We're thinking about the same issues here in Cleveland. Our Executive Director attended that workshop, I believe, and we're off to visit John Herbst in Pittsburgh next week. For some institutions, the term may be purely semantic. But I think that what the term "center" is meant to convey is that the institution does a variety of things besides and beyond what the public may perceive to be traditional history museum exhibits. A center would necessarily have a research library, special research programs, a publication series, etc. Not that many museums do not already have those. More imporantly, though, is the idea that the institution is a focus, or "center" for community-based projects about the history of that particular area. For instance, we've bantered about the idea of a "Cleveland History Center" here. What's happening, I suspect, is that a number of established institutions, and newer ones, are grappling with the roles that a history museum should play in the cultural life of the community in which they are located. While name changes and titles are ultimately incidental to the change, naming things is an important human way of approaching them...especially when we're trying to conceptualize change. Just some thoughts. Hope they help. Ed Pershey Curator of Urban & Industrial History Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland