The latest issue of the newsletter of the National Council on Public History includes a report on our civic engagement activities. Link to the newsletter here and scroll to Page 7.
Blog Category: News, page 5
National Constitution Center Joins Advisory Board
We are pleased to welcome the National Constitution Center to our Civic Advisory Board. These important partners provide guidance to assure that The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project creates civic benefits and meets community needs. To learn more about the National Constitution Center, visit the web site http://www.constitutioncenter.org .
National Endowment for the Humanities
Awards Two-Year Grant for the
Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
Our project reached an important milestone this week with the awarding of a two-year, $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. We are so grateful to the many organizations and individuals who have brought our project to this point: more than thirty partner organizations, more than 150 authors and editors, our digital publishing team and colleagues at our home base at Rutgers-Camden, and of course the users of the encyclopedia who attend our events, offer valuable suggestions, and use this resource every day. The NEH funds will support the next two-year period of accelerated content development, especially topics that span the Greater Philadelphia region. Check the site often and watch us grow!
National History Day Webinar
Teachers, please join us on Wednesday, November 2, at 4:30 p.m. for a free webinar tutorial with our education outreach coordinator, Melissa Callahan. The webinar will provide an overview of the resources available from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and offer ways in which students might use those resources to create an outstanding National History Day project. Once you sign up for the webinar you will receive a confirmation email.
NEH Teacher Institute: Cultures of Independence
Applications are due March 2 for this new teacher workshop funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cultures of Independence: Perspectives on Independence Hall and the Meaning of Freedom will raise awareness of how Independence Hall has been involved in the ongoing process of creating a nation and civic life, not just in the magical moment of July 1776. During each day of a week-long workshop, 36 teachers will be immersed in a process of discovering and developing strategies for teaching the ongoing history of the American independence. Dr. Charlene Mires, author of Independence Hall in American Memory and Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia will be the scholar-in-residence. Other editors, contributors, and civic partners of the Encyclopedia will participate as speakers and hosts.
The workshop will be offered twice: June 21-26 and July 26-July 31. For additional information about the program and procedures for application, visit the workshop website hosted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
New Call for Authors: Winter-Spring 2015
The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is expanding and opening new subject categories with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust. To join more than one hundred leading and emerging scholars who have already contributed to this peer-reviewed, digital-first project, let us know your choice of topics.
To see the list of topics available link here.
The scope of the project includes the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding region of southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and northern Delaware. Prospective authors must have expertise in their chosen subjects demonstrated by previous publications and/or advanced training in historical research. Authors will have the opportunity to select feasible deadlines and will have the option of volunteering or receiving modest stipends. To express interest, please send an email describing your qualifications and specifying topics of interest to the editor-in-chief, Charlene Mires, cmires@camden.rutgers.edu. No attachments, please. Graduate students, please include the name and email address of an academic reference.
Guidelines for writers:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/guidelines-for-writers/
Roster of authors:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/category/authors/
Editors and staff:
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/about/editors/
New Civic Partner: Camden County Historical Society
We are pleased to extend the coalition of civic partners involved with The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia into South Jersey with the addition of the Camden County Historical Society. Watch for items from the CCHS collections to be featured in the image galleries that accompany topics of regional interest.
New Civic Partner:
Global Philadelphia Association
The mission of the Global Philadelphia Association is “to assist—and to encourage greater interaction among—the many organizations and people who are engaged in international activity in the Greater Philadelphia Region, to promote the development of an international consciousness within the region, and to enhance the region’s global profile.” We are pleased to have Global Philadelphia as a new civic partner, as well as to add The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia to the membership roll of Global Philadelphia. To find out more about Global Philadelphia, visit the association’s web site, and to learn more about Philadelphia’s global heritage, visit our “Philadelphia and the World” content theme.
New Film: The Work and Legacy of W.E.B. DuBois
We’re pleased to call attention to a new documentary produced by area high school and college students under the direction of one of the Encyclopedia project’s advisers, Professor Amy Hillier at the University of Pennsylvania. Legacy of Courage: W.E.B. DuBois and The Philadelphia Negro, was created as part of the Mapping DuBois Project.
Legacy of Courage: W.E.B. Du Bois and The Philadelphia Negro from Amy Hillier on Vimeo.
New Opportunities for Teachers
We’re so pleased that the Encyclopedia project has sparked a series of extraordinary workshops for Philadelphia-area educators. Please add these to your calendar and register now:
- City of Neighborhoods, April 17, 4-6:30 p.m., a free workshop at the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent. Click here for more information and registration.
- A Summer Teacher Institute! During July, the Encyclopedia team together with our education consortium of civic partners, will offer “Philadelphia for Teachers,” a week-long institute for graduate credit. In addition to an immersion in Philadelphia history, teachers will have the opportunity to research and write their own Encyclopedia-style essays, which may be considered for publication. Click here for more information and registration. Download a flyer for posting (PDF): Click here.
These opportunities are created by our education consortium, including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, the National Archives in Philadelphia, the National Constitution Center, and Independence National Historical Park. Thank you very much!