Realizing the Power of History: Past, Present, and Future Strategies
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George washington university, Washington, DC

Together, we can rediscover and reactivate our field’s potential to advance inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) and to promote mutual aid, solidarity, and social justice.

This year, as public historians we have recognized the need to speak up and speak back in ways that have been happening in pieces, but are neither unified nor amplified. 

In Spring 2026, NCPH will bring together a diverse group of current practitioners—museum professionals, historic site interpreters, public history educators, and others engaged in historical inquiry and knowledge creation—to identify and name the challenges impacting the future of our field. We are particularly interested in naming specific threats to history practices that engage communities and illuminate power. 

We want to bring together those who teach history and those who do history with and for the public to share ideas and discuss approaches for bringing their work and their historical knowledge to bear against concerning political trends. What are successful historical strategies for putting history to work to refute misunderstanding and misinformation about the country’s past?  How have institutions that practice history for the public served the public, especially its most vulnerable communities? What does this work look like today? What might it look like in the future? What are the specific, new threats we must prepare ourselves to face? What will be required of us? 

Presidential Roundtable – “Realizing the Power of History” 
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm 

Facilitator: Denise Meringolo, Immediate Past President, NCPH, and University of Maryland Baltimore County
Speakers:  Patty Arteaga, Public Programs Manager, Smithsonian Institution
Daniel Kerr, Associate Professor of History, American University
Elon Cook Lee, Director of Interpretation and Education, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, Interim Director of Special Collections and University Archives and Associate Director for Engagement, Inclusion, and reparative Archiving, University of Maryland

Registration

Register by May 13, 2026, at https://community.ncph.org/event/powerofhistorymc

Registration rate if you are...Amount
An NCPH Member (Individual, New Professional, Retired, Sustaining) $45.00
Not an NCPH Member$55.00
An NCPH Student Member, Un- or Under-employed Member, Grassroots Participant Member OR You need a subsidized lower registration rate$25.00

Thank you, event Sponsors!