As the organizer of last year's international public history conference convened by the Institute of Historical Research and the University and National Museums of Liverpool, to which distinguished NCPH veterans made such crucial contributions, and as a new member of the Editorial Board of TPH, I’m much looking forward to my first NCPH conference. I’ve spent the past three months consulting among public historians, professional organizations, ‘heritage’ bodies, and funding agencies in the UK about the state of public history in the British Isles in general, and Anglo-American dialogue and collaboration in particular. At Providence, I’ll be discussing related issues with NCPH officers and members. I’m experimenting with this blog in the hope that I might hear from anyone with past or current experience of Anglo-American collaborations in public history, or ideas for potential future exchanges or cooperation. I can be reached at hhoock@liv.ac.uk and also hope to meet colleagues and graduate students who'd like to share experiences and ideas.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Providence in the Evening
I thought I'd repost the recommendations of places to go out/eat in downtown Providence. One of the graduate student committees compiled this list for first-time attendees and graduate students, but the section on where to eat, I think, works for everyone.
What is there to do in the evening?
Some evenings have scheduled events. Definitely plan to attend the graduate student reception. Most conference events end by around 9 pm, though, so you have plenty of time to get out and explore the city. Several legendary Providence bars and clubs are located downtown, in very easy walking distance from the conference hotel. Additionally there are often arts-related events (gallery nights, exhibit openings) in Providence. Ask the hotel concierge or check out the local Providence alternative weekly to see what is happening: http://thephoenix.com/Providence.
This is hardly and exhaustive list:
The Wild Colonial: a casual tavern regularly rated one of the city's best; located in one of Providence's 18th century buildings. 250 South Water Street
Lupo's: Live music (check the website: http://www.lupos.com/). 79 Washington Street
Local 121: a beautifully restored restaurant and bar; conversation with the locals encouraged! (Try the Rhode Island style clam chowder; different than Boston style!) 121 Washington Street
The Red Fez: cheap, hip restaurant and bar (try the macaroni and cheese). 49 Peck Street
You can read the entire list of FAQs here.
Are you going carbon-free to Providence?
Carbon offsets are by no means a long-term solution to the many problems caused by our dependence on fossil fuels, but they can be a good way to help underwrite the construction of a cleaner, greener infrastructure. If you're traveling from outside the region to Providence for the conference, consider investing a little more in your travel and offsetting its carbon footprint!
Not all carbon offset programs are created equal. For an assessment of some good ones, have a look at the Tufts Climate Initiative's run-down. I use Native Energy, and generally pay about $14 for travel within the same half of the country.
Not all carbon offset programs are created equal. For an assessment of some good ones, have a look at the Tufts Climate Initiative's run-down. I use Native Energy, and generally pay about $14 for travel within the same half of the country.
Networking Public History Style
I just returned from the OAH meeting in Seattle. Overall, it was excellent. I went to some phenomenal sessions and bought way too many books at the end of conference exhibit sale (all going into the dissertation). The one major disappointment was with the networking. I had big plans for connecting with folks who were doing public history in the region and in talking to other historians in my research fields. I am mostly uncomfortable in new social situations (but try to suck it up and make the best of it) and OAH isn't as focused on being graduate student friendly as NCPH is. So, the result was that I was not as successful as I had hoped and ended up coming away frustrated. By and large, the feeling I got was that I really needed to publish more before I would be willingly included in discussions. There's a different spirit at OAH than at NCPH.
Go figure that public historians are easier going and better at creating environments for social interchange.
One of the many things that NCPH has going for it is that their graduate student social event is in the evening, rather than at 7:30am. The evening event provides a great kick-off to connecting with other graduate students and getting that bonding/plugging-in going into full gear. If you're a graduate student and not signed up for this, find out if there is still a chance to get one of those free tickets to this event!
The snack breaks in between sessions are also a great time for continuing discussions from sessions and stopping to talk to people whose names you've only seen on the covers of your books. And the way that NCPH handles student poster sessions offers an excellent time for interaction among diverse professional audiences. I suspect that the speed networking event will provide much of this as well.
But what I like most about NCPH is the culture of the meeting. At NCPH people tend to be interested in talking to up-and-coming professionals, introducing them to other professionals with similar work or research interests, and exploring what others are doing regardless of academic or publication pedigree. There is generally less of a feel of power heirarchies or pretension that you might find at other academic conferences. All in all, NCPH manages to provide a setting for individuals to discuss (in both structured and unstructured ways) public history regardless of how much they have published or how far along they are in their career or education.
Perhaps its graduate friendly environment is why it has so many graduate student members and growing graduate student participation. Regardless, I think that it speaks well for training and professionalism in the public history field. I also think that it will have an impact on long term professional development.
We'll see what stories come out of networking at this year's conference.
Go figure that public historians are easier going and better at creating environments for social interchange.
One of the many things that NCPH has going for it is that their graduate student social event is in the evening, rather than at 7:30am. The evening event provides a great kick-off to connecting with other graduate students and getting that bonding/plugging-in going into full gear. If you're a graduate student and not signed up for this, find out if there is still a chance to get one of those free tickets to this event!
