Author Archive
13 February 2024 – Priya Chhaya
In the Spring of 2023 public historians gathered—in person for the first time in four years—for our annual meeting in Atlanta. Months later, as I organized my photographs from the trip, I kept coming back to a series of images from the exhibit hall, images of a puzzle slowly coming together, one piece at a time. Read More
05 March 2021 – Priya Chhaya
For the last fifteen years I have worked as a public history digital content creator. Much of my work has been learned on the job as I engage with the tools and technologies of multi-disciplinary storytelling—and more recently, consider how technology facilitates community engagement with history in both public and intimate settings. Read More
09 April 2020 – Priya Chhaya
Last July, Washington, D.C. area visitors and residents were treated to an incredible sight: an image of the Saturn V rocket from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that first put humans on the moon, projected onto the Washington Monument. This projection, known as Apollo 50: Go for the Moon, was a part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM), that featured a weeklong series of events. Read More
12 March 2020 – Priya Chhaya and William Stoutamire
Editors’ Note: This post is part of a series that illustrates the role of the NCPH Endowment in supporting the work of the organization. As we all know, next week the NCPH was to gather in Atlanta for our annual meeting. Read More
06 June 2019 – Priya Chhaya
Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series that illustrates the role of the NCPH Endowment in supporting and growing the field. To find out more about how the NCPH Endowment Fund supports the work of public historians and to make your pledge to the 2020 Vision campaign, please visit: https://ncph.org/giving/endowment/ Read More
15 March 2019 – Priya Chhaya 2
Where I am at home, only the sparsest stars
Arrive at twilight, and then after some effort.
And they are wan, dulled by much travelling.
The smaller and more timid never arrive at all
But stay, sitting far out, in their own dust. Read More
06 June 2017 – Priya Chhaya
When we agreed to chair the program committee for the 2018 NCPH annual meeting, we were determined to develop a conference that reflected the richness of the field but also addressed, with a sense of urgency, pressing questions about the profession’s relationship to the public. Read More
18 April 2017 – Priya Chhaya
This past fall in Houston, the National Trust for Historic Preservation gathered for its annual conference, PastForward. One of the key features of the conference is a series of marquee presentations called TrustLive. TrustLive presentations often feature a single speaker followed by a short panel discussion on a topic relevant to today’s preservation movement. Read More
02 June 2016 – Priya Chhaya
My daily job at the National Trust for Historic Preservation doesn’t involve day-to-day interaction with the broader public. Rather I am a historiographer, in that in my work as a content manager for preservation professionals, I am constantly thinking about the methodology of history–how we protect, communicate, and talk about the past. Read More
27 May 2015 – Priya Chhaya
“As I settle in a place, the place settles me.” Juhani Pallasmma, Forum Journal (Spring 2015)
More than fifteen months ago, my colleague at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Tom Mayes, embarked on a journey. For six months, he lived at the American Academy in Rome researching and thinking about one of the most central tenets of our profession: Why Do Old Places Matter? Read More