NEW YORK, Oct 4, 2012/ — The Museum at FIT (MFIT) has received the highest national recognition for a museum – accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).
Accreditation, which is awarded to only 4.5 percent of America’s estimated 17,500 museums and less than 1 percent of college and university museums, signifies the highest level of excellence.
The AAM accrediting commission found MFIT not only to have “one of the most important collections of its type” but also to meet “national standards and best practices for a U.S. museum” and “to be a good steward of its resources held in the public trust and committed to a philosophy of continual institutional growth.”
Established in 1967, MFIT is the only museum in New York City, and one of a handful around the world, dedicated solely to the art of fashion.
Located at Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, it is free and open to the public. Best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions, MFIT has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. The museum’s mission is to advance knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, publications, and public programs.
MFIT joins an elite group that includes the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Field Museum in Chicago, and The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, along with 20 prestigious accredited institutions in New York City.
These are the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Frick Collection, the George Gustav Heye Center, The Jewish Museum, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library & Museum, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, the Museum of Arts and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, the New York Botanical Garden, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Whitney Museum of Art.
“The Museum at FIT is very proud to receive this distinction,” noted Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT. “We sought accreditation through the AAM to emphasize the museum’s commitment to the core values and principles of collections stewardship.”
For more about The Museum at FIT, visit fitnyc.edu/museum
