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CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

Working Groups at the 2008 National Council on Public History Annual Meeting,
Louisville

The 2008 NCPH Annual Meeting will introduce a new session format. “Working
Groups,” led by senior practitioners and involving up to twelve participants,
will allow conferees to explore in depth a subject of shared concern. In these
innovative seminar-like conversations, participants will have a chance to
discuss questions raised by specific programs, problems, or initiatives in
their own public history practice with peers grappling with similar issues. For
2008, three working groups are being assembled:
- Public History and Civic Life
- Unifying and Dividing Communities through Historic Preservation
- Finding Common Ground between Interpreters and Historians

To join a working group, please submit a one-paragraph abstract describing the
case you wish to raise with your peers, together with a one- or two-page resume
or c.v. by October 31. Those who are accepted will submit for discussion a case
statement (of no more than two to three double-spaced pages) that describes
their particular experience, defines the issues it raises, and suggests
strategies and/or goals for resolution. Final case statements must be submitted
by March 1, 2008, and will be posted in PDF format on the NCPH website.
Individuals whose statements are selected will be listed as working group
participants in the printed conference Program. Participants will be expected to
read all the case statements for their session as well as a shared reading(s)
identified by their facilitator(s), and arrive at the conference prepared to
contribute to a substantive and focused discussion. Other conference
participants may attend the sessions, and will have access to the papers as
well.

Public History and Civic Life
This working group will explore the present and potential role of public history
in contemporary life. The facilitators welcome case studies grounded in
experience—transcendent or pull-your-hair-out frustrating—that represent
experiments in making history relevant to civic life, in arenas beyond the
gallery, the site, and the university classroom. Examples might include
community partnerships, neighborhood-based installations, K-12 collaborations,
public policy initiatives, or other programs that reach new audiences and forge
connections between past and present.

Unifying and Dividing Communities through Historic Preservation
This working group will challenge participants to examine historic preservation
as a practice that unites as well as divides communities. Facilitators will call
on specific historic preservation case studies as the canvas for discussion
about the politics of preservation. Participants will speculate on why certain
buildings get saved, how archaeological sites and cultural landscapes fit into
the equation, how communities decide what to fight for and what to dispute as
historic, and why some neighborhoods are overwhelmingly ignored. Following the
theme of the conference, discussion will explore the unifying and dividing
aspects of place. Participants will be asked to consider why fundraising efforts
for projects are often disparate depending on a variety of issues, least of
which is often the value of the historic resource. Some places require attention
as part of federal undertakings, and others are allowed to languish with no help
in sight. Historic places get mired in issues of race, gender, socioeconomics,
myth and fabrication. This working group will examine these and other issues in
an attempt to move historic preservation to a place of understanding and
collaboration for all publics.

Finding Common Ground between Interpreters and Historians
Are there ideas, methods, and experiences that National Park Service
interpreters and policymakers, on the one hand, and public historians, on the
other, can exchange that would mutually enhance the work of each? Can
interpreters who are regularly in immediate contact with people in public offer
concepts or approaches that will help public historians to bridge what David
Glassberg calls “the enormous distance that exists between historians and the
public”? How might public historians assist interpreters in contextualizing and
analyzing historical information? This working group will address these issues
of contrasting but complementary professional attributes in the two groups and
begin to map out ways of facilitating future exchanges, such as seminars,
training courses, publications, workshops, and other possible activities.

To apply, please send your one- or two-page resume or c.v. and a one-paragraph
abstract of your case statement by October 31 to [log in to unmask] (You may apply
to participate in a working group whether or not you have submitted another
presentation or session proposal.)

Learn more about the April 10-13 conference by visiting www.ncph.org or calling
317-274-2716.

Marla R. Miller
History Department, Herter Hall
University of Massachusetts
161 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003-9312
413-545-4256 (voice); 413-545-6137 (fax)
[log in to unmask]

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