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Proposals are due on Friday, June 14, for the 24th Annual Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association (MAPACA) Conference, which will take place this year November 7-9 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Tropicana Casino and Resort. Proposals are welcome on all aspects of popular and American culture, and single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome.
Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts and may only be submitted to one appropriate area. For list of areas and area chair contact information, visit Subject Areas. General questions may be be directed to MAPACA at http://mapaca.net/.
MAPACA’s membership is comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multi-disciplinary manifestations. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”
From the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection:
As part of New Jersey’s celebration of National Preservation Month, the Department of Environmental Protection’s Historic Preservation Office and the New Jersey Historic Sites Council have awarded the 23rd Annual Historic Preservation Awards. The awards honor projects and groups or individuals dedicated to preserving New Jersey’s history. Read more.
From dclibrary.org:
Come and join the particularly enthusiastic Garry Adelman for a photographic tour of the Civil War. Photographs are a key primary source that assist in understanding the conflict; and when grasping the aims and methods of the photographers and pairing their images with modern photos taken at the same place, the impact is even more valuable.
The Civil War was the first war to be extensively photographed. It saw the real birth of photojournalism, technological innovations, the first photos of American dead soldiers and a public impact that cannot be overstated. Through then and now, 3-D and even 4-D techniques, Adelman will present the Civil War in a manner available nowhere else.
The program will take place Thursday, June 13, 2013 – 2:30pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in room 209. We look forward to having you join us. Please feel free to contact Ben Coburn with any questions.
From the National Park Service:
Christine Arato has been named the Regional Historian of the Northeast Region by the National Park Service. Among her goals are forging collaborative partnerships with history practitioners throughout the region, to apply innovations in the field of digital humanities to the NER History Program’s mission and to establish a regional oral history program.
Arato began her position on April 21 at the Northeast Regional Office in Boston. Prior to her appointment she was the service-wide program coordinator for the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 Commemoration. She contributed a chapter to the book Born in the U.S.A.: Birth, Commemoration, and American Public Memory (2012, ed. Seth C. Bruggerman) which focused on issues of commemoration at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site.
Arato graduated with honors from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in European History and an interdisciplinary Master degree in the history and anthropology of American religions. As a Student Conservation Association intern, she served as an interpreter at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and as a landscape historian with the Olmsted Center of Landscape Preservation. After Peace Corps service in Morocco, she joined the National Park Service, contributing to planning efforts for New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.
In 2001, Christine accepted her first permanent appointment at John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, where she was the supervisory park ranger. Beginning in 2009, she served as Senior Historian and National Historic Landmarks Program Manager for the NPS’ Southeast Region, and as the acting Chief Historian for that region. She also has held acting assignments in NPS’ Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs and as the superintendent of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, as well as a consultant to the World Bank. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Career Academy for Cultural Resources, the co-leader of the Academy’s Historians’ Initiative, and a founding member the Best Practices working group for the Call to Action’s History Lesson.
From H-NJ:
The New Jersey Historical Commission has published the Spring issue of New Jersey History. The journal is hosted by Rutgers University Libraries.
Table of Contents
Articles
Read more.
Mandi Magnuson-Hung, PubComm13 Committee Chair with Rutgers-Camden graduates preparing to give walking tours of Historic Cooper Street in Camden, New Jersey. (Photo: Charlene Mires)
On April 26, 2013, graduate students and professionals in the public humanities participated in the third annual Public History Community Forum—PubComm13. This year’s event was held at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey in the Cooper Street Library in Johnson Park. Participants toured historic Cooper Street before the lunchtime keynote address. A series of roundtable discussions and a large group Q&A closed the day.
After a brief introduction by Mandi Magnuson-Hung, Chair, PubComm planning committee, participants walked the streets of Historic Camden with six MA public history students from Rutgers-Camden. Over the course of the semester the students researched and wrote the tours, presenting them for the first time that day. The tours touched on a number of themes including architecture, industrialization and urbanization, Camden’s medical history, and youth and education.
For those unable to attend PubComm13 or interested in learning more about Camden, please visit the Cooper Street website http://cooperstreet.wordpress.com/
Dr. Howard Gillette, Professor Emeritus of History at Rutgers-Camden. (Photo: Charlene Mires)
Dr. Howard Gillette, Professor Emeritus of History at Rutgers-Camden and preeminent Camden scholar offered a thoughtful keynote on not only the history of Camden but its present as well. He spoke at length on the built environment of the city and how we might use the existing fabric of Camden to understand our historical context. He urged everyone to simply “take a walk,” noting that you can begin to imagine positive steps for the future of Camden by simply getting out in the city.
The majority of the day was spent engaged in “Pubic Humanities Speed Dating”—PHSD. For two hours twelve public humanities professionals and thirty-eight attendees met in a series of informal roundtables. Speakers represented the vastness of public history; consultants, archivists, public historians, site administrators and others fielded questions from students and professionals alike. No topic was off-limits, though most discussions kicked off with a brief introduction before exploring the public history issues and themes that mattered to participants.
