Tag Archive

material culture

Black Craftspeople Digital Archive Q&A: Part II

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Editors’ Note: This is the second of two Q&A posts about the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive.  The first post was published on November 9, 2021.

History@Work: What role can all public historians play in elevating stories of Black craft?

Torren Gatson: Public historians serve as the new vanguards of treasured and overshadowed histories. Read More

Editor’s corner: reimagining anniversaries

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Editors’ Note: We publish the editor’s introduction to the November 2021 issue of The Public Historian here. The entire issue is available online to National Council on Public History members and to others with subscription access.

This issue introduces a new ongoing feature, Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, a collaboration between the National Council on Public History (NCPH) and the National Park Service (NPS). Read More

Crafting Herstory

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Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series of reflections from winners of NCPH awards in 2021. Sarah Marsom won honorable mention in Excellence in Consulting for her projects Crafting Herstory and #DismantlePreservation.

How women have utilized textiles as a form of activism and therefore, a radical act of self-care, has recently garnered attention through publications such as Crafting Dissent: Handicraft as Protest from the American Revolution to the Pussyhats. Read More

Roads Not Taken: record-making in historical perspective

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In 1814, philanthropist Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) spearheaded the establishment of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA. One of his earliest actions, as president and librarian, was to create and maintain the society’s records. He dedicated a volume to documenting gifts, and decided what information to include in the records, for the sake of posterity. Read More

Inquiring minds want to know: Speaking to the public about museum collections management

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We all know that people are curious about the stories behind objects and the events and people those objects represent. And as public historians, we are in the business of bringing those stories to light. Yet, after doing collections management for over twenty-five years, I have learned that people are equally curious about the creative process behind our educational programs including how we document and care for the objects that serve as the foundation for that programming. Read More

Pop-up Ofrenda: Interactive Remembrance and Healing

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Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of pieces  focused on Las Vegas and its regional identity which will be posted before and during the NCPH annual meeting in Las Vegas in April.

As discussed in yesterday’s post, the Las Vegas shooting happened a month before Day of the Dead. Read More