Being intentional about my career choices in public history and beyond

30 August 2022 – Joan Zenzen

Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series of reflections from winners of NCPH awards in 2022. Joan Zenzen is the winner of the Excellence in Consulting Individual Award for her work on Using Oral History to Affect Community Change: Action in Montgomery at its 20^th Anniversary. Read More

Reflections on Guns and Public History at the 2019 NCPH Annual Meeting

30 May 2019 – Joan Zenzen

Editors’ Note: This post is one of two that will highlight reflections on events at the March 2019 National Council on Public History annual meeting.

I felt honored and humbled. Here I sat with a few hundred fellow public historians in a historic church listening to community members share their hopes about how a new national park might collaborate with their neighborhoods and help make a positive difference to life in Hartford, Connecticut. Read More

National Park Service history webinars: A short survey

02 February 2016 – Joan Zenzen

The Organization of American Historians Committee on National Park Service Collaboration is hosting a short survey to determine interest in developing a series of webinars. These webinars would address a perceived need for information about NPS and its history with respect to such topics as contracting, job pursuits, and research and writing. Read More

The lay of the land: Researching a national park's administrative history

23 September 2013 – Joan Zenzen 4

I spent two weeks in July immersing myself in the life and feel of northern Minnesota, all in service of an administrative history I am writing of Voyageurs National Park.  I consider such experiential learning as another primary source that I can call upon when writing.  Read More