Quaker Heritage Center Is First in Region to Earn National Certification

QHC Meets Benchmarks Standards Set by Nationally Recognized Museums The Meriam R. Hare Quaker Heritage Center (QHC) at Wilmington College is the first museum or history center in southwest Ohio to earn national certification through the American Association for State and Local History’s (AASLH) Standards of Excellence Program (StEPs). (PICTURED) Ruth Brindle, (right) curator of the Quaker Heritage Center is pictured with Sara Fisher of the Ohio History Service Corps. This designation is designed for small and medium-size history organizations that meet certain standards based upon benchmarks set by nationally recognized museums. QHC Director Ruth Brindle was pleased to learn of the award and looks forward to continuing with AASLH’s self-study and assessment program. “This is a really exciting accomplishment for the Quaker Heritage Center. The QHC is one of only a dozen history organizations in Ohio that received this certification — and the first in the southwest region of the state,” Brindle said, noting the Center opened in 2005. The program is ongoing and assists organizations in advancing through various levels of excellence — bronze, silver and gold — in six pertinent sections. The process provides for assessing the museums’ policies and practices as benchmarked against national museum standards and best practices. “We’ve incorporated these standards into our everyday work,” said Brindle, who cited the key role played by Sara Fisher, a member of the Ohio History Service Corps who has been working at the Quaker Heritage Center as a local history AmeriCorps member. “Once we’ve achieved the basic level in those five categories, then we’ll start taking steps to move up to the silver level in each,” she added. Some of the other AASLH-certified history organizations throughout the United States include institutions ranging from the Texas Cotton Gin Museum to the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History and Firefighters Hall and Museum. To find out more about the QHC’s exhibits and programs, visit www.wilmington.edu/the-wilmington-difference/qhc or search for “QuakerHeritageCenter” on Facebook.