Conversations
View past Conversations on the Commons
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400 Years and Beyond: Commemorating historic events in the twenty-first century (23 October 2020)
After 400 years of colonization of Massachusetts by Europeans, we enter a period of town anniversaries. How can we use them as an occasion to start addressing that "settlement" in Massachusetts also meant "displacement", the beginning of attenuated conflict, and the "disappearing" of Native American presence and history, often in plain sight? As some leading organizations change their identities to be more inclusive, how are you approaching these events in your own towns and institutions? Do you have celebrations coming up? What can we do to bring residents together and start telling these complex stories? Are you working on this? Are you wondering how to move forward, and thinking about how to mark significant anniversaries without celebrating conflict and dispossession? Bring your questions, observations, and experiences, as well as your obstacles and successes in reframing narratives and using your collections in a new way.
Archiving Your Gigabytes: Preserving COVID-19 and Other Digital Collections (9 October 2020)
Covid-diaries, Zoom events, oral histories, social media. Under the COVID regime, online activity is sending our digital footprints into the stratosphere. Not to mention everything else we already had and are developing. How do we archive and preserve it? How can we do it without breaking the bank and boggling the mind? Do you have a protocol? Do you collect and preserve Facebook posts, web specials, and so forth? What are best practices and what can you make happen? What solutions have you found? What hurdles overcome? What are some of your questions and problems?
Standing Up For What Matters: Tips, Tricks and Tools from Veteran Advocates (25 September 2020)
Activists vs. Advocates: What’s the difference? Both involve trying to effect change, but activists are action-oriented, often working outside the system, while advocates are people-oriented and work within the system to represent the concerns of others. Join us as we meet two experienced advocates. Learn how they have helped others to challenge unfair institutional systems and what inspires them to keep going.
Civics, Politics, and History Organizations: History as neutral ground? (11 September 2020)
Women's Suffrage, the Census, Black Lives Matter, the Election: How do you engage the question of politics in your organization? Engaging audiences without being partisan? How do board members feel about these issues? Where do we draw the line between history and the current political moment? How do we create/encourage conversations that transcend the ruts of what passes for contemporary political dialogue?
Conversations on the Commons: Reopening, Part III (24 July 2020)
It's official: we're now in Phase III. Join us on July 24th for the third in a series of informal conversations about reopening historic sites and organizations in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer panelists will be Katie MacDonald, Executive Director of the Old Colony History Museum and Lesley Herzberg, Executive Director of the Berkshire County Historical Society. Conversation moderated by Penni Martorell, Curator and City Historian at Wistariahurst.
Conversations on the Commons: Black Lives Matter Protests and History Organizations (July 10, 2020)
What are the responsibilities of historical organizations in light of recent widespread protests and growing acknowledgment that things have to change — that historically white organizations have a duty to challenge white privilege?
Panelists are Marieke Van Damme, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Society and Judith Monachina, who directs the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center at Berkshire Community College.
Conversations on the Commons: The Launch of Mass History Commons (June 26, 2020)
The Mass History Commons brings us together! And we got together to celebrate its launch! The Commons is an interactive website where people from Massachusetts history organizations can gather, network, share tools and resources, and build the profile of their organizations and institutions -- a place where all historical organizations and groups can hang out a shingle and be seen as part of a much larger whole.
Conversations on the Commons: When We Open (June 5, 2020)
How do you prepare for reopening when so much of what you need to know and do is new? Join Ken Turino and Pleun Bouricius for a discussion moderated by Margo Shea -- whether you're already partway into reopening preparations, or just beginning to figure out what's next. They'll share what the reopening process looks like at their institutions, and we'd love to hear your own plans and questions.
Conversations on the Commons: Reopening, Engaging, or Both? (June 19, 2020)
Following up from our conversation on June 5, we talk through the reopening process for our institutions, small to large. Some are opening outdoor spaces. Others are focusing on distance engagement or doing much-needed work in their buildings or on their collections. What does the landscape look like now?
Conversations on the Commons: Coffee with Laura Roberts (May 1, 2020)
These are interesting times for history-focused organizations, to put it mildly. We invite you to join moderator Laura Roberts and your peers and colleagues from history organizations across the Commonwealth to informally discuss what’s happening and what’s coming.