Program

The final Program is now posted! Check it out at https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-Annual-Meeting-Program-Final-Web.pdf. All further changes will be reflected in the errata sheet available onsite.

  • Concurrent sessions will take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the conference; attendance to all of these, including any working group sessions open to attendees, are included in the base registration price. Most of the Utah-centric conference content is scheduled on Friday, April 12, including the Utah Historical Society’s luncheon and sessions with a particular Utah focus, and one-day passes are available.
  • Special events can either be free or come with additional cost to the attendee, and are marked accordingly in the Program. Special events include our opening reception at the Alta Club, committee events like our Public History Educators’ Forum or Consultants’ Speakeasy, the UHS luncheon, NCPH’s awards breakfast, and more. In general, meal events come with an additional fee, and purchasing a ticket is required.
  • Workshops will be held on Wednesday of the conference, with our opening plenary (free and open to all registered attendees) and opening reception (ticketed) that evening. Workshops have an additional fee, but are priced as low as possible to remain accessible to students and new professionals.

General Sessions

(free, open to all registered attendees, with no other sessions or events scheduled against them)

Opening Plenary | Considering the Revolution: Citizenship and Sovereignty

Wednesday, April 10, 5:15 pm – 6:30 pm
Ticket: FREE, but advance registration is suggested

In a republic, sovereignty is essentially the right of the “people” to govern themselves and to determine their own destiny. Citizenship is the way in which republics such as the United States determine who is part of the “people.” Because the American Revolution is popularly understood as a struggle for self-government, understanding how the intertwined concepts of sovereignty and citizenship have been contested throughout the nation’s history is critical for understanding the legacies of the Revolution. In this conversation, the fourth in a five-part series of plenary discussions examining the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States from new angles, participants will consider how the concept of citizenship has shaped the history of the US and how it continues to shape how people connect with their histories in the present. Sponsored by the National Park Service.

Facilitator: Gregory Smoak, University of Utah
Participants: Kristen Hayashi, Japanese American National Museum
Katherine Kitterman, Utah Historical Society
Nicole Moore, National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Yvette Towersap, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and Montana State University

Public Plenary | Building Bridges with Public History

Friday, April 12, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
FREE and open to the public

In today’s world, we find ourselves entrenched in an era of polarized opinions, where the chasms between various political ideologies seem insurmountable—between book banning, K-12 curriculum fights, and more, members of the publics we serve are overwhelmed with misinformation and public historians are exhausted. How can public historians carry on with good work in this contentious atmosphere? What can we learn from public historians in the trenches—the people working where this contention is most hostile—and from the people they hope to reach?

The best public history work can serve as a conduit for dialogue and for action, a medium where differing viewpoints can be examined, contextualized, understood within the framework of historical truth, and applied to our understanding of the current moment to build a better world for all of us. As communities become polarized and people struggle to untangle fact from fiction, how can historians serve as bridge-builders?

At this plenary, open to the public as well as to all conference attendees, our panel will consider how to communicate the value of telling complete and true histories while bringing along as many of our neighbors as possible. Members of the public in Salt Lake City and surrounds are invited to join public historians for this conversation about how we can work together to foster empathy, mutual respect, and a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of human stories without sacrificing truth or justice.

Facilitator: Jessica Ellison, National Council for History Education
Participants: Rahul Gupta, Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
Claudia Loayza, Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs
Joseph McGill, The Slave Dwelling Project