US Holocaust Museum Acquires Captain America Comic Book

Lonnie Bunch is embodiment of what museum leadership should be and can be. In graduate school, I wrote an essay on his career and the impact he’s had on the field. That was over a decade ago, so I can only imagine how it’s grown since then. To remove Lonnie Bunch would be a mistake on so many levels.

This was a refreshing and fascinating piece of research to work on: to think about both how older Jews specifically were depicted in humanitarian photographs from postwar Europe, and why. What do these portrayals tell us about the reality of older Jews' daily lives in postwar Europe? Or, indeed, about humanitarian practices - and humanitarians - in the 1940s more broadly? This chapter appears as part of a new edited volume: Older Jews and the Holocast: Persecution, Displacement, and Survival, spearheaded by the wonderful Joanna Sliwa, Christine Schmidt and Betsy Anthony. Available now from Wayne State University Press: https://lnkd.in/e-jY6scX

One of the things I love most about our MAINE JEWISH MUSEUM Delet Program — our school partnership initiative that brings students into the Museum to explore Jewish history, identity, and contemporary Jewish life — is that no two visits look the same, but every one of them reminds me why this work matters. This week, students from Bruce M. Whittier Middle School joined us to hear from poet and friend Anna Wrobel and MJM board member Marcel Polak, who spoke movingly about growing up as the children of Holocaust survivors. Students also explored our exhibition "There Is Always an &" (https://lnkd.in/eNXywwsd) and ended their visit with a powerful takeaway: Jews are not defined by those who hate us — and contemporary Jewish life in Maine is vital and vibrant. A few days later, band students from Freeport Middle School filled the synagogue with music, learning and performing alongside the extraordinary Afro-Semitic Experience in a concert that was joyful, collaborative, and unforgettable. Two very different experiences. One shared purpose. I’m deeply grateful to The Leir Foundation and Bet Ha’am Synagogue for their generous sponsorship of the Afro-Semitic Experience program, and to the educators, artists, and students who continue to make this work possible. Moments like these remind me that museums are not just places that preserve history — they are places where young people discover who they are, how they belong, and how community is built. #Leadership #Education #Community

Camaraderie Through Clay: Veterans Classes Last summer, Clay Art Center was awarded a Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant, part of the Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network. This grant supports community-based arts projects that aim to address the experiences, challenges, and strengths of our military communities, and in the past four months, Clay Art Center has been able to put those funds to work offering free clay classes to veterans in the area. Partnerships with other organizations have been crucial to expanding the reach of these programs, and our partners have grown to include the Manhattan VA, Baruch College, LaGuardia Community College, and the Bronx VA, with more collaborations in the works. On this week's edition of Clay Dish Blog, learn more about some of the recent clay programs for veterans that have supported camaraderie, creativity, and community building through clay. Access the Clay Dish Blog: https://lnkd.in/ejP7ZPgv Clay for Veterans is funded in part by Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, an initiative of the National Endowment in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant program is managed by Mid-America Arts Alliance.

House Adopts Bill to Ease Recovery by Heirs of Nazi Looted Art Legislation to make recovering Nazi-looted art easier for the heirs of victims won approval in the US House of Representatives this week, despite concerns from some U.S. museums and European parties that it goes too far to eliminate legal defenses that courts have used to decide past claims. The bill would extend the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016, which is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. That law was designed to address cases where museums had blocked claims by invoking the statute of limitations. It gave heirs of victims of Nazi theft extra time to file a claim, up to six years after locating or identifying a stolen artwork, but didn't stop museums mounting effective defenses. The new bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in December, will help claimants, in part by closing off such time-related defenses. The bill now goes to the US President for his consideration. US Congressman Jerrold Nadler writes that the US House of Representatives passed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025 unanimously. In a statement he said: “I was proud to lead efforts to pass the original HEAR Act in 2016 .. and I am honored to continue the fight as the lead House Democratic sponsor of the updated legislation that passed the House unanimously today. Today the House of Representatives affirmed that in the US, every victim and family member with a credible claim deserves to have their day in court, with their case heard on the merits alone. Justice must no longer be denied due to procedural technicalities and legislative sunset provisions. While we cannot reverse the horrors of the Holocaust, we can ensure that in an American courtroom, the truth of a family’s legacy carries more weight than a legal loophole.”  #artandtechnology #provenance #resonance #governance #valuation #artmarket Source: https://lnkd.in/gv36_4r4 Image: GPT5 mini

We are excited to share that the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, has opened a state-of-the-art Education Center, which brings the story of the Holocaust into the 21st century with cutting-edge interactive technology, historic film footage and family photographs, contemporary news reports and more. It greatly expands on the Memorial’s longstanding mission to preserve Holocaust memories, educate new generations and confront the scourge of antisemitism. The Center will feature two Knight Digital Theaters featuring the USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony and USC Libraries Interactive Interviews. These interactive biography exhibits enable visitors to conduct real-time, one-on-one interviews with Holocaust survivors and witnesses and learn those survivors’ experiences under Nazi rule, in the concentration camps, and after liberation. Currently, the exhibit features the testimonies of 5 Holocaust survivors and 1 liberator — 5 in English, 1 in Spanish. Read more: https://ow.ly/GqJH50Yzpkl

Do you work with a museum, memorial, or local initiative connected to a Holocaust site in Europe? The European Sites of Holocaust Memory (#ESHEM) network, an initiative of the European Commission, has launched its open call for membership. ESHEM connects historical Holocaust sites and their custodians across Europe, supporting their work in research, education, and commemoration, and contributing to the fight against Holocaust denial and distortion. The call is open to both established institutions (such as museums and memorials) and grassroots initiatives, including uncommemorated Holocaust sites cared for by local custodians. Applications close on 31 March. More information is available on their website: https://lnkd.in/d3RfUXbw

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 🤲 𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 🤲 As frightening as the phrase 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 is, that much more hopeful is the idea of confronting violence with 𝙂𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 ✨ https://lnkd.in/edniPpsf ☝ In this amazingly insightful & inspiring piece from our friend and SoDy Director Rachel Ainsworth Ph.D. about how communities can resist violent, authoritarian regimes in an age when all of the cards are stacked against it. And maybe even set the stage for a new, just, resilient, cooperative society to emerge. And keep an eye out for more 🤔 #SoDyThoughtPieces coming soon!

America's Credit Union Museum is a gem which goes far too unappreciated by our movement and the public. The impact credit unions have had on the financial well-being of Americans is all too often lost in the discussion and the leaders who forged through the challenges should be celebrated.

John Constable: Large Study Of The Cornfield Discovered In Texas https://lnkd.in/eDUShE6a A large-scale oil study for John Constable’s The Cornfield, the largest known to exist, has been languishing in a small historical museum in Jefferson, Texas, for decades. Unrecognised, miscatalogued as one of scores of known copies, gathering the particular kind of obscurity that only a rural American institution can provide. It will now lead Heritage Auctions’ European Art sale in Dallas on 5 June.