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News Release

Last modified: Monday, February 19, 2007

Come all ye history lovers

Conference joins scholars, non-academic historians

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 19, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- "Historians in Public" is the theme of this year's conference of the Indiana Association of Historians, taking place at Indiana University Bloomington Feb. 23-24. The program will focus on the connection between history and public life, with an emphasis on the interactions of scholars with non-academic history enthusiasts.

"People are out there making history and doing historical interpretation every day, whether they are working on historic sites or family genealogy or just telling stories," said conference organizer Eric Sandweiss. "It's my conviction that history is not a one-way street with academics delivering information to the general public. With this conference we hope to break down some of those lines."

Full program and registration information is available at www.indiana.edu/~imaghist/IAH/index.html. Conference topics include restoration of historic theaters, developing museum programs, local history in Indiana and modern biography.

This year's Paul V. McNutt lecture forms part of the program and is open to the public at no cost. Dwight Pitcaithley, retired chief historian of the National Park Service, will address the question, "Why aren't We All Public Historians?" from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 in the Indiana Memorial Union Frangipani Room.

For more information or to obtain a press pass, contact Sandweiss at 812-855-0210 or sesandw@indiana.edu.

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