The following is a message from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the American Association of Museums: MUSEUMS CELEBRATE FREEDOM: Your Participation Helps Tell the Story The Institute of Museum Services and the American Association of Museums have heard from museums around the country about the importance of being part of community activities on and around September 11th, 2002. Now we need to hear from individual institutions about what they are planning to do. The idea of an initiative that would involve the whole of the museum community celebrating the importance of America's freedom began on January 14, 2002 at a meeting of museum professionals convened to focus on Museums in an Age of Uncertainty. Thirty-two representatives from museums, state and regional museum associations and discipline-based service organizations discussed how museums and their communities responded in the aftermath of September 11. Since then the theme "Museums Celebrate America's Freedom: Joining Communities in a Day of Remembrance" has been endorsed by national, state and regional museum associations including the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Association of Children's Museums, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the National Science Collections Alliance, the Mid Atlantic Association of Museums and the Illinois Heritage Association. As stewards of the nation's stories, museums offer their communities special places to examine and reaffirm such precious freedoms as: * Freedom to assemble * Freedom to create * Freedom to worship * Freedom to inquire * Freedom to express ideas * Freedom from fear In this spirit AAM and IMLS, working with museums, developed materials to place museum activities in context, as part of a nationwide initiative that demonstrates the role of museums as centers of civic engagement in a democratic society. Background, a logo and tool kit for "Museums Celebrate America's Freedom: Joining Communities in a Day of Remembrance" can be found on the AAM web site at http://www.aam-us.org/mcaf/index.htm. Working together, communities and museums can make a powerful statement about the richness of the American experience. Museums are encouraged to participate in ways that best suit their missions, resources and needs of their communities. AAM and IMLS are very interested in launching a national communications campaign in late July that supports the efforts of museums nationwide that are involved in September 11 activities. We need to hear from you about your museum's efforts in order for tell the whole story. Please visit the AAM web site at http://www.aam-us.org/mcaf/index.htm and tell your story. Contact us at: mailto:[log in to unmask] Eileen Maxwell Public Affairs Specialist Institute of Museum and Library Services 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Suite 510 Washington, DC 20506 202-606-8339 202-606-8591 (fax) [log in to unmask] Subscribe to Primary Source, the IMLS monthly e-mail newsletter, for important museum and library news http://www.imls.gov/utility/subscrbe.htm. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).