National Museum Publishing Seminar

A biennial conference by and for the museum publishing community.

The National Museum Publishing Seminar was founded in 1989 to provide resources for and build a community of publishing professionals in museum settings. Since then, the field has grown dramatically beyond its humble roots. With the addition of new roles such as chief content officers as well as colleagues in interpretation and education, this broader and more diverse community is working together to communicate the crucial - and changing - role of the museum today.

NMPS Mission and Audience

Our mission: As repositories of the nation’s cultural, historic, and scientific resources, museums are in a unique position to develop specialized publications that reflect their educational missions and collections. Museum publication programs serve many purposes: scholarly, documentary, and informational. The purpose of the National Museum Publishing Seminar is to foster rigorous, informed conversations on the role of museum publishing today that enhance and serve this growing field.

Our audience: Speakers and attendees are drawn from the publications, digital media, and marketing departments at art, science, and history museums, as well as academics and professionals from university presses, small publishers, and design firms. They are joined by sponsors and exhibitors who serve museums and their needs by providing paper, printing, photographic expertise, design, writing, editing, packaging, web design, and other services.

Attendees come from a variety of personal and professional contexts, but are united in their desire for deep discussion around scholarly publications and their appreciation of museum books as art objects in their own right.

2025 Dates and Location

The 2025 conference will be hosted in-person in Baltimore, Maryland during late June/ early July.

Please consult this site for updates on the exact dates, hotel location and registration information.

2025 Planning Committee

The conference and associated digital sessions will be organized by the 2025 Planning Committee. Please join us in thanking the following individuals:

Suzanne Abrams Rebillard, Corning Museum of Glass

J.M. Conway, University of Chicago Graham School

Erin Dunigan, Getty Publications

Allie Haeusslein, Peir 24 Photography

Martina Kado, Maryland Center for History and Culture (2025 NMPS Chair)

Matt Mayerchak, Myerchak + Company

Tanya Thrasher (Cherokee Nation), National Museum of the American Indian

Emily Zoss, National Gallery of Art