National Council on Public History NCPH 2019 Annual Meeting

In this conference, we will confront challenges of deindustrialization, decline, and violence, while also pursuing paths toward recovery and rebirth. Hartford offers a productive setting for such contemplations. The Connecticut River itself is a story of repair and recovery. Once plagued by industrial and agricultural run-off, four decades of focused advocacy and effective conservation partnerships restored the waterway’s health; by 1998 the Connecticut was named an American Heritage River and in 2013, the Connecticut River and its watershed was designated the nation’s first National Blueway. Across the city, Hartford is reclaiming its abundance of onetime industrial sites for housing, for the arts, and for modern work spaces. Perhaps nothing says it better than the vivid royal blue onion dome that sits atop Samuel Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company (and the utopian village he created around it): once the height of industrial design, Coltsville in time faced a long period of decline and eventual abandonment, until decades of advocacy brought forth its restoration (partial) and now renewal (forthcoming) as a National Historical Park. From the award-winning preservation of Charles Bullfinch’s Old State House (1792) to the renovation of the Modernist Hotel Sonesta (1964), Hartford’s embrace of, and investment in, its historic fabric is advancing efforts to revitalize the city—work that provides an energizing backdrop to these important conversations.

To help us think through our own relationships to repair work, our hardworking and thoughtful Program Committee has gathered together sessions teeming with opportunities to share strategies, concerns, failures, and successes. The conference also offers means by which to acquire and sharpen the tools of our practice. The meeting will include Preservation Leadership Training in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation alongside workshops on podcasting, grant-writing, oral histories, history relevance, consulting, and immersive gameplay. Meanwhile, our stellar Local Arrangements Committee has arranged outings to advance conversations around development and redevelopment, the preservation of Indigenous, African American, and Anglo American pasts, and the role historic sites can play in addressing contentious contemporary issues. We particularly hope that this gathering can help us all confront epidemic gun violence and contemplate ways that public historians can help the nation address this crisis. From the plenary to sessions to tours—including a digital hackathon workshop on the documentation of mass gun violence and a tour to the emerging Coltsville National Historical Park—we will look hard together at this pressing issue. Our annual meeting is itself an occasion for repair and renewal; we gather to restore our vision, to reset our priorities, to refresh longstanding ties, and to create new ones. In the 18th century (the historical era I know best), the verb “repair” also meant to return, or to make one’s way—and so I invite you to repair with me to Hartford, and to NCPH!

A full conference registration includes access to all working groups and sessions, the exhibit hall, public plenary, poster session and other non-ticketed events. Registrants also receive a conference Program and badge. Special opportunitiessuch as workshops, tours, and meal events may require additional fees. Visit the NCPH Annual Meeting webpage for more information on registration rates. For other questions on registration,see our General Registration FAQ.