Historical Museum of Southern Florida

HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA Receives Highest National Recognition
Awarded Re-Accreditation from the American Association of Museums

MIAMI, FL– The Historical Museum of Southern Florida (HMSF) is pleased to announce that the museum’s accreditation with the American Association of Museums (AAM) has been renewed for the fourth consecutive time.

Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, to governments, donors, outside agencies, and to the museum-going public. HMSF was initially accredited in 1979, and reaccredited in 1987 and 1997. “HMSF is pleased to maintain our accreditation and join the elite twenty-four percent of history museums nationwide that meet the rigorous professional standards required,” said Robert McCammon, President and CEO of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.

Of the nation’s nearly 17,500 museums about 774 are currently accredited. HMSF is one of only two history museums accredited in Miami-Dade County and one of eight throughout the County.

AAM’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability. It strengthens the museum profession by promoting practices that enable leaders to make informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and remain financially and ethically accountable in order to provide the best possible service to the public. It is a widely recognized seal of approval that brings national recognition to American museums, regardless of their size or location. To ensure that accredited museums maintain a high level of professional performance, museums complete a review every 10 years.

Accreditation is a very rigorous but highly rewarding process that examines all aspects of a museum’s operations. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, followed by a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent and autonomous body of museum professionals, consider the self-study and visiting committee report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation. While the time to complete the process varies by museum, it generally takes as much as three years.

To access a complete list of all accredited museums, please visit www.aam-us.org/accred.

Historical Museum of Southern Florida
The Historical Museum of Southern Florida (HMSF), founded in 1940, is one of the largest private, regional history museums in the country. HMSF is recognized for excellence in programming and management by the Florida Department of State and national museum services organizations. As reflected in its mission to educate and preserve the history of South Florida and the Caribbean as the “Gateway of the Americas”, HMSF reaches out to a vast and culturally diverse audience through its exhibitions, educational programs, special events and publications. Home to over 30,000 three-dimensional artifacts, HMSF maintains a premier Research Collection of archives and over one million photographs. Located in downtown Miami in the Miami-Dade Cultural Center, HMSF is across the street from Metrorail’s Government Center Station at 101 West Flagler Street, Downtown Miami, Florida 33130. Hours are Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., third Thursdays 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. and Sunday noon - 5 p.m. Admission for adults is $8, children (ages 6-12) is $5, and children under 6 are free. Visit http://www.hmsf.org.

American Association of Museums
The American Association of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. With more than 15,000 individual, 3,000 institutional, and 300 corporate members, AAM is dedicated to ensuring that museums remain a vital part of the American landscape, connecting people with the greatest achievements of the human experience, past, present and future. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.