makes use of the millions of images, recordings, and texts available to the Smithsonian to inspire discovery and creative use.

The Framework for Museum Excellence, created by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), is built to provide leadership and guidance to museums. It outlines the ethics, technical standards, and best practices for museums in the United States.

A broad set of best practices for Academic Museums and Galleries, outlined by the Association for Academic Museums & Galleries in June 2017.

Historic Sotterley is a 300-year-old National Historic Landmark, a UNESCO Site of Memory for the Routes of Enslaved Peoples, and a Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markets Project site. With honesty and integrity, Sotterley embraces the responsibility of interpreting all aspects of our shared history while serving as an exceptional educational and cultural resource.

Historic St. Mary's City is one of the premier historic sites in America, a museum of living history and archaeology telling diverse stories on the site of Maryland’s first capital in beautiful, tidewater Southern Maryland.

Built in 1876 and in use until 1945 by the oldest sheriff’s office in the nation, this building is the sixth of eight jails/prisons in St. Mary's County history. One of four sites in St. Mary's County on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Trail.

The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum is the only naval museum dedicated to aviation research, development, testing, and evaluation.

Climb the oldest lighthouse on the Potomac, see historic boats, local and maritime history in the multiple museum buildings, kayak, stroll the boardwalk and pier, learn about the WWII submarine sunk in the Potomac and more.

Traces the story of Maryland's founding with the landing on St. Clement’s Island on March 25, 1634. Only publicly-accessible water taxi available to St. Clement's Island operates March 25 - October 31.

St. Peter Claver is the only predominantly African-American parish in the county. St. Peter Claver Catholic School was begun in 1916, and was the first Catholic school to provide education opportunities to African- American children in St. Mary's County. The school burned in 1928, was rebuilt, and remained open until 1965. The building, renamed McKenna Hall, serves a s a museum.