Around the Field May 10, 2016

newspaper-in-fieldFrom around the field this week: Soundscapes and archaeoacoustics at 2017 international conference on Malta; best practices for interpreting slavery at Guston Hall in Virginia, U.S. later this month; nominate an outstanding public historian for the AHA Herbert Feis Award by May 15. Read More

Out of the academy and into public service: Changing expectations and new measures of success

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In June 2014, when I finished my PhD in history, with a research emphasis in public history, I thought I was pretty hot stuff. And rightfully so. I had worked for eight long years slogging through coursework, exams, conference presentations, fellowship applications, TAships, a year of research, and a solid year and a half of dissertation writing to achieve my goal. Read More

Around the field May 3, 2016

newspaper-in-fieldFrom around the field this week: Housing politics and the archive in London; oral history with vulnerable narrators; Massachusetts conference on advocacy for history; UX for public historians; summer courses on restoration and digital technologies for cultural heritage. Read More

Whither diversity?

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Ask people what diversity within an organization or institution means and you’ll get many answers–responses so disparate, you wonder how anyone can identify a common thread or focus.

In 2015, the National Council on Public History created a Diversity Task Force to address the paucity of professionals of color engaged in public history in general and NCPH in particular. Read More

Digital community engagement across the divides

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In 2008, the Journal of American History published a conversation among several historians regarding the future of digital history. William G. Thomas III  said, “We might imagine a more proximate collaboration in which historians team up with [community] groups. The Web 2.0 movement might allow historians and the public to make history together rather than separately. Read More

Around the field April 19, 2016

newspaper-in-fieldFrom around the field this week: New Routledge textbook on public history practice; reflecting on a massacre in Memphis, Coventry/Dresden reconciliation project in London, and maritime memory in Massachusetts; in search of “the middle” for 2017 National Council on Public History conference. Read More

Ask a public historian: Mike Hollander

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Mike Hollander is currently the acting museum director at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. He has been at the Wisconsin Historical Museum for five years and in his current position for nearly a year. Previously, Hollander was an associate curator at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for four years, followed by two years as exhibitions manager at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Read More