Historical Reminiscents

In this episode I discuss reimbursement culture, the unacknowledged costs of academic travel, and the burden of out of pocket travel. I would love to hear about your experiences and suggestions for tackling reimbursement culture. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Pamela L. Gay, "The unacknowledged costs of academic travel" -Melonie Fullick, "It's time to rethink academic conference funding" -Jessica Sagers, "Reimbursement policies make academia less inclusive" Rapid Reads: -NCPH, Best practices in job postings    

I'm currently sitting on the Boards of Directors of two organizations I care about - the National Council on Public History and the Sault Ste. Marie City Museum.  I am still relatively new to both boards and I'm continuing to learn about board governance structures and procedures. In this episode I discuss the financial and in-kind costs associated with board participation, board diversity with in the heritage field, and recognition for service to the profession. I would love to hear about your experiences serving on organizational boards. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -"Leading With Intent: 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices" (US data) -"Diversity in Governance: A Toolkit for Nonprofit Boards" (Canadian)

Conference season is quickly approaching for many Canadian academics and with all of this travel comes conversations about professional development. In this episode, I discuss the differences between professional development and professional learning.  I also tackle questions of ongoing career development, active learning, and the funding of professional growth opportunities. I would love to hear your thoughts on professional development and professional learning. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -David Porter Explains a Couple Things Video, Ontario Extend mOOC -Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, Madelyn Gardner, Danny Espinoza, "Effective Teacher Professional Development" (PDF) -Ann Webster-Wright, "Reframing Professional Development Through Understanding Authentic Professional Learning" Rapid Reads: -"Feeling Grief: On Emotions in the Archive of Enslavement", Nathan Dize

Who else hates writing bios for things? In this episode, I talk about best practices for crafting effective bio statements and the challenges associated with describing your professional life succinctly. I would love to hear your tricks for creating compelling bios. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Deidra Faye Jackson, "So, Tell Me About Yourself: Winning the Bio Game" -How to Write an Academic Conference Bio

Welcome back to season two of the Historical Reminiscents podcast.  In this episode, I talk about safe spaces, braver spaces, and building welcoming physical and digital spaces for dialogue. I also introduce the new Rapid Reads segment to the podcast. I would love to hear your thoughts on the terms brave space and safe space. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens, "From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice." (PDF) -Alison Cook-Sather, "Creating Brave Spaces within and through Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnerships" (PDF) Rapid Reads: -Lady Science, Libraries and Tech Series

The Historical Reminiscents podcast is celebrating its one year anniversary! Given the occasion I thought it would be a great idea to talk about celebrating milestones in your work.  In this episode, I talk about honouring milestones of all sizes and making space for celebration.  I also talk about what I've learned during the first year of creating a podcast, future plans, and upcoming episode ideas. I would love to hear any feedback you have on the first year of the Historical Reminiscents podcast. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Tenure, She Wrote "Always rushing, never celebrating" -Susan Lucas, "How to celebrate success at work"

Your team has completed a fantastic project and you're considering submitting it for an award but are unsure of how to do so.  In this episode I talk about award nominations, building a project portfolio to support a nomination, and how to build compelling award narratives. I would love to hear your suggestions for writing successful award nominations. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Anna Tomakh, How to Write an Award Nomination -Trinity College Dublin, Tips for Writing A Nomination

Meetings and committees are part of professional life, more so if you happen to be spending your time inside academia. Despite the role meetings play in professional settings very few public history programs or history graduate training contains information on how to run an effective meeting, building agendas, and facilitating interdepartmental discussion.  In this episode I talk about agenda creation, my favourite kinds of meetings (yes, meetings can actually be enjoyable!), and tips for surviving meeting chaos. I would love to hear your thoughts about the necessary evil that is meetings. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Jennifer Lundquist and Joya Misra, "Making Meetings Less Miserable" -Robert's Rules of Order

Last week I spent time with undergraduate students from Huron University College's history program.  As part of the "Documenting early residential schools" a SSHRC Partnership Engage project between Huron University College, the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, and the Woodland Cultural Centre students were able to visit the Shingwauk site to learn about the early history and work with some of the archival records documenting the Shingwauk School.  In this episode I talk about the power of place based learning, experiential learning, and the role of archives in teaching history. I would love to hear your thoughts about experiential learning as a tool for teaching history. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Hay T. Johnson, "Place-based learning and knowing: critical pedagogies grounded in Indigeneity" -Ryerson University, Best Practices in Experiential Learning

This week, month, year has been hella hard for a lot of folks, with the news cycle making it extremely difficult to function 'normally.' What do you do when you are facing creative blocks, an inability to write, or feelings that whatever you are creating doesn't matter? In this episode I talk about finding positive work spaces, sources of inspiration, and overcoming creative/intellectual hurdles. I would love to hear about your sources of support and inspiration. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Andrea Eidinger, "Historical Writing as a Creative Endeavour" -Jonathan Malesic, "The 40-Year-Old Burnout" -Pat Thomson, "Creativity and academic writing - an oxymoron?"

With the start of the new school year I've been thinking a lot about the intersection of language, gender, and creating braver education spaces.  How post-secondary educators and public history facilitators work to be more inclusive in their language, programming, and practices.  In this episode I talk about the #nbdcampaign, pronouns, and small ways you can be more welcoming to folks of all gender identities in your work. I would love to hear about the ways you work to make your spaces more inclusive, braver, and welcoming. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -NCPH consultation on including pronouns on conference badges  -No big deal campaign -Brielle Harbin, Vanderbilt University, "Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom."

