The Organization of American Historians (OAH) Committee on Public History has organized a town meeting to discuss the role of public history within the organization at the OAH’s centennial meeting in Minneapolis on March 29-April 1, 2007. Participants will help define the charge of the committee for the next 3-5 years. The town meeting will be held on Friday, March 30, from 11:30-1:00 at the Hilton Minneapolis. The committee seeks ways in which to serve the OAH’s efforts to reach a wider audience, increase the dialogue between public and academic historians, and think broadly about the involvement of scholars in public life. For more information on the conference as a whole, visit http://www.oah.org/meetings/2007/index.html.

The town hall reflects growing recognition of the importance of public history to the large historical organizations. Both the AHA and OAH have been reaching out to public historians in an effort to represent the full spectrum of professional historians.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.