Around the Field – January 14, 2026

14 January 2026 – NCPH Office

From Around the Field this week: Nomination window for the Association of African American Museums 2026 awards closes January 16, 2026; The American Association for State and Local History is offering a 6-week Core Issues Briefing Series; The Call for Proposals for Pasados closes January 15, 2026; Bloomsbury has published an updated version of Organizing Archival Records; The Indiana Association of Historians call for papers for its annual conference is open until January 16, 2026

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The American Historical Association welcomes submissions of articles and other resources tracking federal actions affecting history
• The American Council of Learned Societies, the American Academy of Religion, the Institute for Diversity and Civic Life, and the National Humanities Alliance are collaborating on the Publicly Engaged Religion Mapping Project, an initiative to document and analyze the landscape of publicly engaged scholarship on religion in North America. They are inviting scholars, practitioners, and community partners to contribute to this project by completing a survey about scholarship working at the intersection of religion and public engagement
• The American Historical Association has started the Community Action and Resource Exchange (CARE), where historians can come together in working groups to discuss shared professional issues and concerns, exchange ideas, and collaborate on strategies and solutions that strengthen the discipline
• The National Humanities Alliance is surveying the field of Humanities/STEM collaborative projects that address ecological challenges, which will culminate in a workshop in Washington, DC, in January 2026. This survey will be used to locate and understand this field of study and to select participants for the January event
• The Organization of American Historians’ Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP) is continuing to collect oral histories of federal employees and contractors to capture their lived experiences, institutional knowledge, and overlooked perspectives
• The National Humanities Alliance invites you to share about efforts on your campus to engage local employers and support students’ exploration of professional opportunities in your region by filling out a short survey. Research will demonstrate how the humanities prepare graduates to contribute to the national workforce
• The International Consortium of Environmental History Organizations is accepting site proposals for its upcoming World Congress of Environmental History in 2029, preferably in July or August of that year. View more details here. Submissions are due by April 15, 2026

AWARDS AND FUNDING

• Permanent Legacy Foundation offers Byte4Byte storage grants for nonprofit organizations seeking to complete digital preservation projects. The application deadline is rolling
• The Society for History in the Federal Government has open nominations for its 2026 awards. The deadline for nominations has been extended until January 15, 2026. Nominations for the Trask and Trautman Awards should be submitted by February 1, 2026
• The Association of African American Museums has open nominations for its five 2026 Awards. Nominations should be submitted by January 16, 2026
• The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has announced a new $25,000 scholarship for ten undergraduate or graduate students. Essay applications are due by January 31, 2026
• NCPH is accepting applications for its 2026 awards. The deadline is February 1, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is accepting nominations for its Leadership in History Awards. Award of Distinction preliminary nominations are due by February 1, 2026; Award of Excellence nominations are due by March 1, 2026
• Rocky Mountain National Park and Rocky Mountain Conservancy are accepting applications for the 2026 Bailey Research Fellowship, which supports graduate students to conduct research in the park and communicate their work to the public. Applications accepted through February 16, 2026
• The Society of American Archivists is accepting nominations for its Philip M. Hamer and Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award, which recognizes an individual or group that has increased public awareness of a specific body of documents. Nominations are due by February 28, 2026
• The Society of American Archivists is accepting applications for its J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award, which honors an individual, institution, or organization that promotes greater public awareness, appreciation, or support of archival activities or programs. Nominees must be from outside the archives profession. The application deadline is February 28, 2026
• The Hoover Presidential Foundation is sponsoring a Herbert Hoover Research Travel Grant Award to alleviate travel and research costs for individuals traveling to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. Applications are due by March 1, 2026
• The Center for Painted Wall Preservation is offering a $2,000 scholarship for a project proposal that best furthers the study, understanding, and appreciation of paint-decorated plaster walls in 18th- and 19th-century New England. Applications are due by April 30, 2026

