Around the Field – May 6, 2026

06 May 2026 – NCPH Office

From Around the Field this week: NCPH is accepting topic proposal submissions for early review before the final call for proposal deadline; Nominations for American Historical Awards close soon; The Organization of American Historians is hosting the next session of its K-12 Teachers’ Book Club; The Alliance for Texas History is seeking a new Co-Editor for The Journal of Texas History

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Southeastern Cemetery Consortium (SCC) has recently launched to connect and coordinate organizations, institutions, project teams, private firms, and individuals working to document, restore, preserve, and memorialize historic cemeteries
• NCPH is hosting its 2027 conference, “Holding the Line,” in St. Louis, Missouri, US, from April 21-24, 2027. The call for proposals is open until June 15, 2026, but you can submit your topic proposal for peer review and feedback by May 10, 2026
• Digital humanities project Sharing Stories from 1977 is accepting applications for its 2026-2027 Graduate Fellowship to serve on the project’s Editorial Board. If selected, an honorarium will be provided at the completion of your term. The application deadline is May 15, 2026
• NCPH, on behalf of Sarah Marsom, is inviting people to fill out an anonymous cultural resource worker salary survey in order to shift compensation transparency expectations in the cultural resource field. Any cultural resource worker, broadly defined, is welcome to complete the survey – this includes historic preservationists, cultural resource workers, archaeologists, historic site managers, public historians, etc. The deadline to submit is December 31, 2026

AWARDS AND FUNDING

• The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a new Collections Stewardship grant program. Application deadlines this year are May 11, 2026, and December 15, 2026
• Nominations for the 2026 American Historical Association Awards are open until May 15, 2026
• The Western History Association seeks applications for its Louise Pubols Public History Prize, which supports the attendance of a public historian to the organization’s annual meeting. Applications are due by May 15, 2026
• The Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green State University has announced their new Access to the Archives Travel Grant to support researchers desiring to use the Center’s collections. Applications are accepted through May 31, 2026
• The Robert & Elizabeth Dole Archives & Special Collections seeks applications for its 2026 Research Fellowship and Travel Grants. Applications are due July 1, 2026
• The Oral History Association is accepting applications for its 2026 Awards. Applications for most awards are due by July 1, 2026

CONFERENCES AND CALLS

• The American Alliance of Museums is hosting its 2026 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, from May 20-23, 2026
• NCPH is hosting a Mini-Con in Washington, DC, US, on May 27, 2026, under the theme “Realizing the Power of History: Past, Present, and Future Strategies”
• 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 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 College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture is presenting a symposium, “Those Who Have Must Turn Around and Give,” in Charleston, South Carolina, US, from June 9-11, 2026
• A number of organizations are coming together to host the 9th International Public History Summer School, which will take place in Wrocław, Poland, from June 15-19, 2026
• The Digital and Public History Master’s Program at the University of Luxembourg is organizing the virtual seminar “Public History in Global Perspectives” on June 16, 2026
• The Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums is hosting its annual conference, “Community, Conflict, Conversation,” from June 16 -21, 2026 
• The Association for Gravestone Studies is hosting their annual conference and annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, from June 23-26, 2026
• 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 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 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
• Latinos in Heritage Conservation is hosting its biennial Congreso Leadership Summit in Chicago, Illinois, US, from August 19-22, 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, US, 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
• 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
• The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums is hosting its 2026 Annual Conference in New Brunswick, New Jersey, US, from October 6-8, 2026. The call for proposals is open until May 4, 2026
• The Organization of American Historians is hosting, “Coasts, Currents, and Islands: Exploring the Interwoven Histories of the United States & the Pacific,” part of its History in Place Symposium series, in Honolulu, Hawai’i, US, from October 10-11, 2026. The call for proposals is open until June 30, 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 Western History Association is hosting its 66th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon, US, from October 21-24, 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 Museums Association of the Caribbean is hosting its 2026 annual conference, “Caribbean Museums: Connectors, Conveners, and Catalysts for Change,” in Port of Spain, Trinidad, from November 9-13, 2026. The call for proposals is open until May 29, 2026
• The Association of Critical Heritage Studies is meeting for its 8th biennial conference in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, from November 30-December 2, 2026
• The Organization of American Historians will host their 2027 OAH Conference in San Francisco, California, US, April 1-4, 2027
• The Italian Association for Urban History is hosting a congress, “The Wounded City. Urban Spaces as Sites of Conflicts, Life, and Memory,” in Genoa, Italy, from September 7-10, 2027. The call for proposals is open until May 24, 2026

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

• The Organization of American Historians is hosting a virtual discussion of Freedom Was In Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, DC Region on May 7, 2026, as part of its K-12 Teachers’ Book Club
• NCPH’s Advocacy Committee is hosting “Public History Advocacy: Where Do We Go From Here?” an open virtual meeting focusing on our community’s needs from public history advocacy efforts, on May 12, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is offering a virtual orientation session for its Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations (STEPS) program on May 19, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is hosting a virtual webinar “Creating a Staff Safety Plan” on May 21, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is hosting a two-day “History & Democracy Virtual Summit” from May 27-28, 2026, to help museums and historic sites leverage and expand the vital role they play in democracy and civic life
• NCPH’s Professional Development Committee is hosting a three-part webinar series, “How to Publish Your Public History Work.” The third event, “How to Get Published in Nontraditional Outlets,” will take place June 2, 2026
• NCPH’s Consultants Committee is organizing a spring Grumpy Hours event, a virtual night of connection and support for those working in public history or who are looking to find a career in the field, on June 4, 2026
• The American Association for State and Local History is presenting a live webinar, “Demystifying AI for History Organizations,” on June 4, 2026
• The National Humanities Alliance is presenting “Building Applied and Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs,” a four-part virtual professional development workshop series for faculty and administrators interested in creating courses and programs that integrate the humanities with other fields of study. The series will take place from July 27-August 6, 2026

PUBLICATIONS

• Excelsior University has published Past Makes Perfect: A Mini Handbook for Student Historians, an open-access work that provides information on how to perform history research. It also includes scenarios in which students can put their knowledge to the test
• University of Iowa Press has published Baltimore’s Black Arts Then & Now: Behind the Scenes of a Collaborative Public Humanities Project, by NCPH member Mary Rizzo
• Arab Americana, a new scholarly journal centering around Arab-American life, is holding an open-call for research articles, essays and reports, book reviews, round table comments, research notes, interviews, and edited primary sources
• The Alliance for Texas History is seeking a new Co-Editor for The Journal of Texas History. To indicate your interest in this position, please send a cover letter describing your interest along with a CV to [email protected] by May 15, 2026
• The Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture is seeking submissions from master’s scholars for its 2026 issue of their journal Material Matters around the theme of “Animal Materialities.” Submissions are due by June 5, 2026

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