“Realizing the Power of History: Past, Present, and Future Strategies” will take place on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at the Corcoran Museum, George Washington University, Washington, DC. This NCPH mini-conference will bring together a diverse group of current practitioners—museum professionals, historic site interpreters, public history educators, and others engaged in historical inquiry and knowledge creation—to identify and name the challenges impacting the future of our field.
We will share ideas and discuss approaches for bringing our work and our historical knowledge to bear against concerning trends.
- What are successful historical strategies for putting history to work to refute misunderstanding and misinformation about the country’s past?
- How have institutions that practice history for the public served the public, especially its most vulnerable communities?
- What does this work look like today?
- What might it look like in the future?
- What are the specific, new threats we must prepare ourselves to face? What will be required of us?
In the morning we’ll adopt an “un-conference” format to create breakout sessions based on relevant issues in the field, and share quick case studies about effective strategies to use public history as a tool in service of advocacy or justice.
The event will culminate with NCPH President and UMBC History Department Chair, Denise Meringolo, leading a presidential roundtable discussion with Patty Arteaga (Smithsonian Institution), Dan Kerr (American University), and Elon Cook Lee (National Trust for Historic Preservation) will help Denise see her NCPH presidency out by tackling issues raised in the morning’s breakout sessions and articulating strategies for unifying and amplifying public history efforts to hold our hard-won ground for inclusive and community-driven public history practice.
Register by May 13, 2026
This event is sponsored by:
- Dresher Center for the Humanities, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Department of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Orser Center for Public Humanities, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Division of Research and Creative Achievement, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, George Washington University