2026 Virtual Programs

Federal Grants Comment-a-thon | July 10, 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

Sign up to receive the Zoom link and resources at https://community.ncph.org/event/JulyComment-a-thon 

Join members of the NCPH community for a targeted comment-writing session on Friday, July 10, focused on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) proposed new rule which would further politicize the federal grant review process by requiring a political appointee review and approve all federal grants. Under the guise of ensuring efficient use of taxpayer dollars, this new rule would have huge impacts on research and programming in virtually every sector of American life, including the public history field, and an especially chilling effect on grant proposals related to IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and inclusion) work and research. We’ll spend the first half an hour getting familiar with the proposed rule and sharing strategies for effective public commenting on federal regulations, guided by advocacy recommendations from history organizations. In the second half hour, we’ll use that information and momentum to leave our public comments. If you’re keen to make your voice heard but struggle to find the words or the time, join this working advocacy session to get it on your schedule and find solidarity with your NCPH friends and colleagues.

(This one-hour event will be held in Zoom Meetings, which means attendees will have the option to your camera and mic on to chat with the group, although we also welcome lurkers. We will not record this event, so plan to attend live if you want to participate–although if your plans change, we encourage you to use the resources we’ll send to leave a comment anyway!)

Past Events

Untangling the Legislative History of National Heritage Areas | January 21, 2026, 2:00 pm ET

in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS)

View recording on the NCPH Youtube channel 

Congress created sixty-two National Heritage Areas (NHAs) between 1984 and 2023. However, it was only in 2023 that Congress passed the NHA System Act creating an official system to be administered by the National Park Service (NPS). This process of establishing NHAs left behind complex legislative trails that can be difficult for NPS and NHA managers to navigate.

The National Council on Public History, through the NCPH-NPS Cooperative Agreement, hired historians Jackie Gonzales (Mirandola Research, LLC) and Lindsey Weaver (HistoryWeaver, LLC) to write a legislative history of the NHA System. The resulting report helps federal and local managers of NHAs, as well as Congressional staff and other researchers, better understand the legislative history behind these partnership-based areas, knowledge that can help inform future management decisions.

During this webinar, the report’s authors will present their findings and explain how a variety of audiences might use the report.

Series: New Scholarship on the World War II Home Front | January 2026

During this series of webinars, in partnership with the National Park Service, presenters will share new scholarship on the topic of the history of the American World War II home front and its legacies.

The webinar schedule is as follows:

Jim Belcher, Jr. – “Two Hearts, One Flag” | January 22, 2026, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Jim Belcher, Jr. as he shares the World War II survival stories and life lessons of James Belcher, RMC USN Ret and Toyoko Inoue, his parents. Belcher’s father was a USS Indianapolis crewman and three-war veteran, and his mother survived B-29 bombings, a fighter plane strafing and the occupation of her country only to meet, marry and spend a lifetime together.
View recording on the NCPH YouTube channel 

Clarissa Ceglio – “A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work of US Museums” | January 23, 2026, 2:00 pm Eastern 
The notion of museums as “social instruments”—as storytellers to inspire informed civic action—led to experimentation in the 1930s. But as the nation went to war, progressive practitioners found that the line between purposive education and propaganda was neither as clear nor as easy to walk as they had thought.
View recording on the NCPH YouTube channel 

Cassie Tanks – “Fences of War: Spatial Boundaries and Microhistories of WWII” | January 28, 2026, 2:00 pm Eastern
 Fences of War considers World War II through the lived places and personal stories shaped by the war. In this NPS talk, we’ll examine how fences – literal, symbolic, and administrative – gave shape to landscapes of conflict, containment, and belonging, and how they connected lives across time. Using digital humanities methods and microhistories drawn from personal documents, oral histories, and local archives, the presentation highlights everyday experiences of the home front. Attendees will leave with new ways to think about space, memory, and how small, place-based stories deepen public understanding of the long afterlives of war.
View recording on the NCPH Youtube channel 

Tim Campbell – “Remembering African American Service a Different Way” | January 30, 2026, 2:00 pm Eastern 
Join Tim Campbell to explore the ways that historical perspective can influence the significance of a historical event while encouraging conversations about engaging in this type of work more with our respective research interests.
View recording on the NCPH Youtube channel

Fully Funded Historical Markers: Preserving Local Stories and Strengthening Community in 2026 | January 27, 2026, 1:00 pm Eastern

presented by NCPH and the Pomeroy Foundation 

View recording on the NCPH YouTube channel. 

