Cooperstown hosts International Sports Heritage Association conference

The International Sports Heritage Association, the world’s largest membership group for sports museums, halls of fame and the preservation of sports heritage, recently held its annual conference in Cooperstown.

Founded in 1971, ISHA is made up of more than 130 members from around the world with a mission to educate, promote and support sports heritage professionals and institutions.

ISHA’s 2025 annual conference – with events hosted at Fenimore Farm and Country Village as well as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – took place Oct. 7-9 and attracted nearly 100 attendees from the United States and Canada.

Previous conferences have been held at such institutions as The Sports Museum in Boston, Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, International Tennis Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, San Diego Hall of Champions, Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

This year’s conference held panels and talks on traveling exhibits, fundraising, how the Texas Rangers have embraced their history, transforming spaces, mounting sport textiles, retail operations, image licensing, and the Baseball Hall of Fame’s longstanding internship program.

“When I joined ISHA’s Board of Directors to represent the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, it became a goal in my mind to bring the association’s conference to Cooperstown,” said Baseball Hall of Fame curator Gabrielle Augustine. “Since I began attending the conference, so many people had told me they’ve always wanted to visit our institution, and I thought, what better way to bring fellow sports heritage professionals to us?

“By the NBHFM hosting the ISHA Conference, we are getting the opportunity to showcase our world class Museum and all our hard work to peers in the sports museums and halls of fame world. And with our recent exhibits of The Souls of the Game, Yakyu | Baseball and Getting the Nod, 2025 was the perfect opportunity for being host to the conference.”

ISHA Executive Director Shane Mailman called selecting Cooperstown an easy decision.

“Every year we partner with one of our member institutions to host our annual conference, so when we were approached by the National Baseball Hall of Fame it was, in all honestly, a no brainer,” he said. “I’ve always thought of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the mecca of sports Hall of Fames in the world, so to have the opportunity to bring everyone here, I would never as a kid have thought that would ever happen. It’s been an honor, honestly, to bring this conference here and I think everyone else feels the same way.

“We’re a group of like-minded individuals that share common goals and objectives for our institutions. It’s something that everyone looks forward to every year. Some of the institutions are large, like the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and some are from a very small institution like the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame or the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame. But the funny thing is, it’s all based on common themes. Our challenges and opportunities are remarkably the same, but from a budgetary side of things, things can look a lot different.”

Among this year’s guest speakers were World Baseball Classic President Jim Small, 2017 Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award winner Claire Smith and the Evening of Champions keynote speaker, MLB Network’s Brian Kenny.

“I do love being here. I’ve been coming here my whole life,” said Kenny, speaking to an audience inside the Hall of Fame’s Plaque Gallery. “The whole place has always had a spirit to it. The street has spirit. The town has that spirit. This place has that aura about. It’s coming here and seeing that history does live here.

“I think we’ve learned over the last few years the importance of having a shared history, of having something of permanence. We’ve witnessed history in various capacities, no matter where you are in the cultural or political spectrum, where history gets erased. What we thought was important now by a new generation isn’t thought of as important. Or certain things we cherished are no longer cherished.

“And I think the founders, way back when, including Stephen Clark and Ford Frick, recognized the fleeting nature of our own memories, the fleeting nature of what we say is history, that that changes. Our memories are fleeting. Our memories are flimsy. We can forget. If we didn’t have these men up here that we honor year after year, and now we’ve been doing it for decades, would we remember things the same way?”

ISHA presented Baseball Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark with its Legacy Award during its annual conference, an honor created in 2018 to recognize an individual or organization located in the geographical area of the annual conference in order to honor a local sports heritage contributor.

“Jane Forbes Clark’s dedication to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a major reason why that institution is so highly regarded throughout our industry,” said ISHA President Kent Sturman. “Her deep family connection goes back to the founding of the Hall of Fame and her personal touch has been one of the driving forces behind its success for the past 30 years.”

In accepting the Legacy Award, Clark noted she grew up on the front steps of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It’s been my commitment to preserve the vision and the legacy of my grandfather, Stephen C. Clark, Sr., and Commissioner Ford Frick,” she said. “And for this institution, they really did have a strong vision. And it was founded on three key words – none of them are going to be a surprise to you – character, integrity and sportsmanship. And I actually added another word during my remarks at our Induction Ceremony this past July, when I talked about Ryne Sandberg’s 2005 induction speech. And he talked about how he felt that he had played the game with respect. And I noted then that the 55 men who were sitting behind me that afternoon did just that – played the game with respect.

“When we look at the foundational principles of what we do as a museum, we look at our mission of preserving history accurately, honoring excellence and connecting generations. And as you walk through the Museum tonight, just know that our commitment to the legacy and to the vision here is deep, it is strong, and it is very relevant.”

Other ISHA citations earned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum included:

• An award for the Museum’s social media campaign for School Resource Kits
• An award for the Museum’s Black Baseball Initiative educational outreach program
• An award for the video presentation in the Museum’s The Souls of the Game exhibit
• An award for the 2024 East-West Classic game program magazine

For Leila Dunbar, a professional appraiser who appears frequently on PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow,” the ISHA conference is an opportunity to be among like-minded individuals to talk about their joint issues regarding the preservation and acquisition and presentation of artifacts.

“In my world, I understand a lot of the challenges that they have,” she said. “And the great thing about ISHA is because it’s a relatively small group, it’s easy to make friends. It’s a very close-knit group and a very supportive group. And for that, I have an enormous amount of appreciation.

“The issue is important because sports artifacts represent the greatest stories of our athletes and events, and these professionals understand how to preserve and present it.”

Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum