Tag Archive
11 November 2026 – Donna Neary
Millions of K-12 students encounter public history every day in classrooms, but classroom teachers are seldom included in conversations about their impact on the field. K-12 educators interpret the past, teach students how to analyze primary sources, and connect national stories to our local communities, helping students understand why these stories matter. Read More
14 October 2026 – Sarah Nestor Lane 2
When I visited Waterloo, Iowa’s designated American World War II Heritage City, a local leader who supported the nomination pulled out a binder of things they hoped to accomplish: exhibits, walking tours, signage, and “Lesson plans for local schools.” There was relief and excitement when I said I would tackle the latter for the city. Read More
09 June 2026 – Susan Huynh 1
What do you do when you find yourself alone in the room? That’s how I typically find myself in the public history field as an Asian American woman. When I first entered the field as an interpreter at a historic site, I didn’t realize what a toll that would have on me over time. Read More
16 December 2025 – Cristóbal López
local history, National Register of Historic Places, advocacy groups, education, historic preservation, National Park Service
The National Park Service’s ability to interpret the breadth of American history that is reflected in its more than four hundred sites is fragile. The fate of one of these, the Blackwell School National Historic Site, serves as an example of how quickly gains made in this effort can be undone. Read More
14 April 2025 – Ian Beamish and Julia Brock
Sixty-five public historians gathered at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to discuss the state of public history in the U.S. South in October 2024. These historians came from across the South—the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee—for the NCPH mini-conference co-organized by Ian Beamish, Julia Brock, and Liz Skilton. Read More
07 April 2025 – Kevin Lukacs and Michelle Lukacs 1
During the 2022-2023 school year, a history teacher from Fairfax High School (FHS) in Fairfax, Virginia, and the Curator of Education at the Daughters of the Revolution (DAR) Museum in Washington, D.C, teamed up to create a six-week project for Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. Read More
12 March 2025 – Chelsee Boehm 2
Like many of the folks who read this blog, my career in public history is a defining part of who I am. Lately though, I’ve been wondering if this tie between my professional and personal identities may be bad for my mental health. Read More
27 January 2022 – Alison Russell 4
Planning for the 250th anniversary (or Semiquincentennial) of the American Revolution, coming up in 2026, has already started for many historians and history institutions. The U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission announced that efforts to make this the most “comprehensive and inclusive celebration in our country’s history” began in 2020. Read More
09 December 2021 – Kathleen Thompson
Clio is a nonprofit humanities organization that connects users to nearby history and culture through a free educational website and mobile application that hosts individual entries, tours, and trails. Clio is also designed for instructors to use in the classroom to teach the skills of doing history and to promote the work of scholars to a public audience. Read More
18 March 2021 – Theodore Karamanski
Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series of reflections from winners of NCPH awards in 2021. Theodore Karamanski writes on behalf of the Loyola Public History Program, winner of the 2021 Founders Award.
We are all products of history. Read More