National Council on Public History

Rachel Boyle, PhD Candidate, Loyola University Chicago

Proposal Type

Roundtable

Seeking

• Seeking Additional Presenters
• General Feedback and Interest

Related Topics

• Civic Engagement
• Oral History
• Preservation

Abstract

This roundtable brings together public historians to explore ways to make community history projects sustainable and worthwhile for stakeholders while laying the groundwork for transitioning full leadership into the hands of the community. Especially for young professionals who change jobs, graduate, or balance multiple projects: How can we practice public history responsibly knowing that we will eventually have to step back? How can we empower and support community members over the long term? How do we accept when communities cannot or do not want to continue projects after we’re gone? In short, what is our place in community projects? The middle? Or the edge?

Seeking

We propose holding a roundtable discussion for students and professionals in the field to come together to discuss how theories taught in the classroom are transposed into real-world practice. Specifically, we hope to achieve three objectives: 1) share experiences concerning the challenges of community public history projects brought from the “outside” into a community; 2) discuss methods and practices of creating community public history projects that are sustainable and directly benefit a broad section of the community with little to no budget; and 3) engage in a dialogue about the responsibility and ethics of public history practitioners in stepping back from projects or transferring full leadership to community members.

As graduate students at Loyola, we spearheaded a public history initiative to benefit the community of Chrysler Village, a working-class neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. The project began with a team of students successfully nominating Chrysler Village to the National Register of Historic Places. Building on the momentum of a roundtable discussion on sustainability and preservation at the 2014 NCPH Annual Meeting, a new group of graduate students and community members collaborated to conduct an oral history project and organize a community celebration. Now, as the project transitions into a new stage with a shifting composite of community members and graduate students, we are reflecting and questioning our role as public historians.

We hope to develop a roundtable with a broad range of projects – from historic preservation to oral history, museum exhibits to festivals/programs, and everything in between. We are also interested in community public history projects that are still ongoing, as well as those that have ended or have been transferred to community members. Finally, we seek to bring together projects that have had varying levels of “success,” however defined. In addition to discussing what practices and methods work well for community projects, we are equally interested in understanding what did not work and engaging in a conversation as to why.

We propose holding a roundtable discussion for students and professionals in the field to come together to discuss how theories taught in the classroom are transposed into real-world practice. Specifically, we hope to achieve three objectives: 1) share experiences concerning the challenges of community public history projects brought from the “outside” into a community; 2) discuss methods and practices of creating community public history projects that are sustainable and directly benefit a broad section of the community with little to no budget; and 3) engage in a dialogue about the responsibility and ethics of public history practitioners in stepping back from projects or transferring full leadership to community members.

As graduate students at Loyola, we spearheaded a public history initiative to benefit the community of Chrysler Village, a working-class neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. The project began with a team of students successfully nominating Chrysler Village to the National Register of Historic Places. Building on the momentum of a roundtable discussion on sustainability and preservation at the 2014 NCPH Annual Meeting, a new group of graduate students and community members collaborated to conduct an oral history project and organize a community celebration. Now, as the project transitions into a new stage with a shifting composite of community members and graduate students, we are reflecting and questioning our role as public historians.

We hope to develop a roundtable with a broad range of projects – from historic preservation to oral history, museum exhibits to festivals/programs, and everything in between. We are also interested in community public history projects that are still ongoing, as well as those that have ended or have been transferred to community members. Finally, we seek to bring together projects that have had varying levels of “success,” however defined. In addition to discussing what practices and methods work well for community projects, we are equally interested in understanding what did not work and engaging in a conversation as to why.

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Rachel Boyle

If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.

All feedback, and offers of assistance, should be submitted by July 3, 2016.

COMMENTS HAVE CLOSED. PLEASE EMAIL THE PROPOSER DIRECTLY WITH ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR OFFERS TO COLLABORATE.

Discussion