Through the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, you’ll discover how communities can preserve and share their unique stories while strengthening a lasting sense of place through fully funded historical markers.

In this one-hour webinar, historians from the Pomeroy Foundation will introduce participants to the Foundation’s historical marker grant programs, including Hometown Heritage®, Legends & Lore®, Hungry for History®, National Register, and more. Attendees will learn how Pomeroy Marker grants help communities nationwide honor local history, foster civic pride, and engage both residents and visitors. The session will also highlight national and regional partnership opportunities such as the Patriot Burials® program, as well as student engagement through the Pomeroy Education Program.

Participants will be guided through the process of researching and selecting compelling marker subjects, navigating the application process at wgpfoundation.org, and drawing inspiration from real-world examples of communities that have celebrated their heritage in meaningful, visible, and lasting ways.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover how Pomeroy Markers can enrich communities and highlight local history
• Learn how to identify meaningful marker topics and document historical significance
• Gain practical insight into submitting a successful grant application
• Explore examples of markers that strengthen community identity and pride
• Find out how to get started and access support through wgpfoundation.or

11^th Agent of Deterioration in collections: Incorrect Cultural Care | February 17, 2026, 6:00 pm Eastern

Organized by NCPH’s Professional Development Committee

Watch the recording of this program on NCPH’s YouTube Channel. 

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has adopted ten Agents of Deterioration—the ten biggest threats to heritage objects and collections, including physical threats like fire or water and human threats like failures of organizational systems over time—which have been widely adopted by collections specialists and conservators across the world. Melanie Deer is leading a group of international and intercultural representatives to propose an 11^th Agent: Incorrect Cultural Care. In this presentation, Melanie will go over the project and concept behind this 11^th agent and how it fits with the others. There will then be time for an interactive discussion.

About our guest speaker:

Melanie Deer is the Collections Manager and Assistant NAGPRA Coordinator at the Center for Archaeology and Society Repository at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. She received her BA in Anthropology and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and her MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins. She has over 10 years of experience in collections and is also the Chair of the Registrars Committee – Western Region.

Make Local History “Shine” as a National Historic Marker Weekend Volunteer | February 25, 2026, 1:00 pm Eastern 

From NCPH and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation

Watch the recording of this program on NCPH’s YouTube Channel. 

Have you ever noticed a historical marker in your community that could use a little care? This webinar introduces National Historic Marker Weekend, an all-volunteer community service event established by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation that encourages people across the United States to celebrate and preserve local history through marker cleaning, maintenance, and stewardship.

From civic groups and historical societies to students, neighbors, friends, participants will learn how communities nationwide come together each April to care for historical markers and raise awareness about the stories they represent. The session will explore the purpose behind National Historic Marker Weekend, the growing interest in historical stewardship, and how volunteers of all ages and group sizes can join the fun.

Attendees will gain practical guidance for planning a marker cleaning project, including site selection, permission considerations, recommended supplies, and additional tips. The webinar will also highlight available volunteer resources such as downloadable toolkit, activity guides, and an annual photo challenge to help participants document and share their service. A Q&A will follow to answer questions and help attendees prepare to volunteer.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the purpose and history of National Historic Marker Weekend
• Learn how marker stewardship supports preservation and community pride
• Introduce instructions for cleaning and caring for historical markers
• Discover tools and resources available to support volunteer projects
• Gain confidence in planning and promoting a local marker stewardship effort

Pricing strategies for professionals in Public History | March 2, 2026, 1:00 pm Eastern

Part of the series Sustaining Ourselves: Practical Tools and Committee Conversation
Co-organized by NCPH’s Labor Task Force and Consultants Committee

This recording is available only to registrants. 

What should you charge for your services? Attend to learn data about the going rates in our industry, strategies for structuring client payments, and a tough-love pep talk to charge what you’re worth. We will also explore different strategies and pros/cons for bidding and structuring client payments: hourly, blocks of time, and lump-sum charges for “products.” This conversation on understanding the value of your labor is brought to you by the Labor Task Force and the Consultants Committee.

