experience

Professional Activities and Publications

• spent twenty years at the Smithsonian Institution working at three different museums: National Air and Space Museum (most recently Chief of Museum Learning), National Museum of American History, National Portrait Gallery.
• served on the core team that developed Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition that traveled the country. Responsible for many associated products including an extensive K-12 multi-disciplinary curriculum developed by teams of teachers in St. Louis and Philadelphia and reviewed by tribal advisers. Guided the development of the exhibition’s award-winning website.
• served as program manager for the Hands On History Room, a popular learning venue for all ages at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and an international model of museum education.
• served on the core team of seven exhibitions at Smithsonian museums and the core team of a national bicentennial traveling exhibition with artifacts from more than fifty lending institutions. Wrote labels for eight major exhibitions.
• co-authored The Museum Educator’s Manual: Educators Share Successful Techniques (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009, 2^nd edition 2017), a practical guide to informal learning covering such topics as active learning, education and technology, exhibition and program development, and evaluation, reaching all age levels as well as volunteer and docent training.
• serves on the faculty for the History Leadership Institute (formerly the Seminar for Historical Administration or SHA) since 2010. Initially covered the topic of “the digital museum” and most recently led the conversation about “making history relevant.” Teaches workshops around the country for the American Association for State and Local History.
• wrote A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), a career memoir about which the Washington Post reviewer wrote: “The title is a good shorthand for Tim Grove’s argument that quirky, accessible, emotionally evocative historical artifacts can fire the imagination and kindle the flames of knowledge in a way that books, however lively, often fail to…Grove’s book is both an inspiration and a template for those who want to kick history out of the attic and put it back where it belongs: in the national living room, slightly to the left of the television.”
• co-founded the History Relevance Campaign, a national effort to raise the profile of history, charge the history field with articulating a unified message, and champion the value of historical thinking skills to connect past with present in order to inform decision-making. Tim recently spoke about the History Relevance initiative at Canada’s History Forum.
• originated and wrote the “History Bytes” column in History News for thirteen years. It encouraged the history field to think critically about what they were putting online and tracked trends and successes in online technology.
• authored children’s books. First Flight Around the World (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2015) was a finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction award from the American Library Association. Tim’s next children’s book focuses on the Battle of Baltimore and the Star-Spangled Banner.
• brings extensive experience with audience evaluation, having coordinated all kinds of evaluation efforts for various projects he has worked on.
• serving as Program Chair for American Association for State and Local History annual meeting in Kansas City, MO, Sept. 26-29, 2018.

Articles

Selected Articles

Five Ways to Make History Fun –  History News Network article

History Relevance in Canada – National Council for Public History blog

Historical Thinking is an Unnatural Act –  History News article

Truth or Consequences article  – the intersection of trust, truth and public history, article about the theme of the upcoming American Association for State and Local History annual meeting

New Media and the Challenges for Public History –  American Historical Association Perspectives on History article

Quotes from book reviews https://timgrove.net/reviews/

Past Clients and Workshops

Past Clients and Workshops

• George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Virginia – providing conceptual planning services for a new permanent exhibition
• Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES): Museum on Main Street program, Washington, D.C.  Grove History Consulting wrote this Exhibition Planning Guide
• Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH – conducted research for a national survey of history institutions that run a scholars-in-residence/public-historians-in-residence program
• Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury, NY – trained docents for a new interpretive tour
• Workshop about History Relevance for the Indianapolis, IN history community sponsored by the National Council for Public History and Conner Prairie
• Castine Historical Society, Castine, Maine—Castine Historical Society newsletter http://www.castinehistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Visitor-Summer-2016.pdf
• Lancaster Historical Society, Lancaster, PA
• Michigan History Center, Lansing, MI
• Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO

Past Speaking Engagements

Past Speaking Engagements

• Michigan Historical Center
• Kentucky Historical Society
• The Henry Ford
• Conner Prairie
• Canadian Museum of History
• Abbe Museum
• National Museum of American History
• National Air and Space Museum
• Gunston Hall
• Strawbery Banke
• Missouri Historical Society
• St. Louis Science Center
• Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (KY)
• National Archives