Public History in Small-Town America: Twenty Years of Museum on Main Street

Small towns all across America embrace their local history through Museum on Main Street (MoMS), a special collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution, state humanities councils, and rural historical organizations. The Smithsonian and state humanities councils expose communities everywhere to important national themes and encourage small organizations to use local collections, special exhibitions, local interpretation, and challenging discussions to guide their visitors to a better understanding of their community’s relationship to American history. The Museum on Main Street program serves as a model that can help public history practitioners across the country generate productive partnerships with small museums and cultural organizations.