COMMUNITY HISTORY

Participants will receive instruction on public history best practices, develop projects in a cohort environment that encourages collaboration, and receive funding from NJCH to launch projects in their communities. This educational program is for organizations that have a great interest in exploring their community’s history but do not have professional historians on staff to guide their process.

Community History participants will work closely with their communities to learn about, engage with, and share untold and underrepresented stories from those communities. The ideal Community History participant will see value in incorporating history into their organization’s work. Some examples of questions you might be considering:

• How can learning about our community’s history help us to understand our present circumstances and look to the future?
• How can our organization engage with community histories and share these histories with our community members?
• How can we preserve, interpret, and amplify our local histories?
• How can we broaden traditional narratives about our local histories to reflect our whole community’s experiences and values?

Learning sessions will include instruction on public history practices, presentations by practitioners, and time to work on public history projects in a collaborative environment. In addition, each participating organization will be matched with a mentor experienced in this kind of community-based public history work.

Between sessions, each program participant will work closely with community members back home to develop and build a history project. Projects might take many different forms; thinking about what form the project takes will be an important part of the process for all participants. At the end of the program, all participants will share their projects in a public showcase

Organizations accepted into the Community History program are required to identify 2 representatives that are able to participate in all learning session and program activities. Those participants will also act as primary community contacts. Each organization will receive an honorarium of $1,000 to defray the cost of participation as well as a grant of $3,000 to support the development and implementation of their project.

Please note: Community History’s cohort-based environment works best when all organizations are active, collaborative, and consistent participants in our process. Participants can expect to invest a significant amount of time in this program, particularly during learning sessions and project development. Organizational representatives are expected to attend all learning sessions and other meetings with program staff and mentors, participate in all program activities, lead the community-based project work, and complete all assigned homework related to the program. We hope that the skill-building work of these cohorts will translate into long-term benefits for organizations that wish to incorporate public history into their broader programming. Those who do not wish to attend all program components or are unable to do so should instead consider applying for a grant.

Learning sessions for the March cohort will take place on Wednesday afternoons from 1-3 pm. The anticipated schedule for Cohort A:

• Session 1: March 2
• Session 2: March 9
• Session 3: March 16
• Session 4: April 6
• Session 5: April 13
• Session 6: May 4
• Session 7: May 18
• Project work and individual monthly meetings: June-August
• Session 8: September (exact date TBD)

Showcase: October (exact date TBD)
Evaluation and project close out: by end of December

Program staff strongly recommend that participants reserve Wednesday afternoons for the duration of the program to ensure they have allocated enough time to get program work done, even in weeks when there is not an official learning session or other meeting.

The exact syllabus will be finalized based on particular needs of participating organizations, but will include the following topics:

Sessions 1-3: public history concepts, program models, goal setting, outreach.
Sessions 4-5: project plans and budgets.
Sessions 6-7: project work, evaluation, marketing.
Session 8: future planning and showcase prep.

The Cohort B schedule will reflect a similar 9-month time frame as the Cohort A, with learning sessions from June-August, project work in September-November, final group meetings in December, and showcase in January 2023. Projects for the June cohort must close out by the end of March 2023.

Exact dates for Cohort B will be updated and applications will open by March 2022.

Applicants must commit to participating in all program activities, including identifying 2-3 people to attend all learning sessions and meetings. Applicants must be willing to work collaboratively with community members to develop and implement a public history project. The most competitive applicants will demonstrate strong personal or organizational ties to the community whose history they hope to explore and a commitment to raising untold stories or underrepresented points of view, leading to a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the past.

Not eligible:

• For-profit organizations or businesses.
• Colleges or universities.
• K-12 educational institutions.
• Professional history institutions.
• Individuals.
• Organizations who participated in Community History in 2021.

Community History is a process-driven program that combines instruction in public history with development of a community-engaged history project. Those who wish to learn more about how public history works and have either not begun or are early in the process of developing a project would be a good fit for this program. Organizations that do not need public history instruction, are unable to attend program activities like learning sessions and meetings, or who are unwilling to follow the program’s process for developing and implementing projects should not apply for the Community History program. NJCH grants can support community history work outside of this program.

If you have any questions about your eligibility for this program or program components, please don’t hesitate to contact Gigi Naglak, Director of Programs.

