Around the Field – July 1, 2026

01 July 2026 – NCPH Office

From Around the Field this week: The Oral History Association is seeking a host institution or executive director beginning in 2028; the National Recording Preservation Foundation is accepting grant applications to support the preservation of unique and at-risk audio collections; the American Historical Association is hosting a webinar on “We Want More History!,” a nationwide initiative promoting place-based history programming in communities across the country; and The Public Historian (TPH) has published a special virtual issue available for everyone

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Oral History Association is seeking a host institution or executive director for a five-year commitment beginning on January 1, 2028. Letters of interest should include a preliminary explanation of factors that would make you an appropriate executive director or your institution an appropriate home. Letters are due November 1, 2026 
• The Southeastern Cemetery Consortium (SCC) has recently launched to connect and coordinate organizations, institutions, project teams, private firms, and individuals working to document, restore, preserve, and memorialize historic cemeteries
• NCPH, on behalf of Sarah Marsom, is inviting people to fill out an anonymous cultural resource worker salary survey in order to shift compensation transparency expectations in the cultural resource field. Any cultural resource worker, broadly defined, is welcome to complete the survey – this includes historic preservationists, cultural resource workers, archaeologists, historic site managers, public historians, etc. The deadline to submit is December 31, 2026

AWARDS AND FUNDING

• The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Labor have launched their American History and Civics National Activities grants to support colleges, nonprofits, and for-profits in promoting history and civics education. Applications are accepted through July 13, 2026
• The Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee of MARAC (Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference) is looking for submissions for its annual award recognizing the best books and articles written or compiled by individuals and institutions in the MARAC region. Works must be relevant to the general public and to the archival community and published between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. All submissions must be received by July 31, 2026
• The National Recording Preservation Foundation (NRPF) is accepting grant applications that support the preservation of unique and at-risk audio collections held by organizations. Applications may be submitted any time before July 31, 2026

CONFERENCES AND CALLS

• Slavery North, a research hub at University of Massachusetts Amherst, is hosting a conference, “Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution,” from July 9-12, 2026, in Amherst, Massachusetts, US
• The Association of Midwest Museums is hosting its annual conference, “We Hold These Truths,” in Chicago, Illinois, US, from July 26-29, 2026
• The Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association will hold its 119th Annual Meeting, “We Hold These Truths,” in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, from July 29-31, 2026
• The Society of American Archivists will host its 90th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, from July 29-August 1, 2026
• The Association of African American Museums is hosting its 2026 Annual Meeting, “This Land Holds Our Stories,” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, from August 19-21, 2026
• Latinos in Heritage Conservation is hosting its biennial Congreso Leadership Summit in Chicago, Illinois, US, from August 19-22, 2026
• The American Historical Association will hold the Virginia Conference on Introductory History Courses, which will be in person from August 28-29 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Virginia 
• The International Federation for Public History will host its 8th international conference on public history, “The Public History of Difficult Pasts,” in Lisbon, Portugal, from September 7-11, 2026
• The Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation is hosting its biennial National Asian & Pacific Islander American Historic Preservation Forum in Denver & Aurora, Colorado, US, from September 10-13, 2026
• NCPH and AASLH are hosting their joint conference, “The Work of Revolution,” in Providence, Rhode Island, US, from September 16-19, 2026
• The Council of State Archivists is hosting its annual meeting, “Preserve, Adapt, Endure: Building Resilient and Territorial Archives,” in Columbia, South Carolina, from September 23-25, 2026
• The Southeastern Museums Conference is hosting its annual conference, “Forged in Culture – Focused on the Future,” in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US, from September 28-30, 2026
• The Slave Dwelling Project is hosting its 9th conference, “250 Years and Counting: Reckoning, Resilience, and Remembrance,” to be held in Charleston, South Carolina, US, from October 1-3, 2026
• The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums is hosting its 2026 Annual Conference in New Brunswick, New Jersey, US, from October 6-8, 2026
• The Organization of American Historians is hosting, “Coasts, Currents, and Islands: Exploring the Interwoven Histories of the United States & the Pacific,” part of its History in Place Symposium series, in Honolulu, Hawai’i, US, from October 10-11, 2026. The call for proposals is open until June 30, 2026
• The Oral History Association is hosting its 2026 Annual Meeting, “Landscapes of Memory,” in Portland, Oregon, US, from October 14-17, 2026
• Qatar National Library’s Heritage Library & Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies are jointly hosting a conference in Doha, Qatar, from October 19–20, 2026, that focuses on the public history field in the Middle East
• The Western History Association is hosting its 66th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon, US, from October 21-24, 2026
• The Universities Studying Slavery consortium will host its fall conference, “250 Years of Freedom and Unfreedom: Truth, Liberty, and Justice for All,” in College Park, Maryland, US from October 22-25, 2026
• Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life is meeting for its 2026 National Gathering, “Tides of Transition: Restoring Collective Spirit in Troubled Times,” in Davis, California, US, from October 23-25, 2026
• The Museums Association of the Caribbean is hosting its 2026 annual conference, “Caribbean Museums: Connectors, Conveners, and Catalysts for Change,” in Port of Spain, Trinidad, from November 9-13, 2026
• The Association of Critical Heritage Studies is meeting for its 8th biennial conference in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand, from November 30-December 2, 2026
• The National Humanities Alliance is hosting their Annual Meeting and Humanities Advocacy Day in Arlington, Virginia, US, from March 7-9, 2027
• The Organization of American Historians will host their 2027 OAH Conference in San Francisco, California, US, April 1-4, 2027
• The Italian Association for Urban History is hosting a congress, “The Wounded City. Urban Spaces as Sites of Conflicts, Life, and Memory,” in Genoa, Italy, from September 7-10, 2027 
• The Fort Ticonderoga Museum is hosting its Thirty-First Annual War College of the Seven Years’ War Conference in Ticonderoga, New York, from May 21-23, 2027. They are seeking paper proposals on the origins, conduct, and legacy of the Seven Years’ War. Submissions are due by July 31, 2027