CONFERENCES AND CALLS

• The Small Museum Association is hosting its 42nd annual conference in York, Pennsylvania, US, from February 16-18, 2026
• The Institute on World War II and the Human Experience and the Society for Black Military Studies are hosting “Africa and the African Diaspora and the World Wars” in Tallahassee, Florida, US, from February 19-21, 2026
• The History Graduate Student Association at Loyola University Chicago is hosting its 2026 conference, “The Power of Public History: Resistance, Revolutions, Renaissance,” in Chicago, Illinois, US, from February 20-22, 2026
• Queer History South will host their 2026 conference virtually from February 20-22, 2026
• The National Humanities Alliance is hosting their Annual Meeting and Humanities Advocacy Day in Arlington, Virginia, US, from March 8-10, 2026
• The Chicago Heritage Alliance is hosting its Activating Heritage conference on March 10, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, US
• The Virginia Association of Museums is hosting its 2026 Annual Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, US, from March 14-17, 2026
• The National Council for History Education is hosting its 2026 conference, “Diasporas: Histories of Movement and Cultural Exchange,” in Montgomery, Alabama, US, from March 26-28, 2026
• The Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science will host its 28th Annual Meeting in Fort Smith, Arkansas, US, from April 2-4, 2026
• The Indiana Association of Historians will host their 46th annual conference, “History in Unexpected Places – Rethinking and Reimagining History in the Early 21st Century,” in Richmond, Indiana, US, on April 11, 2026. The call for papers is open until January 16, 2026
• The Society of Architectural Historians is meeting for its 79th Annual International Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, from April 15-19, 2026
• The Organization of American Historians will host their 2026 OAH Conference  on “Re-Thinking American History at 250” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, April 16-19, 2026
• The University of Rochester Humanities Center will host “Climate Havens: Humanistic Perspectives on Resilience, Migration, and Resources Symposium” in Rochester, New York, US, from April 16-17, 2026
• The Society of Indiana Archivists will host its 2026 annual meeting, “Prioritizing Well-Being: Helping Yourself Help Others,” in Bloomington, Indiana, US, on April 17, 2026
• The Midwestern History Association will host its 2026 annual conference in Oxford, Ohio, US, from April 30 – May 1, 2026
• The Society for History in the Federal Government is hosting its 2026 annual meeting, “Bringing Federal History to the Public During America’s 250th Anniversary” in Washington, DC, US, from May 14-15, 2026. The call for papers has been extended to February 15, 2026
• The Midwest Archives Conference and the Society of Ohio Archivists are jointly hosting a 2026 Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio, US, from May 14-16, 2026
• Fort Ticonderoga is hosting the 30th Annual War College of the Seven Years’ War from May 15-17, 2026, in Ticonderoga, NY
• The Alliance for Texas History will hold its annual conference on May 27-29, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas, US
• The Vernacular Architecture Forum will hold its 47th Annual Conference, “Columbia River Plateau: Atomic Space. Native Soil. Geologic Time” in Walla Walla, Washington, US, from May 27-30, 2026
• The Costume Society of America will host its 52nd Annual National Meeting and Symposium, “Re-cycles of Dress,” from May 31-June 4, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina, US
• The LGBTQ+ History Association is hosting its Queer/Trans History Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, from June 2-5, 2026
• The American Association for the History of Medicine and the American Association for the History of Nursing are jointly hosting an annual meeting in Buffalo, New York, US, from June 3-7, 2026
• The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is hosting its first conference in Chicago, Illinois, US, from June 4-6, 2026
• The Agricultural History Society will host its annual meeting from June 4-6, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia, US
• The Society of Civil War Historians is hosting its biennial conference in Richmond, Virginia, US, from June 18-20, 2026
• The Association for Gravestone Studies is hosting their annual conference and annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, from June 23-26, 2026
• The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) will hold its annual conference from June 25-27, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio, US 
• 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 call for proposals is open until January 23, 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 call for proposals is open until February 1, 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. The call for proposals is open until February 10, 2026
• 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 from September 16-19, 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
• Indiana’s statewide historic preservation conference, “Preserving Historic Places,” is taking place in Franklin, Indiana, US, from September 29-October 2, 2026. The call for session proposals is open until February 6, 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
• Historic Trappe, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and Ursinus College are partnering to host a symposium, “Experiencing Independence: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution,” from October 2-3, 2026
• The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is hosting the 2026 Conrad M. Hall Symposium for Virginia History in Richmond, Virginia, US, on October 3, 2026. The call for proposals is open until March 6, 2026
• The Oral History Association is hosting its 2026 Annual Meeting, “Landscapes of Memory,” in Portland, Oregon, US, from October 14-17, 2026. The call for proposals is open until February 20, 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 call for proposals is open until January 31, 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. The deadline for the call for proposals is January 30, 2026

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

• The National Preservation Institute offers continuing education and professional training for those involved in the management, preservation, and stewardship of cultural heritage
• Living Landscape Observer has made recordings from their ongoing webinar series available
• The American Association for State and Local History is offering a 6-week Core Issues Briefing Series, a set of virtual webinars offering consolidated access to the latest research, insights, and guidance on how to respond to the history sector’s most pressing issues. The next two sessions will be “Understanding the U.S. History Workforce” on January 21, 2026, and “Disaster Preparedness for History Organizations and Sites” on January 28, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is presenting “Documenting Historic Cemeteries” on January 29, 2026. This virtual, live webinar will provide resources for researching and documenting the valuable information that historic cemeteries offer
• The Lincoln Presidential Foundation and Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History are partnering to present “Reframing Lincoln: Myth, Memory, and Changing Narratives,” a week-long professional development seminar for K–12 teachers at Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois, US from July 19–24, 2026. Applications are due March 6, 2026
• iCivics is hosting a Civic Learning Week National Forum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, from March 9-10, 2026
• The Organization of American Historians is hosting a virtual discussion of An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South on March 9, 2026, as part of its K-12 Teachers’ Book Club
• The San Gemini Preservation Studies Program is hosting a field school in Italy this Summer 2026 with two possible sessions. This program is dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage, offering students hands-on experience in restoration and conservation. Applications are due March 15, 2026

PUBLICATIONS

• NCPH’s Curriculum and Training Committee is in the process of updating our best practices guidelines to reflect a field much-changed since they were written a decade or more ago. We’re pleased to share the updated version of “Best Practices for MA Programs in Public History”
• The International Federation for Public History has published “Creating Public History Master Programs: International Guidelines,” which provided guidance on early planning, the proposal, and evaluation and sustainability of a public history master’s program
• Bloomsbury Publishing has published an updated version of Organizing Archival Records: A Guide for Both Physical and Digital Collections by David W. Carmicheal and Adam T. Bentz
• Pasados, an open-access peer-reviewed publication with a focus on Latinx cultural pasts, has opened a Call for Papers for a Special Issue: “Against the Past/Contra Pasados.” Materials must be submitted by January 15, 2026
• Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals for a forthcoming edited volume, Memorializing Atrocities: A Study of Public Memory and Commemoration of Mass Violence. They are seeking stories about monuments, memorials, museums, and public commemorative practices of atrocities, especially those rarely discussed in the US. Proposals should be submitted by January 15, 2026

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