Author Archive
19 April 2012 – Cathy Stanton 1
The “unconference” movement is barely a decade old (Tom Scheinfeldt noted in our capstone session that the first one he attended was in Silicon Valley in 2004) but it’s clear that for many people–perhaps particularly for public historians–it offers a welcome alternative to more formal conference formats. Read More
18 April 2012 – Cathy Stanton 1
Historians, preservationists, government officials, and elected representatives stand at a frontier of possibility and hope, or anguish and betrayal as the nation enters the sesquicentennial years of the Civil War. This proposed roundtable, in cooperation with audience members, dares to imagine how our Civil War battlefields should be managed for the next 150 years. Read More
16 April 2012 – Cathy Stanton 1
We’re trying something new at this year’s NCPH/OAH conference, with due acknowledgement to Apple: a “genius bar” of experienced digital historians who will be available to answer questions on a wide range of topics, problems, and platforms. Our “Digital Drop-In” can be found in Exhibit Hall D Foyer, near the registration area, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Read More
15 April 2012 – Cathy Stanton 2
As with digital history, environmental history and environmental issues are turning up across the 2012 conference program, part of the gradual but (I hope) increasing interest in finding ways to connect our historical work with the concern that many of us feel about climate change and all that relates to it. Read More
09 April 2012 – Cathy Stanton 3
A couple or three years ago, I recall hearing someone say in a meeting of the NCPH Digital Media Group that before long, we might find that “digital history” wasn’t really a separate realm anymore, but simply integrated into most aspects of what we do as public historians. Read More
20 March 2012 – Cathy Stanton
You may have noticed a pause in activity here at “Off the Wall” in recent weeks. We haven’t gone out of business–we’ve just been busy as part of the recent effort of getting the National Council on Public History’s new multi-author, multi-section blog, History@Work, ready to launch. Read More
14 March 2012 – Cathy Stanton
As I was working on getting ready for the beta phase of “History@Work,” I took on the task of freshening up the public history blogroll that we’ve used at “Off the Wall” for the past year and a half. This turned out to be a sobering exercise: it turns out that close to half the blogs we were following have shut down or become inactive (including, just recently, the venerable Cliopatria). Read More
02 November 2011 – Cathy Stanton 5
14 August 2011 – Cathy Stanton
There’s no doubt that my favorite news story of the week is the one about policemen in Rome going undercover as tourists, garbage collectors, and–yes–gladiators in order to cool the jets of rival groups of real faux gladiators who pose for tourists’ photographs near the Roman Coliseum and elsewhere. Read More
11 April 2011 – Cathy Stanton 2
Car ads are like little zeitgeist-meters. They’re amazingly responsive to all kinds of social anxieties, which they instantly repackage in ways that allow us to continue feeling good about driving. Feeling nationally or personally emasculated? Concerned about the transition into being a soccer mom? Read More