Christmas | Engaging Places

Ken Turino, Sara Bhatia, and I are currently compiling the index for our book Interpreting Christmas at Museums and Historic Sites, while the other authors are meticulously reviewing the proofs for any final corrections. But we are much more excited to announce that we have a colorful cover featuring images from Old World Wisconsin and Strawbery Banke, and that Rowman and Littlefield have made the 270-page book available for pre-orders at this link.

To get a start on the holidays, join us in July when we’ll be hosting a live AASLH webinar, “Jingle All the Way: Maximizing Your Museum’s Holiday Potential.” Drawing from some of the insights in the book, we’ll discuss how your historic house or history museum can leverage December’s holiday season to enhance community engagement. Mark your calendar for July 23 at 3 p.m. Eastern and secure your spot by registering here for $45 ($25 for AASLH members).

For a preliminary glimpse inside Interpreting Christmas, I’m sharing the proofs for the table of contents and introduction. Just remember, they’re publisher’s proofs so they are subject to change!

Interpreting Christmas pages i-xiv Download

Ken Turino and I started on Interpreting Christmas at Museums and Historic Sites three years ago and I’m delighted that it is now in production at Rowman and Littlefield. Our goal is to have the book available for the AASLH annual conference in September 2024, but that’s a very tight deadline, so no promises.

It will be among the latest titles in the Interpreting series of the American Association for State and Local History, which started ten years ago and included my book, Interpreting African American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites. There are now nearly two dozen Interpreting books available to the field on a wide range of topics, filling a huge gap in the literature.

As part of the publication process, two colleagues reviewed the manuscript anonymously (thank you, whoever you are!) and provided lots of helpful suggestions along with the overall evaluation that, “With a superstar group of contributors, the editors have assembled a handy and engaging collection that offers abundant practical advice and interpretive guidance for public historians who are developing and running holiday programs. Museum educators, curators, interpreters, and managers will be thrilled to have such a helpful collection as a reference and guide.”

With the hope for publication in fall 2024, Ken is proposing a session for the NEMA annual meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, and for an AASLH webinar. If the book is out in time for the AASLH annual conference in September, the publisher will host a book signing. We also have a standing invitation for an interview on the NPS blog. If you have other suggestions for regional conferences or other presentations, please let Ken or me know. We are happy to consider any potential sessions or presentations about the book as a whole or a focused topic around research, diverse traditions, planning, and public programming.