Strategic Plan
2021-2024
Our Strategic Vision
Preserving and Sharing History of and for All Pennsylvanians
Our Mission
Our Values
We are committed to:
- Connecting Pennsylvanians to their history and each other.
- Helping Pennsylvanians discover the relevance of their history and culture.
- Sharing Pennsylvania history to educate, inspire and provide context for decision-making.
- Being inclusive in everything we do and treating everyone with dignity, kindness and respect.
- Doing our best always to provide Pennsylvanians with the service they deserve.
Our Vision
Pennsylvanians see history as relevant to their lives.
Our Strategic Priorities
Meaningful and Inclusive History
We will:
- Ensure that the history preserved and shared represents the breadth of Pennsylvanians and their stories.
- Engage with communities and partners to preserve and share history that is meaningful to them.
- Enhance offerings on topics with contemporary relevance.
- Share history in engaging, innovative and relatable ways.
- Increased emphasis on diverse exhibits and programs, including a new State Museum civil rights exhibit and a Juneteenth celebration at Pennsbury Manor.
- Online Community History Dialog to encourage documentation and preservation of underrepresented communities’ history.
- Broadening the collection of museum artifacts to better represent all Pennsylvanians.
- Development of the Statewide Preservation Plan to assist communities in preserving historic resources that are meaningful to them.
- Increase the diversity represented in PHMC’s collections, including its sites, facilities, collections, exhibits and data.
- Ensure that collections, artifacts and documents are findable and retrievable.
- Make PHMC sites and content accessible, both physically and virtually
Work in Progress
- Implementation of a statewide historic property survey to document underrepresented resources that illustrate the state’s ethnic, cultural and historical diversity within Pennsylvania’s Historic Places Inventory.
- Digitization of microfilm records that were previously available only on site and making them accessible online.
- Deployment of a publicly accessible online database of museum collections.
- Virtual history programs shared through social media, online presentations, live-streamed programs and online webinars.
Participatory History
- Assist communities in preserving history that is meaningful to them.
- Connect history practitioners, resource providers and strategic partners.
- Support strategic initiatives and partnerships that produce mutually beneficial results.
- Development of a statewide directory of historical and cultural institutions.
- Development of procedures for other state agencies to clarify their responsibilities under the History Code.
- Collaboration with state agencies, such as our work with PennDOT to preserve metal truss bridges, a signature Pennsylvania historic resource.
Public History
- Keep service to Pennsylvanians at the heart of everything we do.
- Continuously improve efficiency and prioritize mission-driven and strategic work.
- Follow best practices, preserving historical collections and stories for present and future generations of Pennsylvanians.
- Regular evaluation of initiatives and programs for effectiveness and alignment with strategic priorities.
- Creation of a digital archives to serve the public by preserving the electronic records that protect their financial interests and legal rights.
- Development of a historic preservation data management system to streamline the environmental review processes.
Our collections are forever. We only collect artifacts and documents that must be preserved permanently, so it is essential that agency operations remain supported and viable.
We Will:
- Care for collections in accordance with best practices.
- Align mission-critical and strategic priorities with resources.
- Provide professional growth and support opportunities to retain and attract motivated, well-qualified and diverse staff.
Work in Progress
- Construction of a new State Archives building.
- Relocation of collections currently held at Harrisburg State Hospital.
- Reorganization of PHMC’s digital assets.