Where I am at home, only the sparsest stars
Arrive at twilight, and then after some effort.
And they are wan, dulled by much travelling.
The smaller and more timid never arrive at all
But stay, sitting far out, in their own dust.Read More
In January, History@Work published Heather Carpini’s important essay on competing histories. Carpini’s appeal for historians to dig “deeper, past the obvious sources, into the lives of the people who shaped, and were shaped by, a certain place” is an essential call to action. Read More
As historians working in the field, consultants often see value in objects, buildings, landscapes, and locations that may be overlooked by the general public. Living in a community, people can pass a place daily without knowing anything about its history. Or they may have heard the cursory basics—facts that tie it to a major person or event in the town or region. Read More
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
Editor’s note: This is the third 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.
If NCPH members want proof that the mob no longer has power in the city hosting their conference this year, try to find a 99-cent rib special. Read More
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
A thoughtful, though limited narrative prevails today of Jewish Americans returning to the lands of their ancestors in Eastern Europe. Articles abound, including in The New York Times recently, that follow a certain trajectory: a Jewish American boards a plane to find themselves in a strange land that time forgot. Read More
Public historians are occasionally presented with opportunities to engage in projects relevant not just to our local communities, but of immediate importance to the entire country. Last summer, Donald J. Trump’s nomination as the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, combined with the decision to close Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal in the midst of a labor strike, offered me just such an opportunity. Read More
It is Halloween time and ghosts are once again a topic of discussion. Last October works like Tiya Miles’s book Tales from the Haunted South and Sarah Handly-Cousins’s post on “Nursing Clio” argued that popular ghost tours depend on stories that demonize those who suffer. Read More
On October 15, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) into law and formally established historic preservation as a priority of the federal government. Since that time, individuals and communities across the nation have used the structures and powers it established, such as the National Register, state and tribal preservation offices, and the Section 106 review process, to both draw attention to important and threatened places significant to our local, state, and national stories and to preserve those places so that future generations will also be able to connect with the stories that they hold. Read More
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