Boston Stories, a website that’s being lovingly created by Mike Spock and colleagues, promises to help us remember one very important influence on the museum scene – the Boston Children’s Museum and all those who were part of what George Hein calls “an optimistic time.” Check it out.

At right, in an image from the website’s archives, a child explores an exhibit and practices blowing bubbles.

As Paul says, “Think green! Help find a ’second home’ for the many well-used (but still usable) “retired” exhibits, instead of letting them gather dust in storage or being tossed out!”

And when you post a listing there, consider posting a case study or a ‘Bit over here on ExhibitFiles  (and linking to it), to share your experiences here, too.

NSF’s ISE program has funded a number of projects – CAISE, InformalScience.org, and ExhibitFiles among them – that together are building what some have called an “improvement infrastructure” for the informal science education field. The 240+ case studies and reviews, and the growing number of Bits, contributed by ExhibitFiles members are an important part of the collective memory that’s supporting good work i our field.

Along with Bits there are other enhancements to the site that will make it easier to use. Icons in the Comments feed on the main page help you quickly find the newest Bits, with their associated media files.

Let us know what you think. Many thanks to Ideum and to the National Science Foundation for the funding that enabled us to add this feature and keep this site commercial free.

Tom Nielsen of Tucson and Jason Jay Stevens of San Antonio received this year’s “golden” awards in recognition of their recent contributions.

Tom wrote in July about his recollections of soap bubble exhibits at the Exploratorium. “‘Exploratorium’, I think, nails it—exploration for the joy of it, up to your elbows in soapy water, shoulder to shoulder with other visitors. If there are discoveries, if there is learning, if test scores improve, fine. But without exploration there’s nothing.” Tom also wrote earlier about the Experimentarium’s Giant Ears and Seeing the Light.

In his reviews, Jason has shared his observations about exhibitions from upstate New York to Los Angeles, including the Goodbye Parade that closes every day at Rochester’s Strong National Museum of Play, the “old-fashioned charm” of the Velaslavasay Panorama and St. Louis’s City Museum, “profoundly profuse with risk.”

Many thanks to Tom, Jason, and all of the members of ExhibitFiles who are contributing to our collective memories.

We’ll be recognizing some of the outstanding contributors to the site over the last year. KC Cole, author of the recent biography of Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer, also will be there to give a signed copy of her book to an ExhibitFiles member who’s helped keep Frank’s memory alive in a post on the site.

Between now and then, we hope you’ll consider contributing a case study or review – it can be of a whole exhibition, or just one exhibit that was an inspiration to you, or that taught you something you want to share with others.

Hope to see you in Fort Worth!

We invite the ExhibitFiles community to help celebrate – and to take time to revisit and reflect on Frank Oppenheimer’s exhibit philosophy and practice.

Over the next three months, contribute a case study or review of an exhibit that was developed by Frank himself, or in his spirit. Then on October 30, at the ExhibitFiles Happy Hour at the ASTC Annual Conference in Fort Worth, we’ll recognize the most highly rated contributor with a copy of K.C.’s book. She’ll be there to sign the book and talk about her memories of Frank.

If you want to learn more about Frank Oppenheimer’s ideas about exhibits, there’s also a wonderful collection of his writings on the Exploratorium website – a great source of inspiration, even after all these years.

Sessions relating to the meeting theme – Museums Without Borders – are given greater consideration by the AAM Program Committee. Such topics might include: learning how best to engage publics in new ways; how museums have succeeded (or not) in responding to different communities including minorities, immigrants, and children; how museums have succeeded (or not) in creating networks with other museums in the United States and abroad; and what we’ve learned about what works with nontraditional audiences.

If you have an idea for a session – about technology, design, content development, prototyping, or some other aspect of exhibitions – that relates to these themes, go to the AAM website to submit a session and ask for NAME endorsement.