10 June 2020 – NCPH Office
From around the field this week: the next webinar from the Preservation Leadership Forum on “Lessons from the Field” begins; The Society of Ohio Archivists’ annual conference kicks off; the International Coalitions of Sites of Conscience hosts a webinar on “Activism and Advocacy during the COVID pandemic.” Read More
09 June 2020 – Andrea Ringer and Brandi Burns
pandemic, gender, covid-19, public history parents, working group, 2020 annual meeting, feminism, work-life balance, parenting, careers
“Public History Parents: Leaning In, Opting Out, and Finding a Work-Life Balance” is a working group created in conjunction with the 2020 National Council on Public History (NCPH) annual meeting. It formed to address the unique needs of parents in the public history field. Read More
08 June 2020 – Laurie Arnold and Leisl Carr Childers
A long time ago, in fall 2019, before a global pandemic rearranged our world, we began drafting the 2021 National Council on Public History annual meeting theme and extending invitations to serve on the program committee. We were looking forward to bringing the conference back to the West, a West entirely distinct from both Las Vegas and Monterrey, and to building a conference around place and narrative. Read More
04 June 2020 – Alaina Roberts 3
Native American history, tulsa, anniversaries, racial violence, television, commemoration, commemoration series, African American history
When HBO’s Watchmen aired on October 20th last year, it introduced millions of Americans to the explosive episode of racial terror that gripped the black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma from May 30th to June 1st, 1921. The TV show dramatizes how white Americans used guns and even makeshift bombs to destroy millions of dollars in property and murdered an estimated 100 to 300 African Americans over the course of three days (the “aftermath” of which is pictured here). Read More
02 June 2020 – Nicolette Rohr
rock history, commemoration series, archives, historic preservation, commemoration, popular culture, music history
As I stood in a small room on Menlove Avenue in Liverpool, England, that had belonged to John Lennon, I bopped my head along to the Del-Vikings song playing, looked out at the blue suburban skies, and imagined John Lennon there, doing his dreaming, in this room at his Aunt Mimi’s. Read More
27 May 2020 – Ronald Rudin
Editors’ Note: This is one of two essays about how journalist Tony Horwitz (1958-2019) impacted the careers of public historians. You can read the first one here.
In May 2019, I was stunned to hear of the death of journalist Tony Horwitz, just as his final book, Spying on the South, was being released. Read More
27 May 2020 – NCPH Office
From around the field this week: the first of three webinars from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and the New Jersey Historical Commission on “Advancing Your Mission During COVID-19 and Beyond” kicks off; applications due for the Ohio History Connection’s COVID-19 relief grants; Museums Etc. Read More
14 May 2020 – James F. Brooks
Editor's Corner, race, The Public Historian, TPH 42.2, music, commemoration, Immigration, public history, heritage tourism
Editor’s note: We publish The Public Historian editor James F. Brooks’s introduction to the May 2020 issue of The Public Historian here. The entire issue is available online free through June 2020, courtesy of the University of California Press, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More
13 May 2020 – NCPH Office
From around the field this week: AAM and Museum Hue announce partnership; Applications for the Charlton Oral History Research Grant are open; AAM to host virtual conference; and IFPH to host/collaborate on upcoming events. Read More
12 May 2020 – Noah Janis
slavery, historic preservation, commemoration, African American history, public engagement, plantation, community history, North Carolina, interpretation, race
A big house. Stately trees. Curious outbuildings. In 1905, Pennsylvania-born tourist Matilda Kessinger marveled at the landscape before her, “something one always reads about but never sees.” After 18 years of traveling the South, Kessinger had finally found the one place that lived up to her romantic ideals of an antebellum plantation. Read More