Museums Association of Montana – Helping Hands Project

The Museums Association of Montana recognizes the need and importance of promoting professionalism and collaboration among museums, their staffs, volunteers, and board members. Many of Montana’s smaller museums are run by caring, but untrained and underpaid local individuals, or retired professionals who are passionate about art or history.

The Museums Associations of Montana’s Helping Hands project provides support and education to rural museums throughout the state at no or little cost to the facility. This project used MHF funds to provide up-to-date and regularly changed “best practices” techniques to Montana’s museums. This project included workshops on textile ID and care, how to make low-cost mannequins, pros and cons of seasonal closing of museums, database management and cemetery caretaking.