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

• The American Historical Association (AHA) is offering a webinar, “We Want More History! Learn About the Initiative and Get Involved,” a coordinated national weekend of place-based history programming that will bring communities together in libraries, parks, museums, historic sites, classrooms, and other public spaces across the country. It takes place on July 9, 2026
• NCPH’s Advocacy Committee is hosting a comment-a-thon on July 10, 2026. It will focus on a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require political appointees to review and approve federal grants and will provide public historians with an opportunity to submit feedback on the proposal 
• Alli Schell, host of Your Museum Career Coach, is presenting a two-hour resume and cover letter workshop on July 22, 2026 
• NCPH’s Professional Development Committee is hosting book club discussions for We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family’s Mythmaking and Migration by Jessica Goudeau (July 21) and Fleshing the Archive: An Intimate Genealogy of Chicana Knowledge Praxis by María Eugenia Cotera (August 18)
• The Organization of American Historians is hosting a virtual discussion of Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home on September 24, 2026, as part of its K-12 Teachers’ Book Club    
• Desolate Dreams is a historical film and educational initiative that explores the overlooked role of Black journalists who advocated for Japanese Americans during World War II. Alongside the film, the project includes an educational website in development designed to help educators, students, museums, libraries, and community organizations engage more deeply with the history that inspired the story

PUBLICATIONS

• The Public Historian (TPH) has a special virtual issue available to all and will remain available for the rest of 2026. The issue, “Considering the Revolution,” edited by MJ Rymsza-Pawlowska, collects five essays written over five years, each based on five plenary conversations produced in partnership with the National Park Service and held at NCPH’s virtual and in-person conferences between 2021-2025 
• Doyle P. Glaze II, Founder of CemeteryRegistry.us, has authored “Documenting Cemetery Locations: A Spatial and Historical Deep Dive.” The paper explores cemeteries as permanent spatial anchors, covering methodologies (GPR, LiDAR, GPS), ethical debates, GIS applications, and preservation strategies
• The Journal of Texas History has published new research on Juneteenth. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Caleb McDaniel’s article, “The First Juneteenth: Black Churches, Reconstruction Politics, and the Houston Origins of June 19 Celebrations,” examines newly accessible primary sources, including a rare newspaper article overlooked by previous historians, to shed new light on the holiday’s origins
• The American Historical Association (AHA) has released the 2026 edition of Careers for History Majors. The updated guide provides students and graduates with practical knowledge, strategies, and insights to help them make the most of their history degree

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