International Tennis Hall of Fame reaccredited by the American Alliance of Museums

By International Tennis Hall Of Fame

The International Tennis Hall of Fame has been announced as one of 47 museums in the United States to earn reaccreditation awards from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) this year. AAM accreditation is the highest national recognition afforded to the nation’s museums.

“It is an honor to achieve reaccreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. Reaccreditation represents an exciting and significant accomplishment for the International Tennis Hall of Fame,” said Todd Martin, CEO of the ITHF. “I thank the ITHF’s museum professionals, volunteer Museum Committee members, and Executive Board for their dedication and expertise throughout the reaccreditation process.

Our team has worked diligently in recent years to improve our guest experience, expand our digital offerings, and better serve the public good. We look forward to continuing to innovate our preservation and storytelling efforts in the decade to come.”

Of approximately 33,000 museums in the United States, less than 1,100 are currently accredited. The ITHF first received accreditation in 2013, becoming the first sports Hall of Fame to earn the recognition. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for 50 years, AAM’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability.

All museums must undergo a reaccreditation review every 10 years to maintain accredited status. Following a rigorous self-assessment process and site visit by AAM representatives earlier this year, the ITHF’s reaccreditation decision was made at the October meeting of the Accreditation Commission.

Since its last accreditation, the ITHF has made strides in numerous facets of the organization. In 2015, the museum completed a $3 million renovation, delivering an all-new interactive experience for tennis fans. The ITHF has curated and developed 11 digital exhibits on tennisfame.com, for the purpose of educating a global audience. Three of those digital exhibits have been honored by the International Sports Heritage Association as ISHY Award winners for New Exhibit, including Tins, Cans & Cartons, Smash Hit: The Evolution of the Tennis Racquet, and Breaking the Barriers: The ATA and Black Tennis Pioneers. Through TeamFAME, a National Junior Tennis & Learning Chapter established in 2018, the ITHF serves the Newport community by providing free tennis and educational programming for under-resourced youth.

“Accredited museums are a community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to excellence,” said Laura L. Lott, Alliance President and CEO. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement, of which both the institutions and the communities they serve can be extremely proud.”

During the reaccreditation process, the ITHF was commended for fulfilling its educational mission to share tennis history and culture, while also celebrating the sport’s present-day moments. The museum is at the forefront of sport preservation and storytelling, featuring over 2,000 items on display from a collection of over 25,000 tennis-related artifacts, images, and publications. In addition to the museum, the Information Research Center, utilized by academic and media professionals, is a comprehensive tennis library containing more than one hundred years of historic documents, publications, photographs, and audio-visual materials.