Historic Preservation - Local History Annual Conference | Wisconsin Historical Society

Local History & Historic Preservation Conference

About the Conference

The 2023 Local History and Historic Preservation Conference will be held at the La Crosse Center

October 18-20

Conference Brochure

Conference information will be updated on this website as it becomes available.


Keynote Speakers

Omar Eaton-Martínez

Senior Vice President for Historic Sites
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Photo of Omar Eaton-Martínez wearing a brown suit and a white shirt paired with a yellow tie with pocket square. He is bald, dark skinned, and salt and pepper bearded. He's smiling broadly and looking at the camera.

Omar Eaton-Martínez is the Senior Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he leads the preservation, interpretation and overall stewardship of 28 historic sites across the country to tell the full American story. Prior to this, he led the Prince George's County historical resources: historic house museums, an aviation museum, the Black History Program and archaeological parks. He also oversaw the programming of those sites with an emphasis on preserving, sustaining and enhancing these resources, as well as engaging and building communities through education, outreach and innovation. Recently, he managed the interns and fellows program at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Eaton-Martínez has worked at the National Park Service, the Office of the National Museum of the American Latino Commission and NASA, and he also was a K-12 teacher in New York City and Washington, D.C. He builds coalitions that support diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion.

Eaton-Martínez has had leading roles in racial equity organizations like Museums and Race: Transformation and Justice and Museum Hue, as well as the Museum as Site for Social Action project. His research interests are Afro Latinx identity in museum exhibitions; diversity and inclusion in museums and cultural institutions; and Hip-Hop history, culture and education. Moreover, he has supported public history projects centering blackness in Puerto Rico.

Eaton-Martínez participated as an American Alliance of Museums Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Senior Fellow dedicated to diversifying museum boards. He is a gubernatorial appointee to the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first commission of its kind in the country. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., a husband and a father of four children.

Jason Steinhauer

Founder & CEO
History Communication Institute
Photo of Jason Steinhauer looking serious and staring at the camera. His face is half in shadow. He's wearing a blue shirt and his hair is shaved bald.

Jason Steinhauer is a bestselling author and public historian who operates at the intersection of history, tech, social media and politics. Technology has profoundly re-organized our ways of knowing things about the world, and the positive and negative effects of technology must be balanced with a humanistic perspective. Steinhauer brings this approach to his work, where he writes and speaks about how social media, tech and the web are shaping our history, politics, democracy and future. Steinhauer is currently a Global Fellow at The Wilson Center and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute; a contributor to TIME and CNN; a past editorial board member of The Washington Post "Made By History" section; and a Presidential Counselor of the National WWII Museum. He previously served as Founding Director of the Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest. Prior to this, he worked for seven years at the U.S. Library of Congress.

Steinhauer is the founder and CEO of the History Communication Institute, which seeks to ensure the Web and social media foster healthy online information ecosystems that promote history, democracy and human rights. His best-selling book, "History, Disrupted: How Social Media & the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past," examines how history gets communicated on the Web. Steinhauer has traveled overseas three times with the U.S. Department of State as part of diplomatic exchanges between the United States and the European Union, meeting with government officials, scholars and students to discuss the effects of the Web and social media on public understandings of news, history and information. He has spoken at events across the United States and Europe and appears frequently in the media.

In his keynote, Steinhauer will discuss the rise of what he calls e-history, historical information designed for the social Web and which leverages the mechanics of the social Web in order to achieve visibility. In his talk he will demonstrate how e-history has come to shape and define what the public knows--or thinks it knows--about the past.


