Give public historians bread and roses

12 June 2025 – Sarah Marsom

Editor’s Note: This post is part of a 2025 History@Work series authored by members of the NCPH Labor Task Force in response to our Special Open Call on “#Advocacy in the Field”. You can read each post as it’s published throughout the year under H@W‘s #Advocacy tag.

Utilizing a rally cry of labor activists from the past, public historians say, “We want bread, and roses, too.” We have united to educate our peers on the importance of transparency and to showcase that the hiring “rules” that many operate with are in fact not written in stone. Together, we have the ability to elevate hiring practices, but first, we must talk about how we have collectively contributed to the systematic devaluation of our labor. Together we can shift our standards toward transparency to uplift ourselves and the collective.

In 1912, striking textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, called for higher wages and dignity: “We want bread, and roses, too.” Photo credit: Lawrence History Center via Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In 2018, the American Association for State and Local History began to require compensation information on their job board and to prohibit solicitations for uncompensated interns. Many cultural heritage practitioners have cited the 2019 Art/Museum Salary Transparency campaign as a tipping point for transparency advocacy. Prior to this campaign, cultural heritage workers in nonprofits and the private sector shared compensation information through whisper networks, by researching a nonprofit’s Form 990 or a government agency’s compensation pages, or by paying for access to the aforementioned studies. The Art/Museum Salary Transparency spreadsheet empowered over 3,000 people to share their compensation information in a forum not hidden behind paywalls.

Organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums and the American Cultural Resources Association have researched and compiled compensation studies, which are available to members as a benefit or available for purchase. These resources provide a profound value to organizational members developing an understanding of wage potential, with the American Cultural Resources Association studies going back to 2005, and the American Alliance of Museums to 2017.

In 2020, Dismantle Preservation formally launched a call to action for job boards to require compensation information for all shared positions, and to prohibit uncompensated internships. The campaign encouraged practitioners across the cultural heritage field to write to organizations and ask for this simple change. Participants were provided with sample letters, educational links, and more. Dismantle Preservation was directly inspired by strategies utilized by preservationists to spin the skills used to advocate for buildings to advocate for the workers who help to preserve those buildings. Organizations such as the National Council on Public History and the Society of Architectural Historians responded swiftly once contacted, some moved slowly, and some organizations have continued to resist this step toward equitable hiring practices. These emails have led to a total of ten job boards transitioning their policies over the period of three years.

Solidarity poster. Photo credit: Sarah Marsom

Wage transparency campaigns serendipitously aligned with states passing legislation to require compensation disclosure for job advertisements or during the hiring process. Maryland was the first state to pass such a law in 2020; other states—including Connecticut (2021), California (2023), Hawaii (2024), and Illinois (2025)—followed. The legislation passed varies from city to city and state to state; some must disclose upon request (Cincinnati, Ohio) and others require employers to include information about job compensation in all job postings (Colorado). In the past five years, we have seen a steady increase in both proposed and passed legislation tied to compensation disclosure—Maryland (2020), Connecticut, Colorado, Nevada (2021), California, Washington, New York, Rhode Island (2023), Hawaii (2024), Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont (2025).

On June 27, 2023, the National Council on Public History passed a five-year long range plan that included Advocacy as its third pillar of focus. The Long Range Plan mentions labor as integral to the organization’s short-term future. NCPH listened not only to their members but to practitioners across the field as we developed NCPH’s long-range plan.

Screenshot of an exchange on Twitter. Image credit: Sarah Marsom

As we consider the future of work in the cultural heritage field, we cannot ignore the issues within the workplace. We must proactively advocate for shifts in our workplace standards in order for cultural heritage to be a viable career path regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic upbringing. The efforts to elevate job board standards have led to organizations that previously never disclosed compensation to transition toward a more equitable hiring practice. By eliminating marketing opportunities and impacting their applicant pool, we have been able to force a positive shift. The organizations that cling to their harmful standards of nondisclosure will continue to experience fewer opportunities to promote their positions due to the grassroots efforts and/or the shifting compensation transparency laws.

~ Sarah Marsom is a Heritage Resource Consultant and advocate for positive change in the cultural resource field. Sarah’s work has received awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation (2018), the National Council on Public History (2021), the National Emerging Museum Professionals Network (2021), and Preservation Action (2022). Instagram @sarahmarsom