Minneapolis, Minn. – The Bakken Museum is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed its participation in the 2022 Museum Assessment Program. Offered through a cooperative agreement between the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the program is widely considered the first step in becoming a fully accredited cultural institution.

The Bakken Museum was founded in 1975 as a non-profit library, museum, and education center devoted to the history of electricity and magnetism and their uses in medicine and the life sciences. The Bakken Museum's collection of rare books and antique instruments and devices has grown to be the finest of its kind in the world. The education programs of The Bakken are renowned for their integration of hands-on learning, history, and the arts. In 2016, The Bakken Museum adopted a new mission focusing on inspiration and innovation. Today, the museum’s exhibits explore the intersection of science, technology, and the humanities.

“The Bakken’s Collections are a rich resource for exploring efforts to understand the human body, health, and wellness throughout history,” said The Bakken Museum’s Curator of Exhibits and Collections, Adrian Fischer. “The Museum Assessment Program will help us best care for the nearly 15,000 artifacts and books in our collections, ensuring their preservation and accessibility to the public for years to come."

“Artifacts in museums often represent a snapshot of the time in which they were actively acquired,” said museum Executive Vice President Joe Imholte. “By completing the Museum Assessment Program, The Bakken Museum has a clearer path towards building a collection that represents contributions of individuals with a broader range of identities than are currently present in the collection.”  

In this year-long assessment program, The Bakken Museum completed the Collections Stewardship assessment, which focuses on practical, ethical, and strategic collections issues and activities related to the care and management of a museum’s collections, and helps a museum gain collections knowledge, recognize and mitigate risk, take action, and plan for the future.

Since its inception in 1981, the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) has helped more than 5,000 small and mid-sized museums of all types strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards. Read more about the Alliance’s Museum Assessment Program and Continuum of Excellence.

About The Bakken Museum

The Bakken Museum inspires a passion for innovation by exploring the potential of science, technology, and the humanities to make the world a better place. Located on the West shore of Bde Maka Ska, the museum features interactive exhibits for all ages, a world-renowned collection of artifacts, and exceptional STEM education programs. For more information, visit thebakken.org. Find @thebakkenmusem on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

About the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos. Since 1906, we have been championing museums through advocacy and providing museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward. For more information on the American Alliance of Museums, and the impact of museums, visit aam-us.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Whittet
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Bakken Museum
whittet@thebakken.org | 651-242-0779