The National Council on Public History holds an annual meeting each spring for professionals, students, faculty members, and anyone else interested in public history. The conference provides professional development through an abundance of sessions, plenaries, and workshops; presents opportunities for networking through special events and an exhibit hall; and connects conference attendees to the community through tours and keynote speakers.
Upcoming Conferences
| Propose a Meeting Location Working Groups |
2011 Pensacola, FL
April 6-10, Historic Pensacola Village and the Crowne Plaza Hotel
2012 Milwaukee, WI
April 19-22 — Joint meeting with the Organization of American Historians at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center (See map.)
Interested in proposing a site for a future annual meeting location? Read more details here.
2010 Portland, OR
March 10-14 — Joint meeting with the American Society for Environmental History at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower
What people are saying about the conference…
| “I have never in my life attended such a varied, vibrant and unpretentious conference gathering. Only about 1/3rd the attendees were academic historians. The rest were state and federal employees, archivists and museum workers, school teachers, impassioned civilians. What brought them together is that they were all doing history, and in many cases very fine history indeed. There was none of this ‘let me look at your name tag and see if you are worth talking to’ nonsense, it was more ‘let me talk to you and find out what cool stuff you are doing.’ I had a great time and was very impressed.” [Blog posting after 2008 Louisville meeting] |
“This conference is absolutely crucial for me. As a public history professor in a traditional department—and an assistant professor at that—I feel a bit isolated and worry about the ways in which my courses seem to differ in approach and philosophy to the standard history courses. Being among colleagues and nurturing my extended professional relationships is important for two reasons. First, I can see that my courses are in line with our best practices. Second, I gather information and ideas about how best to modify them, guided by my relationship with practitioners, public history educators and interdisciplinary approaches.†|
| “The congenial networking and informality of NCPH is a big plus. And although growing in size, the NCPH conference is still human-scale. And human! The coffee breaks gave a good opportunity to informal chatting. And I still like the poster session as a way to bring young presentors into the conference and have them participate as presenters.” [Corporate historian on 2009 Providence meeting] |
Past Conferences
1979 — Montecito, California
1980 — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1981 — Raleigh, North Carolina
1982 — Chicago, Illinois
1983 — Waterloo, Ontario
1984 — Los Angeles, California
1985 — Phoenix, Arizona
1986 — New York, New York (with OAH)
1987 — Washington, D.C. (with SHFG)
1988 — Denver, Colorado
1989 — St. Louis, Missouri (with OAH)
1990 — San Diego, California (with SOHA)
1991 — Toledo, Ohio
1992 — Columbia, South Carolina
1993 — Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
1994 — Sacramento, California (with SOHA and NOHA)
1995 — Washington, D.C. (with OAH)
1996 — Seattle, Washington
1997 — Albany, New York
1998 — Austin, Texas
1999 — Lowell, Massachusetts
2000 — St. Louis, Missouri (with OAH)
2001 — Ottawa, Ontario
2002 — Washington, D.C. (with OAH)
2003 — Houston, Texas
2004 — Victoria, British Columbia (with ASEH)
2005 — Kansas City, Missouri
2006 — Washington, D.C. (with OAH)
2007 — Santa Fé, New Mexico Program
2008 — Louisville, Kentucky Program Blog
2009 — Providence, Rhode Island Program Blog
2010 — Portland, Oregon Program Blog