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Grounding History as a Community Value
ThatCamp NCPH 2013

Ann Martin

If we believe that history/heritage is a valuable community asset, why do we spend so little time in the community (outside of talking to the heritage-minded crowd or telling them what we know)? How can we work collaboratively within the community? I’m talking real community engagement here, not outreach or developing audiences. Do we, as historians, really know how to create enduring relationships with other players within our communities that aren’t based on requirements for funding, getting good press or furthering our own strategic goals?

I’m interested in figuring out what it takes to roll up our sleeves and do the work to find a “coalition of the willing” – others that see value in heritage and whose values we can support – and work together as a true alliance over the long haul to ground the appreciation of heritage as a community value.

If you’d like to talk strategy, that’s great. Perhaps you’d like to create some tools (questionnaires, templates, discussion agendas, lists of categories of people to talk to that you can customize for yourself…or??). Maybe you’ve got some suggestions on how to harness digital technology in new and creative ways. Are you a tactician or a strategist?

I’m open to any and all suggestions that move the conversation away from “how do we reach them with what we know” to “what are community needs that the heritage community can help with and/or link to.”

Maybe there’s a ThatCamp NCPH 2013 coalition of the willing….