I've been thinking a lot about the implications of where I publish my work, the accessibility of my work to community members, and open access. In today's episode I talk about peer reviewed journals, popular publishing, and finding open access outlets. I would love to hear your thoughts on the intersection of history, publishing, and open access initiatives. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -"Doing the working: Editing Wikipedia as act of reconciliation." -Outrage over University's $999 online textbook -Thomas Peace, "Open Pedagogy: The Time is Now"

I recently started learning to embroider.  My main reason for taking up embroidering was wanting to be stitch swear words radical sayings using a traditional feminine craft.  I loved the idea of juxtaposing feminist praxis with a domestic art.  In today's episode I talk about the history of embroidery and textile arts as a form of protest and activism. I would love to hear your thoughts on the intersection of history, fiber arts, and activism. Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Elizabeth Parker's Life Story Embroidery Sampler -Katherine Brooks, "Feminist Embroidery Artist Heather Marie Scholl Explains Why It's Hard To Be A Woman" -Rozskia Parker, "The Subversive Stitch"

Collaboration is becoming more and more common in the workplace and in academia.  However, collaborative work practices aren't something that are typically emphasized in humanities graduate programming. In today's episode I talk about the impact of collaboration on scholarship and how to reach out to potential collaborators. I would love to hear other perspectives on the value of collaboration within academia and public history, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Lynne Siemens, "More Hands Means More Ideas: Collaboration in the Humanities" -Seth Denbo, "Whose Work Is It Really?" - Christine Saidi, Catherine Cymone Fourshey, and Rhonda M. Gonzales "When Historians Collaborate, Scholarship Benefits"

Talking about money is hard but is an important part of maintaining a professional community.  In today's episode I talk about fair pay, salary transparency, the underpayment of heritage professionals, and precarious labour. I would love to hear about other perspectives on the value of labour within the heritage field, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Stacie Williams, "Implications of Archival Labour" -Ashley Stevens, "Lessons Learned: This Whole Salary Jazz" -Zoe Todd, Twitter Thread on Salary Negotiation in Academia -Fobazi Ettarh, "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves"

If you've listened to me speak about emerging professionals and mentoring you probably know I have strong feels about creating space and how we as a profession should welcome new folks.  Academic and heritage spaces can be intimidating for new professionals, first generation folks, and marginalized people.  This episode tackles how we can take a more active approach to kindness and gratitude in our work.  How can academic spaces be spaces of radical kindness? How can we do a better job of recognizing and supporting the work of others? How can we be kinder to ourselves? I would love to hear how other folks practice gratitude and kindness in their work, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Anna St.Onge tweet on acknowledging archival labour -You've Got This Podcast Episode 71: Expressing Gratitude -Kelly J. Baker, "Cruelty and Kindness in Academia" -Academic Kindness Postcard Exchange

Job applications can be full of emotional labour, self-doubt, and stress.  How do you know if you are qualified for a job? Should you take the time to apply? In this episode I talk about cover letters, equivalent experience, and putting yourself out there. I also discuss the intersection of gender, job applications, and impostor syndrome. I would love to hear job seeking advice from other folks, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, "The Confidence Gap' -Iva Petkovic, "The complicated gender politics of impostor syndrome" -Andrea Eidinger, "We Regret To Inform You: The Emotional Labour of Job Applications."

Last week I participated in the Manitoulin Island Summer Historical Institute (MISHI), a week grounded in cultural and land based learning practice.  Throughout the week I was struck by how the practice of slow scholarship and taking time to deeply engage with reflection can be used within historical thinking.  In this episode I talk about how slow scholarship can exist in historical work and the value of fostering space for intellectual growth. I would love to hear how other folks practice forms of slow scholarship their work, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -John Lutz, "Slow Scholarship" -Alison Mountz et al., "For Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University." -Beth A. Robertson, "Slow Scholarship as Political Action: The Culture of Speed and the Challenge of Inclusion within the Academy"

While attending the Canadian Historical Association annual meeting in Regina I attended a meetup for the Secret Feminist Agenda podcast.  Part of this meetup included a launch of the open peer review of the podcast.  This experience got me thinking about the scholarship behind podcasting.  Can podcasts count as academic work? Do they need to be peer reviewed? What are the logistics behind podcasts being accepted as work as part of tenure or promotion? I would love to hear how other peoples thoughts on podcasts as scholarship, do they count? Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -Open Peer Review of the Secret Feminist Agenda -NCPH launches review of podcasts and blogs -Tenure and Promotion and the Publicly Engaged Academic Historian (PDF) -The Henceforward 

Representation matters.  Seeing people like yourself within your profession, in leadership roles, and succeeding in their work can make a huge impact on the careers of new and emerging professionals. In today's episode I talk about the lack of diversity within public history, archives, and the heritage field more broadly.  I also provide examples of ways to make space for marginalized folks in your work. I would love to hear how other people challenge the status quo within their field or workplace, leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter. Mentioned in this episode: -NCPH So White? -Gregory Rosenthal, Roanoke made me queer again -Radiah Harper,  25 Ways to See and Act on Decentering Whiteness in Museums -Michelle Caswell and Gracen Brilmyer, "Identifying and Dismantling White Supremacy in Archives" poster.