BOOK CHRONICLES THE CREATION, PERMANENT EXHIBITS OF AANM

*Click here to download a printable word doc of this copy.

Dearborn, MI (November 30, 2007) - The Arab American National Museum (AANM) has released a new book that recounts the five-year odyssey that led to the 2005 opening of the first-ever Arab American museum, an institution that remains unique among the 17,500 museums in the United States. 

Written by the Museum’s founding director, Dr. Anan Ameri, Telling Our Story: The Arab American National Museum (190 pages, self-published, 2007) is also a colorful visual reference of the Museum’s permanent exhibits - Coming To America, Living In America, and Making An Impact - with hundreds of photos and accompanying text that translate the Museum experience to the printed page.

"This book chronicles the journey that millions of Arab immigrants have made in building a new life in the United States, as well as the journey that my colleagues and I took in traveling the country to build the collection of real-life stories and related artifacts that became our permanent exhibits," says Ameri. "The book is an excellent souvenir for Museum visitors, but more importantly, it allows those who cannot visit the Museum in person to experience some of its core content."

Telling Our Story: The Arab American National Museum is available for $35 in the Museum Store and in the online store at www.arabamericanmuseum.org. AANM Members may check out copies of the book at the Museum’s Library & Resource Center at no charge.

Dr. Anan Ameri, a Palestinian American who emigrated to the U.S. from Amman, Jordan, is a widely respected sociologist, scholar and author on Arabs and Arab Americans. Ameri holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Wayne State University, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies in 1996. She earned her M.A. from Cairo University in Egypt, and her B.A. from the University of Jordan in Amman. Ameri joined ACCESS (the Museum’s parent organization) in 1997 as director of cultural arts programs, which led her to conceive, plan and raise $16 million for the creation of the Arab American National Museum, which opened in May 2005.

The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves, celebrates, and educates the public on the history, life, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans.  We serve as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in this country.  The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org and www.accesscommunity.org.

The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affilation program at http://affiliations.si.edu.

The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI, 48126. Museum hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12; ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further information.

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Attachments:

AANM Book Release