This April, MARCH and OHMAR (Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region) formed a partnership to host three major events, on the Rutgers University-Camden campus, for public historians: the 2015 Annual OHMAR Conference, the Telling Untold Stories Unconference, and the 2015 Annual Miller Lecture (which will be the final in the series). All of these events took place on the Rutgers-Camden campus April 9-10, 2015.
OHMAR hosted its annual conference on April 9 with topics including the Barner Effect, Graying of AIDS, Staring out to Sea: Teaching Oral History and Digital Humanities; Narrative Ethics for the Oral History Interview: A Narrative Medicine Perspective; Oral History and Narrative Medicine: Ethical, Spatial, and Mindful Interviewing; Encountering Trauma: Self Care for Oral Historians; Health Care Delivery, Hospital-Based Medicine, and Narratives of Change at Mary Washington Healthcare; Ethical Relationships in Health Narratives; and Clinical Oral History: A 360 Degree Portrait. The day concluded with a reception at Smokin’ Betty’s in Philadelphia.
The following day, on April 10, events continued with Telling Untold Histories, the first unconference in the South Jersey/Philadelphia region, organized to help public historians and historical organizations incorporate these stories into their work. This unconference explored the hows and whys of engaging subjects that challenge audiences’ expectations and expand their thinking. By drawing a diverse group of public historians, scholars, students, and interested members of the general public together, the unconference provided an open forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities of doing difficult history, giving participants a chance to network with like-minded practitioners from across the region and teaching professional skills through workshops.
Also on April 10, MARCH hosted the final Fredric M. Miller Memorial Lecture. MARCH welcomed Katherine Ott, a public historian and curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, as the speaker. Ott earned her Ph.D. at Temple University, where she studied the history of medicine and took the archives class taught by Fred Miller. Ott is the author or co-editor of three books, an OAH Distinguished Lecturer, and is in the midst of program planning for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act this July.
The Miller Lecture honors the life and legacy Miller, the curator of the Urban Archives at Temple University from 1973 to 1989 and a program officer of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1989 to 1998.
Telling Untold Histories was made possible with the generous support of MARCH, the Committee to Advance our Common Purpose, the Rutgers-Camden History Department, and the American Studies Department at Rutgers University.
MARCH, OHMAR, and Rutgers-Camden extend thanks to the many participants who joined us for this powerful series of events!