Veterans’ perspectives, and the great task remaining

08 March 2019 – Jessica L. Adler

Army nurse Norma J. Griffiths-Boris returned from Vietnam not just with haunting memories of unpreventable death—smells of burned flesh, sights of traumatic head wounds—but also with a powerful impression of her non-traditional work environment. At war, she and fellow nurses held positions of authority. Read More

War Stories, History Harvests, and how we learned to adapt on the fly

06 November 2018 – Christine Lamberson and Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai

War Stories is an NEH grant-funded project that preserves the experiences of West Texas U.S. military veterans and their family members by digitizing documents and objects as well as conducting oral history interviews. Housed in the Angelo State University history department, the project is a collaboration between faculty, students, and community members. Read More

Hidden in plain sight: Cemeteries and civil rights

15 October 2018 – Mimi Eisen 1

In 1849, a community of black Philadelphians secured a plot of land devoted to preserving the rights of their dead kin—from dignified burial, to peaceful rest, to honorable remembrance. Lebanon Cemetery was an answer to the city’s expansive white-only cemeteries and a sanctuary from persistent racial terror and civil rights violations. Read More

Notes from the field: The University of Wrocław’s Public History Summer School

31 August 2018 – Malgorzata Rymsza-Pawlowka

Author’s Note: Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the Public History Summer School, held in Wroclaw, Poland. The Summer School, which was co-sponsored with the University of Wrocław’s Historical Institute, the local Zajezdnia History Centre, the Jean Monnet Network for Applied Contemporary European History, and the International Federation for Public History (IFPH), ran for four days, and included presentations from scholars all over Europe and beyond. Read More

A new way to be with one another

26 June 2018 – Kimber Heinz

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of pieces by recipients of NCPH’s 2018 best in public history awards.

From this year’s annual conference, one thing seems clear: as public historians, we want our work to make a difference. Read More

Family history around the world

04 May 2018 – Jerome de Groot and Tanya Evans

Editor’s Note: This post concludes a two-part series exploring international family history that began last year. 

In October 2017, we held the International Family History Workshop in Manchester, UK. This event was a way to explore the rich margins inhabited by scholars and practitioners of the burgeoning phenomenon of family history. Read More

Our Marathon, five years later: Reflections on the work of digital public humanities

30 April 2018 – Jim McGrath

Five years ago I was watching the Boston Marathon in Coolidge Corner with my brother Brian. He had recently moved to the city and had never experienced a Marathon Monday, so the lively spectators and runners in Brookline—combined with the perfect spring weather—seemed like a fine introduction to this Boston tradition. Read More

Pop-up Ofrenda: Interactive Remembrance and Healing

18 April 2018 – Miriam Melton-Vilanueva. 1

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of pieces  focused on Las Vegas and its regional identity which will be posted before and during the NCPH annual meeting in Las Vegas in April.

As discussed in yesterday’s post, the Las Vegas shooting happened a month before Day of the Dead. Read More

Neon City: Power lines and plundered lands

12 April 2018 – James F. Brooks

I hope NCPH members and The Public Historian subscribers will enjoy our second foray into digital special editions tuned to the current moment in public history. Our Monuments, Memory, Politics, and Our Publics issue of last September responded to public debates around the removal of “Lost Cause” monuments then in the news. Read More

Cold War legacies: Preservation and use at historic sites

16 March 2018 – Billy Marino

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of pieces  focused on Las Vegas and its regional identity which will be posted before and during the NCPH Annual Meeting in Las Vegas in April.

Cold War-era historic sites challenge public historians to strike a balance between the need for preservation and the need for continued use. Read More