Inquiring minds want to know: Speaking to the public about museum collections management

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We all know that people are curious about the stories behind objects and the events and people those objects represent. And as public historians, we are in the business of bringing those stories to light. Yet, after doing collections management for over twenty-five years, I have learned that people are equally curious about the creative process behind our educational programs including how we document and care for the objects that serve as the foundation for that programming. Read More

Around the Field January 9, 2019

From around the field this week: send in your nominations for the 2019 National Preservation Awards ASAP; any students hoping to submit proposals for the SAA’s joint annual meeting with CoSA should do so by the end of the month; Rowman & Littlefield has several new public history-focused books out now Read More

Project Showcase: (In)Visible Princeton

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As an institution older than the nation itself, Princeton University and its history often reflect social and political trends of the broader United States, as well as its patterns of exclusion and erasure. A new digital project, called (In)Visible Princeton, is one step toward confronting some of these historical injustices and helping Princeton reconcile the values of its past with the ones it embodies today. Read More

Highlights of History@Work in 2018

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2018 has drawn to a close, and the History@Work editors would be remiss if we deprived our readers of that beloved tradition: the year-end redux. We want to give you a sense of the most widely read, discussed, shared, and impactful posts of the year, but we find ourselves faced with the perennial problem of digital analysis: how do we assess impact? Read More

A different “birthright”: Exploring immigrant history in the birthplace of “America’s Immigrant Problem”

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In recent years, the debate over immigration and migration to the United States has been especially pronounced, with calls to end “invasions” of “illegal immigrants” from Latin America, build a border wall, institute a “Muslim travel ban,” refuse refugees seeking asylum, and rescind birthright citizenship.  Read More

Breaking down NCPH’s First Twitter Mini-Con

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NCPH held its first-ever Twitter Mini-Con(ference) on Thursday-Friday, October 18-19, 2018. The event was organized by historians Jessica Knapp and Krista McCracken, in collaboration with NCPH staff Christine Crosby and Meghan Hillman, and was modeled after the Beyond 150 Twitter Conference, which Krista organized with Andrea Eidinger (see this post for more details).

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Around the Field December 12, 2018

From around the field this week: registration is now open for the Small Museum Association’s February conference; send in applications by New Year’s Eve to be considered for the Mount Vernon fellowships; tune-in next Wednesday for the Preservation Leadership Forum’s free webinar on finding grant money. Read More

Museum Super Heroes: New England Museum Association 2018 Day of Service

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Museum collections are in danger. The 2011 ICCROM-UNESCO International Storage Survey found that many museums worldwide lack proper storage space for their collections and that 40% of surveyed museums may not even know what they hold. Often, there is not the support, staff, or time to keep up best practices in collections management. Read More

Reflecting on repair: The 2019 Annual Meeting theme

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Ideally, a conference theme is broad enough to encompass the breadth of a field, yet specific enough to create cohesion and perhaps spark new synergies and connections within that field. Seth Bruggeman and Cathy Stanton, Program Committee co-chairs for the 2019 NCPH Annual Meeting in Hartford, Connecticut, reflect on how this year’s theme of “Repair Work” was developed and how it has shaped the program. Read More