The Presence and Persistence of Stories: An NCPH annual meeting call for proposals

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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

Commemorating the Tulsa Massacre: A Search for Identity and Historical Complexity

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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

John Lennon Slept Here: Looking for Fans in Public History

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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

Around the Field May 27, 2020

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

“What Could It Have [Been] Then?”: Reflecting on the origins and historiography of a plantation historic site

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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

Calling on Public Historians: Challenging White Public History Working Group

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Editors’ Note: This working group session did not take place in Atlanta as described below, but the National Council on Public History working group Challenging White Public History is still active and working on deliverables. They plan to report back soon on their ongoing virtual activities. Read More

Around the Field April 29, 2020

From around the field this week: International Museum Day shifting to a digital focus; Grants and funding opportunities available through the National Endowment for the Humanities; American Historical Association launches weekly award program; and Cuseum to host a webinar on remote internships. Read More