ALHFAM  Returns  to  Canada!

From June 21 to 25, the Association for Living Historical Farms and
Agricultural Museums will hold its 27th Annual Meeting and Conference at
the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

ALHFAM Conferences have been held in Canada on four occasions, most
recently in Edmonton, Alberta in 1991.  This year's meeting, entitled A Day
In The Life ... Living History of the Everyday, will bring together museum
professionals from across North America (and a few from overseas) for 16
pre-conference workshops, seminars and tours involving 34 instructors and
tour leaders; and 44 concurrent sessions encompassing 62 presentations by
99 speakers.

The Conference Keynote address, "A Sense of Place",  will be given by
Canadian author and playwright Dan Needles known for his "Wingfield Farms"
plays.  The Conference will also be addressed by author and humourist
Marsha Boulton who is known for her books Letters From the Country and Just
Another Minute.  Other plenary sessions include a debate on the future of
living history sites and interpretation (a timely topic in light of
cutbacks and closures at facilities across North America) and a dramatic
presentation, Our Common Passage, presented by Abigail Schumann from the
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, which traces the lives of
four women against the backdrop of the American Revolution.

Six one-day bus trips are planned to museums, historic sites and
attractions in Waterloo Region, and the nearby cities of Guelph, Stratford,
Brantford, Hamilton and Niagara Falls.  ALHFAM's Presidential Banquet will
include a reception at the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum, an Oktoberfest
dinner at Kitchener's Transylvania Club and an informal historical fashion
show.

There will be a full day excursion for all Conference delegates throughout
the Mennonite countryside of the Region of Waterloo, a trip aboard the St.
Jacobs/Waterloo tourist train and an afternoon and evening of tours,
demonstrations and entertainment at Doon Heritage Crossroads, a sixty acre
living history museum which interprets the early twentieth century.

Why should you attend the 1998 ALHFAM Conference?  A review of the
Conference program quickly tells you that ALHFAM isn't just about the
interpretation of agriculture (although it is very important to us).  There
are sessions on developing summer programs for children, teaching about
reform movements in history, using ledgers and day books in research,
historic school house programs, historic gardens, insurance for non-profit
organizations ... you name it and there seems to be a paper addressing that
subject matter.

ALHFAM has justly gained the reputation of hosting one of the friendliest
and most informative conferences for the museum community.  Our members,
who work at living historical farms, historic house museums, agricultural
museums, community museums and outdoor museums of history and folklife -
all share a passion for accurate, active, participatory, object-based
historical interpretation.

Another good reason for attending the 1998 ALHFAM Conference is its low
cost.  ALHFAM Conferences are usually held on university campuses to keep
costs as low as possible.  And with the Canadian/US exchange rate being
what it has been in recent months, the least expensive alternative for
Canadians is to attend an ALHFAM Conference right here at home.  And for
Americans, you can anticipate an exchange rate of approximately 35% in your
favour!

If you can only attend for a day or two - although we would love to see you
for the entire ALHFAM Conference - we're sure you'll have a memorable
experience.

As of February 26, 1998 the Conference Registration Forms are available by
contacting Tom Reitz, Conference Chair, Doon Heritage Crossroads at
(519)748-1914 or e-mail [log in to unmask]







Thomas A. Reitz
Manager/Curator
Doon Heritage Crossroads
R.R. #2
Kitchener, Ontario  N2G 3W5
Canada

Telephone:      519-748-1439  ext 227
Fax:            519-748-0009
Email:          [log in to unmask]
http:           www.region.waterloo.on.ca/doon

Plan Now to Attend "A Day in the Life ... Living History of the Everyday",
the 27th Annual Meeting and Conference of the Association for Living
Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums, at the University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario from June 21 to 25, 1998.