Category Archives: Historical interpretation

A Campaign to Make History Relevant to Americans

American flag with puzzle piece missingIn the last year I’ve become part of an group to find ways to make history more meaningful and relevant to Americans.  The History Relevance Campaign, for lack of a better name, is an informal grassroots effort made up of public historians, preservationists, educators, historic site managers, and museum leaders who are creating a national, broad-based strategy to assert the relevance of history.

Just to clarify, the History Relevance Campaign is not connected to any one history organization. From its start in early 2013, the group has strived to be as inclusive as possible.  Secondly, it is not a lobbying group.  Its main audience is the general public, not elected officials and public policy makers.  Thirdly, its intent is to show that history skills are just as important as Continue reading →

Celebrating the New Year by Looking Back

Freedom's Eve at President Lincoln's Cottage

Freedom’s Eve at President Lincoln’s Cottage

President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, DC is hosting a New Year’s Eve party with meaning by marking the “stroke of midnight, January 1, 1863” when “thousands of men, women, and children celebrated as the Emancipation Proclamation finally took effect.”  Tickets are $150 to $250 per person, with a special discount for persons under 40 years old.  Although the staff will be working on a holiday, it’s a clever way to connect history and support a good cause, too.  What popular events in your community can be connected to your site’s history or mission?

AAM and NAI Announce Awards, but Few are Historic Sites

Walking Cinema of Gloucester HarborWalk

Walking Cinema of Gloucester HarborWalk

The American Alliance of Museums and the National Association for Interpretation announced their annual winners in various categories, from label writing to exhibits to publications to programs.  You’ll want to look at the entire list for inspiration, but I especially want to congratulate those people and organizations whose worked focused on historic sites, houses, and places (that’s the point of this blog).

The Media and Technology Professional Network of AAM presented Muse Awards for digital media to: Continue reading →

Video: Refuse to Fold: Heritage Tourism in the Mississippi Delta

This 35-minute video is the first cut of a working documentary by Brian Dempsey and Angela Smith about heritage tourism and the Mississippi Delta Blues, featuring Jimmy “Duck” Holmes from Bentonia, Mississippi.  Dempsey and Smith were PhD students in public history at Middle Tennessee State University four years ago when they produced this video.

Video: History Matters. Students Matter.

http://vimeo.com/76743251

Angela Smith, assistant professor and director of the public history program at North Dakota State University shares this six minute general overview of the value of history and how the Public History Program at NDSU has contributed through several student projects.  This video was presented at the College Honors Day on October 11, 2013.

Video: History of Halloween

http://vimeo.com/29761053

National Geographic Channel presents its history of Halloween in this 3:12 video.  It’s a bit dramatic but well produced.  As an alternative, you can buy the “Ghosts of History” video to project ghostly images of people in “colonial clothing” on a scrim.  I’m not sure the colonial period was the scariest for America–how about the attack on Pearl Harbor or the Cuban Missile Crisis?

http://vimeo.com/64471866

Video: Baltimore: A History, Block by Block

James Singewald, is photographing and researching ten historic streets in Baltimore for his project, Baltimore: A History Block by Block.   This 4:30 video explains his project and presents a series of his photographs that show the rich variety of architecture that survives (and may be soon demolished) and is raising funds for 4×5 film, processing, research, and publication on Kickstarter.   It’s a great way to raise funds to research and document historic neighborhoods, and he’d appreciate your support with a gift of $10 or more (he’s raised nearly half of his expenses with 65 backers).  Singewald received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art abd is currently the imaging services technician at the Maryland Historical Society>  He funded his previous book, Old Town, East Baltimore, in 2010 through Kickstarter.

HBR: The Truth About the Customer Experience

Harvard Business Review, September 2013

Harvard Business Review, September 2013

The September 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review features four articles on women in leadership, which will be of interest to many people who work at historic sites and museums.  The first is on the subtle gender bias that obstructs women’s access to leadership in even the most well-meaning organizations (and how to correct the problem), the second article describes companies who have successfully incorporated inclusivity, and the third reveals the way women make buying decisions differently in a business-to-business (B2B) setting from men.  The fourth article is a roundup of recent research on women in the workplace, such as women receive less criticism but also less challenging assignments.  Of course, the museum and historic site field is dominated by women, so I wonder what these statistics would look like for us.

There’s also a good article on “customer journey mapping.”  It’s a relatively new method of studying a customer’s buying experience by identifying all the places that a company interacts with a customer and evaluating each of these “touchpoints.”   By mapping the customer’s journey to buy a product from their initial search for information to its delivery and installation, a company can better understand the Continue reading →

Snapshots of AASLH in Birmingham

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I’ve just returned from three days in Birmingham, Alabama, where I attended the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History.  Lots of great sessions and I was often caught struggling to decide which one to attend.  Of course, it’s always great to meet colleagues from around the country but I was struck by how many graduate students attended.  Melissa Bingmann, who directs the public history program at West Virginia University, brought a dozen students because she believes it’s a more effective use of her limited funds–students hear more “guest” speakers, visit more museums and historic places, and learn more about the field than if they had stayed on campus all year.

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Birmingham isn’t high on my list of tourist destinations, but the AASLH meeting gave me a chance to see Continue reading →

AASLH Award Winners

Lee Wright at the History List created a Slideshare presentation of the 87 history projects that will be receiving awards today from the American Association for State and Local History at their annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.   You’ll see exhibits, books, websites, preservation projects, outdoor multimedia tours, and much, much more.  It’s an easy way to get ideas for your museum and historic site (perhaps your staff can watch it over lunch together?).

Lee also mentioned that he’ll be offering the “Make this Holiday Historic” at the History List again in December to promote events, gifts, and membership at historic sites and house museums but may include some tweaks to make it more engaging.  If you are interested in participating (I especially encourage sites that are in a city or region that’s a tourist destination), contact Lee@TheHistoryList.com.