You can access the application using the Apply button at the bottom of this page. Applications are due by February 2, 2022.

Applications for Cohort B (June start) will open in March. Those applications will be due by April 15, 2022.

Join us for our next informative Community History webinar on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 2:00pm.

This hour-long webinar is designed to help potential participants learn more about basic community history concepts and the application process for the NJCH CH program.

The New Jersey Council for the Humanities Community History program is an intensive, experiential offering for nonprofit organizations interested in documenting community stories, especially from voices often overlooked or marginalized.
The CH program allows organizations to participate in a structured course to develop an understanding of the principles of public history, investigate tools and modalities for doing that work in concert with their communities, and work with history professionals of various expertise. Each organization receives seed funding to begin their community history project.

All participants should review the njhumanities.org prior to participating in the webinar.

To register for the webinar, click here.

We will announce the members of the cohort as they are selected. Please check back for updates.

Kristin is a public historian and scholar of early American social history at Rutgers University. She coordinates the Public History Program at Rutgers, including the Certificate in Public History and Public History Internship, and is also an Associate Graduate Faculty Member in the Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies Program. O’Brassill-Kulfan holds a PhD in History from the University of Leicester and an MA in Modern History from Queens University Belfast. She consults regularly on public history projects, curating exhibits, managing archival collections, and creating inclusive public programming.

Gigi is NJCH’s Director of Programs, where she oversees all of the council’s public humanities program offerings. Prior to coming to NJCH in 2016, Gigi spent more than a decade in museum education, leading education and public engagement initiatives for the Science History Institute and American Philosophical Society most recently. She is also a theatre producer and performer. Gigi has a BA in history and theatre from Drew University and an MA in Performance Studies from King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Clinton Hill Community Action (Newark) collected historical photographs and information about them, from family snapshots to professional images. The photography collection will be added to on an ongoing basis and curated into digital collections as well as an annual calendar about the history of Newark’s Clinton Hill.

Community Partnership for Egg Harbor Township Schools, Inc. (Egg Harbor Township) partnered with current Egg Harbor Township High School students and alums, local historical societies, and local residents to create a short documentary about the history of the school featuring historical documents and photographs as well as interviews with residents. This is likely to be the first of several short films exploring the history of Egg Harbor Township and its people created in partnership with a media program at the high school.

East Trenton Collaborative (Trenton) began capturing first-hand accounts from residents about life in the neighborhood to support revitalization efforts in the area and tell a more personal and meaningful story of the people and businesses of living memory that make up East Trenton.

Enslaved African Memorial Committee (Teaneck) began work on the documentary “Revelation: The Hidden Story of the Enslaved African Presence in Bergen County 1700-1920,” which unveils important places and known enslaved people in and around Bergen County during the colonial era, and continued research and public outreach efforts around that history.

Old Mill Hill Society (Trenton) explored the role and depictions of African Americans during the Revolutionary era, including the irony and cruelty of popular historic figures such as George Washington fighting for “freedom” while enslaving human beings for profit. They hosted two community conversations on the topic to spark ongoing community dialogue about race throughout our history and today to promote social justice reforms and end policies perpetuating systemic racism

Piscataway Public Library (Piscataway) created a book (print and electronic) of stories submitted by residents sharing their first-hand accounts of living through events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the storming of the Capitol, the ban on Muslims entering the U.S., social justice demonstrations, or other significant happenings.

Raices Cultural Center (New Brunswick) published two digital exhibits under their “Stories of the Ancestors, Stories of Healing” project theme that enables community participants from a diversity of cultural backgrounds to examine family and cultural history from their own personal perspectives and experiences. These projects enabled Raíces to launch a new history-focused program branch that will expand their core mission to preserve cultural roots through history.

Salvation and Social Justice (Woodbury and Trenton) began research for the AME Church in New Jersey Justice Technology Trail and Documentary, investigating how to best tell the stories of the liberation advocacy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey by creating a trail of interactive digital history markers within A.M.E. Churches throughout the state.

1719 William Trent House Museum (Trenton) launched the Great Migration Oral History Project, convening focus groups, identifying potential interviewees, and beginning the interview process. This project builds on work the Trent House has already done to illuminate the history of African Americans at the historic house by connecting that early history to contemporary times.

The first Community History Showcase took place on Wednesday, October 27, 2021. Click here to view a recording of the showcase.