On March 17, I woke up at an ungodly hour (3 o’clock in the morning) to drive to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the annual National Council on Public History (NCPH) conference. I was both excited and nervous and a little tired. This was the first conference of my graduate career, and although I have attended several conferences during my undergraduate career, I felt that this could set the tone for my schooling and my professional career upon my graduation. I was the only NYU student to attend the conference, so I was nervous about not knowing anyone (besides Dr. Peter Wosh, of course). Being the only student from your university at a conference really tests your social skills to branch out and mingle on your own (at least in my opinion).
Despite my anxiety about the trip, I could not think of any sort of excuse to not attend this conference. Most students think that conferences are only for the active professionals within the field, but that is just not the case. A conference presents you with the chance to make connections, to hear the new and innovative ideas for projects and research, and gives you a chance to see the potential that your degree could award you. Yes, money is a huge factor as to why most students cannot attend — conferences are incredibly expensive especially if a hotel is then factored in. However, there are resources to attend conferences that allow you to not break the bank.
Both NYU and the National Council on Public History made the process of attending a professional conference so incredibly easy that it baffled me as to why students had not taken advantage of the resources that I was given. The NYU History Department was kind enough to pay for majority of my trip through their conference grant allocation funds (something that any graduate student can apply for). Additionally I was given another grant from the Archives and Public History fund, AND (as if there could not be more opportunities for me to attend) if you volunteer to sit at the check-in table at the conference for NCPH you do not have to pay the conference registration fee and you get a free t-shirt. All of these opportunities for funding made my trip to Baltimore so much more enjoyable. I did not have to worry about how I was going to afford a hotel in downtown Baltimore or pay for my meals; instead I got to take advantage of learning from the professionals around me. Without these funding grants, I would not have been able to attend the conference.
Once at the conference, I was able to attend a variety of different panels and roundtable discussions with many different types of professionals in the field. I sat in on a lecture regarding cryptologic history, difficult histories to tell, visual artifacts surrounding World War I, I discussed European history in an educational context, and deliberated about the role of ethnography in Public History outlets…This conference opened my eyes to the large variety of professionals that all fall under the massive umbrella that is public history, and it also helped my very anxious mind relax about what my future will hold as a public historian. During these sessions I was asked difficult questions regarding the best way to create dialog between the participant and the past, or how to create innovative ways in which we can portray pressing and difficult questions. I was constantly amazed by the ways in which these professionals were finding such fascinating stories to tell in creative ways. The panel on “Difficult Histories” discussed ways in which museums were already creating dialogue with communities about stories that are hard to grasp. For example, one museum in New York created open dialogues about abortion and women’s reproductive rights by asking different members of the community from either side of the debate to come together and share their beliefs and stories. By creating open conversational dialogues between conflicting sides it allowed the museum to become an educational epicenter center to learn and engage with all viewpoints.
During the conference I also ran into a former NYU graduate from the Public History degree, Tracie Logan. It was fantastic to run into a graduate of the program and be able to discuss how well NYU prepared her for the real world. Many times we are not able to encounter alumni of the same program to ask what they would do differently during their schooling. To my surprise, I was able to do just that with Tracie.
I would encourage all students to take advantage of any conference you are interested in. Don’t think that you cannot attend a conference because of the distance or because it would cost too much money. Look into other alternatives. So many professional conferences want students to attend and they understand that we have budgetary restrictions that could permit us from attending. Often times there are discounts for students, an opportunity to volunteer, or get several members of your cohort to share a hotel room with you- anything to make sure that you get to attend conferences that could lead you on another career path or create unexpected mentors. Being a student is expensive, attending conferences shouldn’t be.