National Council on Public History

Interpreting Sports is a sports heritage and museum consulting firm that helps organizations develop and implement socially relevant and culturally responsive sports content. We conduct research, curate exhibits or public display panels, engage in strategic thinking and planning, lead historical and museum professional development, and craft sports history related public programs – along with other creative sports history projects (think trivia night research!). Our methodology utilizes cutting edge museum curation to deliver engaging, in-depth, and dynamic sports messaging. Our aim is to collaborate in creating public installations and exhibits as well as educational programming that reflect an organization’s values and attract new members of their community. We work diligently and passionately to create interpretive projects that connect with your audience and work within your timeline and budget.

We aim to re-center the international sports conversation around empathy, balanced humanity, and authentic connection, one interpretive project at a time. We believe museums can and should be places of advocacy and inclusion for all athletes and sports figures: young & old, amateur & professional, past & present and consider public exhibits to be safe spaces for approaching empathetic, complex, enthralling conversations; allowing for both celebratory and contemplative topics. Our Founder & CEO, Kathryn Leann Harris, and lead Museum Consultant, Douglas Stark, are the architects, editors, and contributing authors of Interpreting Sports at Museums and Historic Sites, an edited compilation of thirty-two global contributors throughout the sports public history field. This comprehensive study illuminates the innovative, forward thinking pathway for sport exhibitions and programming forged by Interpreting Sports.

Kathryn Leann Harris is the Founder & CEO of Interpreting Sports, a sports heritage and museum consulting firm that helps organizations create socially responsive and culturally relevant sports history content. Driven by a profound commitment to amplifying voices historically marginalized, she operates at the powerful intersection of healing, education, and cultural transformation. Harris’s work as lead author/editor for Interpreting Sports at Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) serves as a calling card for her commitment to diversity and inclusivity. The book’s essays and her consulting guide practitioners to craft sport-related projects while considering their social responsibility to sports figures’ diverse backgrounds and whole humanity as well as their wider impact. Her work experience includes projects or positions with the Housatonic Museum of Art, Rediscover Mapledale, International Tennis Hall of Fame, James Madison’s Montpelier, adidas History Management Department, and Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.