SALISBURY — The Rowan Museum has recently been awarded Gold Certifications by the American Association for State and Local History in its Standards and Excellence Program for History Organization, a museum news release said.

The certifications acknowledge completion of better performance indicators in the areas of management, stewardship of historic structures and landscapes, audience, mission, vision and governance, interpretation and stewardship of collections.

Along with retiring museum Executive Director Kaye Brown Hirst, Terry Holt, president of the board of directors, and other board members engaged in this process early last year to study themselves and the practices of the museum.

“This process is a way for us to benchmark our work against nationally recognized standards,” Hirst said. “Especially designed for history museums, it gave us an opportunity to look into every detail of our work and our collections and sites, and enabled us to follow clear lines of progress in these six areas. My successor, Aaron Kepley, will be continuing this work, along with our board of directors so that the Rowan Museum can next become accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It’s all a continuing roadmap to improvement of the programs and services we offer to our community.”

The Rowan Museum will be recognized at the American Association for State and Local History’s Annual Meeting this autumn in Detroit, Michigan.