Tag Archive

entrepreneurialism

Collaborating with consultants

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In early 2014, a small historical society outside of Portland, Oregon, circulated a request for proposals (RFP). Having received a grant from their local government, they sought to hire a curator for a one-year contract. The duties of the curator included: inventorying and assessing collections, developing and implementing a policy and procedural structures for managing collections, creating an interpretative plan, developing a public services strategy, and staffing the museum every weekend. Read More

Twenty questions for consultants

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Providing assistance to individuals considering careers in consulting remains an ongoing task of the National Council on Public History (NCPH) Consultants Committee. In October 2012 and September 2014, forums held on Versatile PhD opened up discussions that generated valuable data that Consultants Committee members are using in devising initiatives to achieve this end. Read More

Graduate school and the consulting historian

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Academic careers are hard to come by these days. Public historians will not be surprised by the posts on the active #altac hashtag on Twitter or the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) recent “White Paper on the Future of the PhD in the Humanities” that observed that only between 10 and 15 percent of those who enter PhD programs will be employed at a post-secondary institution [1]. Read More

Consulting Alliances Working Group advances case for collaboration

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The Consulting Alliances Working Group formed last fall to explore collaboration as a means by which independent consulting historians might do work that otherwise would not be available to them. After writing, posting (on this blog), and commenting on individual case statements, the group gathered in March in Monterey, California, at the annual meeting of the National Council on Public History (NCPH) to continue their consideration of the extent to which consulting historians may be missing opportunities to join colleagues in competing for projects that are likely beyond their reach as individuals. Read More