Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am, Monthly Program
Black Doctor: A Biography of James McCune Smith
A presentation by Christopher L. Webber View a recording on the IHS YouTube Channel
Chris Webber discussed his latest book,
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Monthly Program March 2025: Black Doctor: A Biography of James McCune Smith
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Posted in Institute Activities
Posted in Institute Activities
Sunday, August 21, 2:00 pm, Public Program via Zoom.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.
Writing and Revising Narrative History
A Presentation by Megan Kate Nelson
Join the Mechanics' Institute and the Institute for Historical Study for this exciting talk about writing with historian Megan Kate Nelson who left academia in 2014 to become a full-time writer. During this Zoom event, she will offer advice for writers who want to publish trade history books and other pieces for general readers. Dr. Nelson will talk about how to make the transition from academic to narrative history writing, how to revise manuscripts for trade publication, and how to pitch articles and Op-eds to newspapers and magazines.
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of four books: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022); The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History); Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012); and Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2005). She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and TIME. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, she taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She grew up in Colorado but now lives in Boston with her husband and two cats.
Saturday, October 18, 10:00 am, Monthly Program via Zoom.
Zack Ellis (TheirStory) will give a brief, non-sales demo showing how transcript-based clipping, captions, and open exports support the workflow . TheirStory is an end-to-end oral history and audiovisual research platform used by over 120 universities and cultural institutions to streamline their process for recording, transcribing, indexing, editing, and making accessible the audiovisual stories of their communities. (See this article from the University of Connecticut on their use of TheirStory.)
Listening with Intention: From Humboldt to a Statewide Storytelling System
A presentation by Tammy Farmer (with a brief demo by Zack Ellis founder of TheirStory)
California has deep local histories but no shared pipeline that takes an oral history interview from consent, transcript, archive, short captioned clip to citable archive across university systems. Tammy Framer is piloting a practical, human-centered workflow in Humboldt County. It includes participant-centered consent, narrator-reviewed transcripts, light indexing, and short clips that always point back to the full source. The aim is simple: Listen • Archive • Research • Advocate — meeting today’s attention spans with oral history storytelling using TheirStory. Tammy is facilitating a second campus session with Cal Poly Humboldt and TheirStory in November. She is making this presentation to IHS to be sure she is asking all the right questions in a non-biased collection framework. The goal is to get people and communities talking again. The presentation will focus on three phases:- Empowering Seniors in Humboldt County (IRB-approved pilot)
- Oral History Van to bridge the access gap (like Bookmobile or Bloodmobile)
- A shareable statewide model (CCC/CSU/UC)
Zack Ellis (TheirStory) will give a brief, non-sales demo showing how transcript-based clipping, captions, and open exports support the workflow . TheirStory is an end-to-end oral history and audiovisual research platform used by over 120 universities and cultural institutions to streamline their process for recording, transcribing, indexing, editing, and making accessible the audiovisual stories of their communities. (See this article from the University of Connecticut on their use of TheirStory.)You are welcome to invite friends and colleagues to attend.
The presentation will be recorded, and posted on YouTube. If you don’t want to be on the recording, just make sure your video is off. And please remember to mute your microphone!
You are welcome to invite friends and colleagues to attend.
The presentation will be recorded, and posted on YouTube. If you don’t want to be on the recording, just make sure your video is off. And please remember to mute your microphone!