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Public History 2007 Highlights What are archives? How do you manage a collection? How should historical records be stored? Through presentation and discussion, workshop leaders will answer these questions and introduce attendees to the fundamental archival topics of identifying, managing, and preserving paper-based records of enduring value. Participants will learn the basic concepts of archival administration, including arranging, describing, protecting, storing collections, and collection maintenance. Additional topics covered include mission statements, security policies, environmental conditions, and preservation techniques. This workshop is designed to assist those wishing to learn the basics of archival stewardship practices or those just needing to freshen up on the subject. Participants are encouraged to share their own experiences with archival collections, as there will be time at the end of the workshop for discussion and questions. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the UMass Amherst Public History Program, the Archives Program, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College , and the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System. Archives Alive! is designed for professionals, volunteer staff and board members of local repositories, public libraries, town halls, historical museums, commissions, societies and heritage sites. 2006 Highlights The 2006 Massachusetts History Conference, “Outside the Textbook: Writing History for Everyone,” took place June 12 in Worcester . Jointly sponsored by the Public History Program and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the conference drew 160 attendees from the state's museum and local history community. Celebrated author Anita Diamant ( The Red Tent, The Last Days of Dogtown) delivered the keynote address on using history to write fiction. UMass Boston public historian James Green hosted an on-campus brown-bag lunch in April to discuss his new book, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America (2006). On April 27th, the Public History Program, in partnership with the UMass Architecture and Design Program and Historic Deerfield, Inc. sponsored a symposium marking the fortieth anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Panelists included Jonathan Kemper (National Trust for Historic Preservation), Randy Mason ( University of Pennsylvania ), Roger Kennedy (former Director of the National Park Service), and cultural geographer David Lowenthal. UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral student David Cline (MA, 2003) returned to UMass on April 5 to celebrate the publication of his new book, Creating Choice: A Community Responds to the Need for Abortion and Birth Control, 1961-1973, a project that emerged from his public history coursework and involvement with the Valley Women's History Collaborative. While in Amherst, Cline participated in a Tapestry Health-sponsored panel discussion and addressed the History Department on the subject of oral history and community in the Pioneer Valley .
2005 Highlights The Public History Program co-sponsored a November 5 conference commemorating the historic relationship between UMass Amherst and the Kahnawake Survival School . Organized by UMass history professor Alice Nash, Polishing the Chain of Friendship: UMass Amherst and the Kahnawake Survival School, 1978-2005 brought together a group of former students, teachers, and School of Education faculty members to reflect upon the significance of this partnership. The 2005 Massachusetts History Conference , jointly sponsored by the Public History Program and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, focused upon the topic of “The Commonwealth Around Us: Interpreting Our Spaces and Places.” Held June 6 in Leominster , the conference continues the work of the now-defunct Bay State Historical League. Brandeis University 's Brian Donahue delivered the keynote address on history and conservation of the Massachusetts landscape. A spring alumni panel brought three program alumni – Emily Briggs Vincent (2004), David Favaloro (2003) and Ron Lamothe (2000) – back to campus to share their insights about the current job market, various career paths available to public historians, and landing that all-important first job. As successful new professionals, they offered many helpful insights for current students. “The Many Stories of 1704” website, coordinated by MA alumnus Angela Goebel-Bain (2003) and mounted by the Pocumtuck
The Public History Program sponsored a December 7th panel discussion on “The Civil Rights Movement in History and Public Memory” as a part of the Fall 2004 Feinberg Family Lecture Series, “Race, Law and Civil Rights: Fifty Years of Brown v. Board of Education.” Program faculty member David Glassberg joined John Bracey from the Department of Afro-American Studies to lead the audience through consideration of the issues at stake. Under the sponsorship of the Public History Program and the UMass Amherst Alumni Association, program alumnus Ron Lamothe (2000) returned to campus on October 15 for the western Massachusetts premiere of his documentary The Political Dr. Seuss, aired nationally later that fall. A large and enthusiastic crowd packed the auditorium, lending excitement and vibrancy to the question and answer session that followed. Graduate Student Margo Shea takes a moment to pose with members of a local 4-H group who collaborated on a Historic Resource Study of the seventeenth-century Hadley Common, with funding from a University of Massachusetts Public Service Endowment Grant. 2003 Highlights Ann Plane, Director of the UC-Santa Barbara Public History Program and editor of The Public Historian and Ellen Fitzpatrick, Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire came to campus in November for a panel discussion on “The Past, Present and Future of the Historical Profession.” Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and Cornell University Professor of History, Human Development and Gender Studies, Joan Jacobs Brumberg visited campus during the promotional tour for her new book, The Case of ‘ Kansas Charley': Adolescent Homicide in the 1890's. Brumberg hosted a lively brown-bag luncheon, co-sponsored by the English Department, on the topic of “Writing History for the Public: What It Means to Take Off Your ‘Academic Girdle.'” Program alumnus Greg Galer, now Director of the Holocaust-Era Records Project, National Archives and Records Administration, delivered the annual Public History Program Lecture in September. Greg's talk, “Turning History into Justice: Archivists, Historians and Diplomats and the Search for Holocaust-Era Assets, 1996-2003,” described his recent work helping track and restore property lost during the Holocaust. In commemoration of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Week, ( May 5-12, 2003 ) the Public History Program, in conjunction with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the UMass Interior Design and Architecture Studies Program, sponsored two public lectures on preservation-related topics. NTHP Northeast Regional Director Wendy Nicholas delivered a provocative talk on “Rebuilding Community: Best Practices for Historic Preservation-Based Community Revitalization,” and Roger Kennedy, former Director of the National Park Service and the National Museum of American History spoke on “Sprawling Into Danger: Reflections on National Fire Policy in an Age of Sprawl.” In early May, the program co-sponsored – in partnership with the Hadley Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies – a one-day symposium on “Hadley in the Renaissance.” History Professors Alice Nash and Brian Ogilvie joined an array of curators and scholars who presented work on seventeenth century Hadley to a standing-room-only crowd. 2002 Highlights The Public History Program served as a co-sponsor for the Ninth Annual Deerfield-Wellesley Symposium in American Culture, “The Past in the Present: How Museums Interpret History,” held November 1-2 at Historic Deerfield. MA student Jill Ogline presented a paper on her work with the National Park Service Civic Engagement Initiative, made possible through the Public History Program's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.
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Valley Memorial Association, received second place in the Best Online Exhibit category at the April 2005 Museums and the Web Conference. 
the need to place greater and more conscious value on the importance of preserving the unique heritage of local Connecticut Valley communities.