The snack breaks in between sessions are also a great time for continuing discussions from sessions and stopping to talk to people whose names you've only seen on the covers of your books. And the way that NCPH handles student poster sessions offers an excellent time for interaction among diverse professional audiences. I suspect that the speed networking event will provide much of this as well.
But what I like most about NCPH is the culture of the meeting. At NCPH people tend to be interested in talking to up-and-coming professionals, introducing them to other professionals with similar work or research interests, and exploring what others are doing regardless of academic or publication pedigree. There is generally less of a feel of power heirarchies or pretension that you might find at other academic conferences. All in all, NCPH manages to provide a setting for individuals to discuss (in both structured and unstructured ways) public history regardless of how much they have published or how far along they are in their career or education.
Perhaps its graduate friendly environment is why it has so many graduate student members and growing graduate student participation. Regardless, I think that it speaks well for training and professionalism in the public history field. I also think that it will have an impact on long term professional development.
We'll see what stories come out of networking at this year's conference.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Weather forecasts
The long-term forecasts for the weekend of the conference are in, and they look... pretty good. Highs of 50 or so, lows in the high 30s. Chance of showers - hard to know yet what that means. But bring an umbrella.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Ready to go?
A Po-Boy Dressed, with a Side of Local History: Documenting local history in post-Katrina New Orleans. (poster session)
Have you proofread it? Yes? Well proof it again, twenty more times. Getting ready for the poster session has been a hectic adventure. Trying to figure out the best way to present history to the public is what we do-- and it is often difficult. But with the poster session, we are trying to find the best way to present public history to scholars. Do we emphasize local history, or do we present more on digitization? What is the most alluring?
I'm trapped in a maze of file formatting, on-line downloads, and e-mail attachments. When everything is digital it allows for more attractive options, but it can sure make things more complicated. I'm wondering now if we should have just gone with construction paper and a glue stick. I've done my fair share of social studies fair projects, and I'm certain I haven't lost my skills with a hot glue gun and markers.
However we do it, we really are looking forward to sharing our experiences, excitement, and challenges with everyone at the conference. Using festival to explore local history is fun, and broadens public exposure to public history. At festival, we are allowed to be silly, campy, and maybe even weird. We can reach many people who may not step foot in a museum-- but will attend every festival in the city. In creating this poster, it has been a challenge to capture the undiluted essence of New Orleans, and translate our experiences so anyone, in any city, can become part of a local history festival. I sincerely hope we meet our goal.
I consider public historians to be artists of history, and I look forward to meeting fellow creatives!
Have you proofread it? Yes? Well proof it again, twenty more times. Getting ready for the poster session has been a hectic adventure. Trying to figure out the best way to present history to the public is what we do-- and it is often difficult. But with the poster session, we are trying to find the best way to present public history to scholars. Do we emphasize local history, or do we present more on digitization? What is the most alluring?
I'm trapped in a maze of file formatting, on-line downloads, and e-mail attachments. When everything is digital it allows for more attractive options, but it can sure make things more complicated. I'm wondering now if we should have just gone with construction paper and a glue stick. I've done my fair share of social studies fair projects, and I'm certain I haven't lost my skills with a hot glue gun and markers.
However we do it, we really are looking forward to sharing our experiences, excitement, and challenges with everyone at the conference. Using festival to explore local history is fun, and broadens public exposure to public history. At festival, we are allowed to be silly, campy, and maybe even weird. We can reach many people who may not step foot in a museum-- but will attend every festival in the city. In creating this poster, it has been a challenge to capture the undiluted essence of New Orleans, and translate our experiences so anyone, in any city, can become part of a local history festival. I sincerely hope we meet our goal.
I consider public historians to be artists of history, and I look forward to meeting fellow creatives!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Providence Here We Come!
As Cathy said on a previous blog, NCPH's upcoming meeting in Providence will be the largest gathering of public historians ever. Anywhere. Anytime. Period. 525 public history professionals and students will be heading to Providence for what promises to be another awesome NCPH meeting. I'm very excited to see the names of so many first-time attendees, and hope they will all enjoy the conference as much as I do every year, participate in the sessions and activities, and maybe add their voice to our conference blog as well. I'll get to meet some of the new folks at the Speed Networking session set up by our program committee, arranging fast-moving face to face dialogue between veteran - I've learned never to say "old" - public historians and those new to the field. I hope these mini informational interviews will give participants an inkling of the great variety of roles filled by public historians. The conference will have great sessions, fabulous tours in and around Providence, fascinating plenary speakers, and probably more than a little fun, including the NCPH endowment fundraiser, always the best party in town. My favorite part of this year's conference is that there will be no presidential address in 2009, which is a really good thing because I won't have to give it! Better get working on that for next year - meanwhile, see you in Providence!
Marianne Babal, NCPH President
Marianne Babal, NCPH President
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