The Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM) seeks a part-time Administrator to serve a growing museum service organization with approximately 100 institutional members. The Administrator supports a 9-member volunteer board, fosters communications with the membership including on social media, supports planning and execution of an annual conference, maintains a website, and serves as liaison for CAMM’s relationship with the National Park Service’s Maritime Documentation Office. Must have competence with general office software including spreadsheets, WordPress, social media platforms, and videoconferencing technologies. The successful candidate should have a demonstrated record of administrative ability and preference is given to those with experience in and familiarity with maritime museums.

https://councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org/camm-administrator/

[Part time, no benefits. Compensation is $10,000 annually]

Analisa here from the Stockton Maritime Museum. After 15 years of restoring the USS Lucid (MSO-458) on the Delta, and we’re now preparing to nominate her to the National Register. We are asking the community for any documentation/artifact that may speak to the Lucid’s historical significance. A Higgins Industries ship laid down in the New Orleans shipyard on March 16, 1953, launched November 14, 1953, and commissioned May 4, 1955, we are on the hunt for pictures of her build, shipyard newsletter/magazine articles featuring her and/or minesweepers built at the time, and anything that might not as easily turn up in a digital database search. Many thanks! Contact: Analisa Freitas, analisa@stocktonmaritimemuseum.org

This week, the Senate may begin consideration of an appropriations bill that contains funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for fiscal year 2026.

The draft Senate bill proposes a small decrease for IMLS despite President Trump’s budget proposal to eliminate the agency. Thanks to its past advocacy efforts, the museum community has been able to keep IMLS open despite previous attempts to shutter the agency.

We encourage you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to keep IMLS Office of Museum Services funding levels in the bill and to include additional safeguards to prevent the White House from cutting appropriated funds. Our colleagues at the American Alliance of Museums have a form that is easy to fill out to reach your representatives.

Contact Congress
Update on IMLS Lawsuit
In April, attorneys general from 21 states filed a lawsuit, Rhode Island v. Trump, to defend IMLS and prevent the Trump administration from cancelling grants awarded by the agency.

In May, the judge in the case issued a preliminary injunction requiring the White House to undo the steps it had taken to dismantle IMLS and prohibited further action against the agency.

AASLH joined a coalition of museum, library, and cultural organizations in filing an amicus brief as the case proceeded to the federal appellate level. We encourage you to read it.

Oral arguments have been scheduled for Thursday, December 4, in Boston.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is looking to hire a collections & curatorial associate. Full details here.

Some exciting news from the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary: an announcement to hire an education specialist.

This will be a contract position through the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, with the successful candidate located in Sheboygan. The application can be found at the following link:

The next CAMM annual conference will take place at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, April 22–24, 2026.

Conference theme: Resilience and Relevance

How do we as maritime museums adapt and endure in a changing world? All institutions and programs encounter challenges, so what strategies do we look to when facing shifting financial or funding realities, new community priorities, or natural or human-caused calamities? In trying times, how do we reinvent ourselves while remaining true to our core values and missions?

The CAMM program committee invites presentation proposals that address institutional and programmatic resilience and relevance within one or more of the following maritime-museum areas of action: 

Exhibitions and interpretation

Education and outreach

Preservation

Collections

Watercraft and watercraft/waterfront programing

Administration and development

When submitting a proposal for this year’s conference, please be certain to explain how your topic fits into the overall conference theme.

All proposals are due by 8pm EST on Monday, December 1, 2025.

For full details go toThe next CAMM annual conference will take place at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, April 22–24, 2026.

Conference theme: Resilience and Relevance

How do we as maritime museums adapt and endure in a changing world? All institutions and programs encounter challenges, so what strategies do we look to when facing shifting financial or funding realities, new community priorities, or natural or human-caused calamities? In trying times, how do we reinvent ourselves while remaining true to our core values and missions?

The CAMM program committee invites presentation proposals that address institutional and programmatic resilience and relevance within one or more of the following maritime-museum areas of action: 

Exhibitions and interpretation

Education and outreach

Preservation

Collections

Watercraft and watercraft/waterfront programing

Administration and development

When submitting a proposal for this year’s conference, please be certain to explain how your topic fits into the overall conference theme.

All proposals are due by 8pm EST on Monday, December 1, 2025.

For full details go to https://councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org/annual-conference/. Email any questions to the CAMM administrator at maritimemuseums@gmail.com. The CAMM program committee will evaluate each proposal, and you will be notified by Friday, December 19, if your presentation is accepted. All presenters will be required to register for the conference.

Please note:

Single presentations may be limited to 30 minutes, including a question-and-answer segment.. Email any questions to the CAMM administrator at maritimemuseums@gmail.com. The CAMM program committee will evaluate each proposal, and you will be notified by Friday, December 19, if your presentation is accepted. All presenters will be required to register for the conference.

To welcome new voices and new ideas, the CAMM program committee may give preference to speakers who have not presented at a CAMM conference within the last two years.

The program committee reserves the right to unite single presentations into loose panels as required.

Please note:

• To welcome new voices and new ideas, the CAMM program committee may give preference to speakers who have not presented at a CAMM conference within the last two years.
• The program committee reserves the right to unite single presentations into loose panels as required.
• Single presentations may be limited to 30 minutes, including a question-and-answer segment.

NASOH invites museum professionals to present at its conference in New Haven, May 27-29, 2026.

https://councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2026-NASOH-CFP.pdf

Full information here.

Time is running out! Take advantage of early registration rates for the Maritime Heritage Conference/HNSA Annual Symposium in Buffalo, NY, before they expire on 1 August. Join us on 24–27 September for a gathering of naval and maritime scholars and people from the world of maritime museums, historic lighthouses, tall ships for sail training and youth, small craft, marine art, sailing, advocacy, and more! For more details—including the newly released list of panels and papers—go to https://seahistory.org/maritime-heritage-conference/#mhc . You won’t want to miss this chance to network, learn from peer organizations, and share your own hard-won lessons from the field. We look forward to seeing you there! #MHC2025