Paulette Rhone (seated) and Sandy Levins (right) discussed the importance of volunteerism and the ins and outs of historic faux food at their table. (Photo: Charlene Mires)
This year’s speakers:
Howard Gillette, Professor Emeritus of History at Rutgers-Camden- Keynote
Tom Foley of Villanova University, Emilie Davis Diaries digital project
Jen Jannofsky of Rowan University and Whitall House
Sandy Levins, Historic Faux Food and Camden County Historical Society
Anita McKelvey, Authentic Philadelphia
Jim Mundy, Director of Education and Programming for the Abraham Lincoln Foundation at the Heritage Center of Union League, Philadelphia
Kris Myers, Director of Programs, Alice Pual Institute
Rosalind Remer and Paige Talbott, Remer & Talbott
Paulette Rhone, The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery
Mary Rizzo, New Jersey Council for the Humanities
Leslie Watson, Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum
Rebecca Yamin, historical archaeologist
Speakers unable to attend:
Flavia Alaya, Alaya Associates Cultural Resource Consulting
Mimi Iijima, Pennsylvania Humanities Council
Janet Sheridan, Cultural Heritage Consultant
Michael Tedeschi, Interactive Mechanics
A recurrent theme in the final Q&A was place. What do we know about where we are, how do we find out about where we are, and how do we engage with other people where we are? Historical archaeologist Rebecca Yamin stressed the role historical archaeology has in connecting people to their past and allowing them to have pride in that past. Sandy Levins, Programming and Publicity Director at the Camden County Historical Society and owner of Historic Faux Foods, echoed Dr. Gillette’s message, questioning what we know about the actual neighborhoods in Camden. Rather than focusing on stories in the media we should be striving to understand what the city means to the people “who struggle every day to make a life.”
Rutgers-Camden graduate student Mikaela Maria began her tour on the steps of the Cooper Street Library. (Photo: Charlene Mires)
Looking forward to PubComm14, participants requested more time for Public Humanities Speed Dating and more informal meet & greets throughout the year. Jen Janofsky of the Whitall House and Rowan University suggested adding a workshop component focused on resume building, choosing the right internship, job counseling and self presentation. Mary Rizzo, Associate Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities recommended casting an even broader net to bring in public historians who work in the federal and state arena, in public and private and for-profit and non-profit institutions.
If you have ideas for PubComm14 or would be willing to participate in PHSD or workshop please contact Mandi Magnuson-Hung at mandimh@camden.rutgers.edu
One of PubComm’s goals is fostering the diverse and growing public history community and providing opportunities for graduate students and emerging professionals in the region. Not only did graduate students from Rutgers-Camden design PubComm13’s walking tours, but the planning committee was made up of graduate students and emerging professionals as well.
PubComm13 was made possible by the support of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities at Rutgers-Camden, and the guidance of Dr. Charlene Mires.
We are saddened to learn of the death of Joseph J. Kelly, a valued friend and colleague in public humanities in Pennsylvania and the region. Kelly, who led the Pennsylvania Humanities Council from 1994 to 2011, died April 26 at his home in Haddonfield, New Jersey. For information about opportunities for gifts in his memory and the planned reminiscence service on May 4, visit the home page of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council or link to the article published on May 2 in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Camden County Historical Society has named Jason E. Allen as its new Executive Director. Prior to his appointment, Allen served as the director of interpretation at Cliveden. He has also worked at the National Constitution Center, first as the east region coordinator for the Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy—PennCord—and later as the Center’s national student programs manager. Allen is a board member of Historians Against Slavery and is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation core innovation team. He holds a B.A. in history and education from Montclair State University.
The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums has announced the dates of its annual meeting. The Fall 2013 meeting will be held in Washington D.C., October 20-22.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
From the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:
For a weekend in April, the library at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will be transformed through the imagination of performance artist Sebastienne Mundheim. Mundheim and her team travel through time, using puppetry, dance, storytelling, and the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for inspiration. The performance is part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), a month-long city-wide festival produced by the Kimmel Center. This year the festival celebrates time travel – what better way to do that than through the magic of an archive…a paper time machine. Performances are scheduled for 4, 6, and 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, Sunday, April 14, and Monday, April 15.
This is your chance to experience the Society’s beautiful, historic Reading Room as you never have before. The audience will encounter sleeping giants, stomping faceless warriors in weighted costumes made of books, and silent planters who insist that history is best kept by the ringing of the trees. Through their questions we discover our own, and reflect on how we chose to see ourselves in the context of the past.
Tickets to ArkHIVE are $20 for general admission. HSP members can purchase tickets for $15; the student price is $10. Seating is limited, so buy your tickets today! Performance runs for 40 minutes.
For more information or to purchase tickets visit, https://hsp.org/calendar/arkhive
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