Birmingham Museum Receives Collaborators Award

NEWS FROM THE MUSEUM

BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM TO RECEIVE COLLABORATORS AWARD

The Birmingham Museum is proud to announce that it is the 2024 recipient of a special award from the Association of Midwest Museums (AMM) for its leadership in a grantfunded multi-community public history project to study Oakland County’s Underground Railroad.

The AMM, which represents the eight-state region of the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin, has selected the Birmingham Museum to receive a special Collaborators Award to recognize the project and its impact, calling it “inspiring” and “extraordinary.’ This unique project has unified historical organizations throughout Oakland County who share an interest in identifying evidence-based history of the elusive Underground Railroad in our area. Thus far, it has illuminated the stories of over a dozen previously unknown formerly enslaved people who fled the South in the years before the Civil War They were sheltered throughout Oakland County by everyday people who formed an abolitionist network that helped the freedom seekers safely reach Canada. The project’s findings have been incorporated into a stillevolving interactive website, traveling exhibit and online database.

This type of collective effort is unusual in the museum field It demonstrates a highly effective approach to cross-museum collaboration that incorporates creative use of resources and grass roots involvement to do original research that benefits a wide public audience. The Birmingham Museum has received several awards over the years for its achievements, but this is the first such recognition at the regional level. The museum is appreciative of the many organizations, partners, and individual volunteers who have helped the project reach such amazing success, and looks forward to more local history collaborations in the future.

The mission of the Birmingham Museum is to tell Birmingham’s story. The museum is located at 556 W Maple Road, and features changing exhibits at the Allen House, and tours of the 1822 Hunter House, Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 4 p m and by appointment. Contact the museum at (248) 530-1928 or visit us at bhamgov.org/museum.

The Birmingham Museum was chosen for the award because of the many communities involved in the project and its wide impact

This composite image illustrates some of the freedom seekers and abolitionists identified through the project.