Your Museum on Main Street questions answered.
How does Museum on Main Street work?
Maryland Humanities brings Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibitions to small communities across the state.
Maryland Humanities coordinates the statewide tour, recruiting host communities that best exemplify partnership and explain how the program will provide a meaningful impact for their region.
A team of Maryland Humanities staff and scholars work with local team to share best practices, increase capacity and assist in creating local networks.
Host communities then develop companion displays and a public program focused on local stories. Museums, historical societies, libraries and other cultural organizations partner to provide educational opportunities for diverse audiences.
What are the objectives of Museum on Main Street?
Museum on Main Street objectives include:
- Bringing resources to rural communities
- Providing high-quality traveling exhibits
- Cultivating relationships
- Celebrating local stories and identity
- Increasing capacity/providing technical assistance
This capacity-building project promotes community connections, allowing Maryland Humanities to support organizations statewide. We hope to amplify local humanities work, promote collaborations and assist local partners in developing programming for diverse audiences.
What Maryland counties have participated in the program?
Our Museum on Main Street program covers all of Maryland, traveling high-quality exhibitions from the Smithsonian Institution across the entire state.
Over the many years of Maryland Humanities coordinating this program, each and every county in Maryland has served as a host community for at least one MoMS tour. And many have been able to host more than once.
The Museum on Main Street initiative is a way to bring resources to rural communities, with many different towns, organizations and communities participating in this partnership.
How many Museum on Main Street tours have there been?
Maryland has participated in the Museum on Main Street program for twenty years. We have hosted nine different tours with planning for our first program starting in 2006.
| Past Museum on Main Street Tours: | Years: |
|---|---|
| SPARK! | 2025-2026 |
| Crossroads | 2022-2023 |
| Voices and Votes | 2021-2022 |
| Water/Ways | 2019-2020 |
| The Way We Worked | 2016-2017 |
| Hometown Teams | 2014-2015 |
| Journey Stories | 2012-2013 |
| Between Fences | 2010-2011 |
| Key Ingredients: America by Food | 2007-2008 |
What is the next Museum on Main Street tour?
Maryland Humanities will bring the next Museum on Main Street tour, Americans, to the state in 2027 and 2028.
Americans explores how deeply intertwined American Indians are in the history, popular culture, and identity of the United States. The exhibition will visit approximately 140 communities in 24 states during a six-year national tour.
Americans was developed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The exhibition was adapted for travel by Museum on Main Street, a national engagement program of SITES | Smithsonian Affiliations in service to rural and underserved communities nationwide.