The “Cradle” of the women’ rights movement in the U.S. has one national park in Seneca Falls, NY and the possibility of a second, the Harriet Tubman national park in Auburn, NY. However, the U.S. Congress appears to be unable to act so far on the Tubman proposal in spite of widespread public support. See coverage in SuffrageCentennials.com, as well as previous coverage on LetsRockTheCradle.com
The year 2016 may be a momentous one for the National Park Service when it will mark the centennial of its founding. The National Historic Preservation Act will have been in effect for 50 years. A Working Group for the National Council on Public History (NCPH) 2015 annual meeting in Nashville is expected to serve as a collaborative forum for planning a scholarly symposium to mark these important events. The symposium will take place in March 2016 during the NCPH annual meeting in Baltimore.
The intent is to create a symposium not only to commemorate the history of federal preservation, cultural resource management, and historical interpretation, but also to invite dialogue about the future of federal cultural policy and practice. Work has been completed in the past to reframe and energize the goals, purpose, and impact of federal cultural institutions. These initiatives have resulted in a number of internal and external reports –including “Imperiled Promise” and “A Call to Action” in the Park Service and the “Grand Challenges Consortia” program at the Smithsonian.
A pre-conference conversation will be held on History@Work in order to invite the members of a working group–and anyone else interested in joining the conversation–to identify the key themes and issues that should be at the heart of the 2016 symposium. Image: Harriet Tubman home in Auburn, NY. Respond to the call for National Park Service input by December 15. For more information.