About our guest speaker:

Rhonda Lauritzen is a professional biographer and private historian who has written more than a dozen books and many building histories. She is also an in-demand speaker at international conferences. Rhonda has an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship, served as CEO of her family business, and was a state college VP for a decade. She has been hired to help tell the stories of families, nonprofits, and cities. She believes that when you tell your story, it changes the ending.

This event uses our “pay what you can” model, which allows us to design programming for all members of our community regardless of their financial status; if you can afford to select one of the paid registration tiers, we are deeply grateful for your support in subsidizing free registrations for those who need it most. 

SERIES: Ethics, AI, and the Public Humanities | January through March 2026

These recordings are availably only to registrants. 

Of the jobs most threatened by artificial intelligence, Microsoft has named “Historian” as number two on their list. In their “Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education” (August 5, 2025), the American Historical Association acknowledges the power of AI, yet recognizes that its utility cannot replace our ability as historians to “appreciate the complexity of our shared past and what it means to be human.” In this four-part speaker series, the National Council on Public History (NCPH) and the American Conservation Experience (ACE) Mellon Humanities Program will bring together experts to help us consider the ways that artificial intelligence is reshaping our world and our work. 

As generative AI (colloquially, “gen AI”) technology rapidly improves, it becomes more difficult to detect it, understand it, and manage its responsible and ethical use. This is especially critical for public historians and public humanists, whom the public trusts to share information that is ethical, factual, and fundamentally human. We must get our heads around this technology and how it impacts the work we do, and we must do it now. 

In four parts, this series will tackle questions like: what do we mean when we talk about gen AI? How do we recognize it, and what AI tools have potential use cases for the public humanities? How can we ethically engage with generative AI tools as public historians, museum practitioners, writers, archivists, and educators? 

For all four events, closed captioning and American Sign Language interpretation will be provided. Registrants will receive resource lists and recordings of the events for which they register. Register here for all four events, or choose the ones that are most meaningful to you. This event uses our “pay what you can” model, which allows us to design programming for all members of our community regardless of their financial status; if you can afford to select one of the paid registration tiers, we are deeply grateful for your support in subsidizing free registrations for those who need it most. 

Part 1: Defining and Demystifying “AI” and “Machine Learning”

Thursday, January 29, 2026 | 4:00 pm Eastern
Facilitator: Jessica Dauterive, Program Manager, Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies, and Digital Humanities Consultant, ACE
Speakers: Zoe LeBlanc, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jeri Wieringa, Assistant Director, Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton University 

Part 2: The ethics of ai: What’s the harm?

Thursday, February 12, 2026 | 12:00 pm Eastern 
Facilitator: Jessica Dauterive, Program Manager, Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies, and Digital Humanities Consultant, ACE
Speakers: Adio-Adet Dinika, Research Fellow, Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) Institute
Adrienne Williams, Research Fellow, Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) Institute; Public Voices Fellow, The OpEd Project; activist and organizer 

Part 3: Ethical AI Use in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM)

Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 2:00 pm Eastern 
Facilitator: Angela Fritz, School of Library and Information Science, University of Iowa
Speakers: Hope Dunbar, University Archivist, University at Buffalo Libraries
Jesse Johnston, School of Information, University of Michigan

Part 4: AI and History Education

Tuesday, March 17, 2026 | 2:00 pm Eastern
Facilitator: Lindsey Passenger Wieck, Director of Public History, St. Mary’s University
Speakers: Wendi Manuel-Scott and George Oberle, Center for Mason Legacies, George Mason University
Victoria Sanchez, 6th Grade World Cultures Educator, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders

NCPH Committee Service Info Session | April 14, 2026,  4:00 pm ET

Interested in getting more involved with NCPH? Consider joining the NCPH Committee Service Info Session on April 14, 2026, at 4:00 pm Eastern to learn more about committee service and the work our committees do!

If you are interested in serving on an NCPH committee, please review the Committee Member Expectations, and if you already know which committees you’re interested in serving on then fill out this form: https://ncph.org/committee-service/ with a little information about yourself.

NCPH Annual Members Meeting | May 1, 2026, 2:00 pm Eastern