Below we list more than 70 different resources including sample documents, presentations, articles, blog posts, and reports that we have shared over the years on our website and blog. We hope you will make use of them in your work. Please use the drop down menus to the left to access these documents which are organized by topic.
The second edition of our 2007 book published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers/AASLH, New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America's Historic Houses in Fall 2020. This book is the best seller in the American Association for State and Local History series, as we understand it from AASLH since its publication in 2007. The new edition was published in November 2020. You can buy it from Amazon or your independent bookseller.
Our workshops and consultations for 2024 for Historic Sites is here.
Our most popular services are below.
Heritage Tourism Plans
From 2016-18 we worked with Camden County NJ on a Heritage Tourism Plan for the Camden County History Alliance, coordinated by the Camden County Historical Society. The tourism plan was part about organizing and part doing. The major focus was organizing a nine day coordinated event where 32 of the 48 organizations affiliated with the Alliance were open the same dates for visitors. The event was well attended and highly regarded by visitors as well as the presenting organizations. See our evaluation report and recommendations about Camden County History Week here.
Strategic Plans for Historic Sites
Heritage Consulting Inc. uses a four-phase process to create strategic plans for historic sites. We begin with a Strengths, Weaknesses, Obstacles, and Opportunities Assessment Workshop, where stakeholders are invited to discuss the organization and its context in small group setting. Using information from this event, we conduct an online survey of the organization’s audience, to gain their feedback on existing events, programs, condition, and organizational relationships. This information is summarized into a large report. Finally, we conduct a Visioning and Goal Setting Workshop with stakeholders to identify key strategies and projects for the future. All this information is distilled and a new five-year draft Strategic Plan is created and discussed with the Board. The final Strategic Plan contains a revised mission statement, a new vision statement and a handful of key goals and tasks that define the historic site’s preferred future. See a sample strategic plan here for the Barrow Mansion in Jersey City NJ
Heritage Tourism Assessments
For historic sites that want more visitors, Heritage Consulting Inc. provides an assessment of the current visitor experience. We review the physical condition of the historic site (restoration quality, maintenance, collections display, and storage), its public amenities (restrooms, parking, handicapped accessibility), the site’s interpretation (brochures, website, school programs, docent tours, events) and marketing (website, promotion, paid advertising). From this review, we write a final report with recommendations on both long- and short-term projects to boost the quality and amount of visitation. See sample of a recent project is a Heritage Tourism Assessment for the Benjamin Cooper Tavern in Camden NJ and for the Isaac Pearson House in Hamilton Township NJ. Another project from 2019 was Heritage Tourism Assessment of the Olde Stone House Village in Washington Township here.
Roles and Responsibilities of Board and Staff for Historic Sites
One of Heritage Consulting Inc. most requested services is board training on roles and responsibilities for historic site clients. This information appears as a book chapter called “The Essential Role of the Board in Reimagining Historic House Museums” in Reimagining Historic House Museums: New Approaches and Proven Solutions, edited by Kenneth Turino and Max van Balgooy for Rowman & Littlefield Publishers/AASLH. The book is available now.
We discuss the legal responsibilities of state charted nonprofit corporations and review how boards live out these duties on a day to day basis. We discuss the role of the board versus the staff and how individual board members can best contribute to the life of the house museum. We conclude with advice about how to be a better nonprofit board member.
Keynote Speeches
For the last dozen years, we have spoken at statewide and national conferences about our major research interest on historic sites and heritage tourism. We have spoken at 35 regional, statewide and national conferences about historic sites since the publication of our second edition of our book New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Houses was published by AltaMira Press in 2007. Contact us to discuss a topic for your upcoming conference. See a recent keynote speech for the American Association for State and Local History’s Historic House Museum Luncheon at the 2019 conference in Philadelphia in 2019.
Training Workshops
Since Heritage Consulting Inc. began in 2004 we have been providing training workshops for historic sites. We have amassed more than 30 different training programs for these organizations over the years and are happy to have your review our 2024 listing of workshops and consultations for historic sites here. These workshops are lively and highly interactive and include at least one hands on exercise for participants to use the information they have learned immediately. We also provide extensive resources, such as articles, sample documents, check lists and a bibliography for each of our presentations on CD. See a slide deck about our findings report for the Camden County NJ History Alliance Survey. During the lock down during COVID 19 we did a variety of video workshops for clients on budgeting and fundraising.
Executive Director Searches
We have conducted four searches for the next Executive Director for three downtown organizations in the last 18 months. Two of them were special improvement districts in NJ. We have developed a methodology for making the search easy for the downtown board, and especially the Board President. The process takes between three and five months. We help craft the job description, circulate it widely to our network of downtown managers, and others who provide referrals, organize and host the first and second interviews, prescreen all applicants to meet the criteria listed in the job description, provide reference questions for a board member to ask, and assist with making an offer and salary and benefit negotiations. We spoke about our search process at the National Main Street Center conference in 2022.
Board Retreats
Heritage Consulting Inc. has organized and led board retreats to discuss annual work plans and future plans since we began our practice in 2004. We create an advance agenda, reading lists for participants and often include an advance survey of participants to assure that the limited hours of the retreat can best be focused on the most critical issues facing the organization. We use a variety of facilitation techniques for the retreat to be certain that all voices are heard and that a specific action agenda results. We provide a written memo with recommendations for board review soon after the retreat.
Conference Facilitation
We have helped various organizations over the years to convene retreats or summits to explore common concerns in a group setting. We work with the conference organizers to provide an agenda, gather pre-conference information to share, and facilitate discussion among the participants using panels, small group round tables, questionnaires or full group discussions. See the final report on a series of public engagement activities we completed for Annapolis MD in 2016-7.
Research Projects for Historic Sites
We have conducted several research projects for state preservation agencies over the years on funding opportunities and historic site use and management. We work closely with the client to develop a work plan and conduct the research using online and library sources. See a recent project for the Oregon Main Street, a handbook about fundraising for Downtown organizations geared to gather additional community support, Increasing Your Main Street’s Financial Stability: Turning Supporters into Donors"
Do you have a research project you wish to discuss? Please contact us 267 251 5444. Updated April 2024
- Oregon Main Street handbook on fundraising Turning Supporters into Donors
- Assessment of Heritage Tourism Potential Olde Stone House Village NJ
- Assessment of Heritage Tourism Potential Isaac Pearson House
- Assessment of Heritage Tourism Potential for the Benjamin Cooper House
- Fall 2020 Publication of Second Edition of New Solutions for House Museums
- Better Board Building Work Plan
- Second Edition of New Solutions for House Museums Planned
- Camden County Heritage Tourism Plan
- Webinar Diversify Your Reveue Sources for DE
- Camden County History Alliance Survey Report
- National Survey of Heritage Incentive and Funding Programs Spreadheet for Oregon Heritage
- National Survey of Heritage Incentive and Funding Programs Report for Oregon Heritage
- Best Practices in Board Service Jacobus Vanderveer House Bedminster NJ
- Assessment of Heritage Tourism Potential Glover Fulling Mill Haddon Heights NJ
- Heritage tourism assessment of Lansing IA
- Policy Responses for State Owned Historic Sites presentation handouts
- Alternatives to Preserve Treasured Historic Buildings, presentation handouts
- Nonprofit Policies and Procedures Manual,sample document