Session Schedule

Wednesday October 18

2:00pm

Wisconsin Council for Local History Board of Directors Meeting
2:00 - 4:00

4:00pm

Wisconsin Council for Local History Annual Meeting of Members
4:30 - 5:30

Conference Packet Pick-up
4:00 - 6:00

6:00pm

Wisconsin Council for Local History Dinner (offsite)
6:00

7:00pm

Film Screening: Wisconsin Pride at the Rivoli Theatre
7:00

Thursday October 19

7:00am

Registration and Continental Breakfast + Resource Center Open
7:00 - 9:00

OPENING PLENARY
Making History Together with Christian Øverland
8:00 - 8:45

Session A Session B Session C Session D Session E Workshop 1 Workshop 2 Workshop 3

9:00am

Top 10 Ways to Mess Up Your Historic Building

9:15 - 10:15

Fiscal Responsibility Is Sexier Than It Sounds

9:15 - 10:15

The 1980 Cuban Refugee Program at Fort McCoy

9:15 - 10:15

Postmarked for Local History

9:15 - 10:15

Explore the Power of 21st Century Collaborations

9:15 - 10:15

Take a break!
Resource Center Open + Snacks
10:15 - 10:45

Papers, Pictures and Patrons: The Basics of Managing an Archives

9:15 - 11:45

Photo Corners for Exhibition and Storage

9:15 - 11:45

Basic Training for Historic Preservation Commissioners

9:15 - 11:45

10:00am

“How Did That Work?" Researching the Mechanical Systems at Hixon House

10:45 - 11:45

Developing a Community Preservation Ethic

10:45 - 11:45

Blast from the Past: Using Pop Culture Nostalgia to Attract Exhibit Audiences

10:45 - 11:45

How a Virtual Museum Turned Our Dream into a Reality

10:45 - 11:45

11:00am

Noon

LUNCH & PRESENTATION
Cultivating Equity and Inclusion in Public History and Historic Preservation with Omar Eaton-Martínez
Noon - 1:00

Session A Session B Session C Session D Session E Workshop 1 Workshop 2 Workshop 3

1:00pm

Restoration Investigation at Circus World’s Historic Ringling Bros Business Office

1:30 - 2:30

Rural Historic Properties and County-Level Preservation Efforts

1:30 - 2:30

It’s Not as Scary as You Think: Virtual Programming for Small Museums

1:30 - 2:30

Presence of Slavery in Territorial Wisconsin and its Interpretation

1:30 - 2:30

One-Stop Fundraising Shop: Your Questions Answered

1:30 - 2:30

2:00pm

Take a break!
Resource Center Open + Snacks
2:30 - 3:00

3:00pm

How to Develop and Implement a Preservation Plan

3:00 - 4:00

Building a History Army: Using Social Media to Drive Participation and Engagement

3:00 - 4:00

Dark La Crosse: A Local History Success Story

3:00 - 4:00

Inclusive Education: Connecting Content, Setting and Methods

3:00 - 4:00

History Happens Here: Discussing Wisconsin's New History Center

3:00 - 4:00

4:00pm

Campfire Conversations
4:15 - 5:15

5:00pm

6:00pm

Students & Young Professionals Meet-up at Driftless Axe
6:00

Friday October 20

7:00am

Registration and Continental Breakfast + Resource Center Open
7:00 - 9:00

BREAKFAST AND PRESENTATION
History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past with Jason Steinhauer
8:00 - 8:45

Session A Session B Session C Session D Session E Workshop 1 Workshop 2 Workshop 3

9:00am

Archaeological Surveys for Urban Planning

9:15 - 10:15

Historic Window Restoration

9:15 - 10:15

Public History, Community Partnerships and the UW System

9:15 - 10:15

Stewardship of Native American Collections

9:15 - 10:15

Take a break!
Resource Center Open + Snacks
10:15 - 10:45

Getting Started with Digitization Projects

9:15 - 11:45

Creating Engaging Exhibits for Small History Organizations

9:15 - 11:45

Wisconsin's Statewide Historic Preservation Plan

9:15 - 11:45

10:00am

Dugout Canoes of Wisconsin

10:45 - 11:45

Section 106 101: Complying with Federal Section 106 and Similar State Statutes

10:45 - 11:45

A Fresh Look at Nathan Myrick & the Founders of Our Communities

10:45 - 11:45

Top 10 Social Media Trends

10:45 - 11:45

11:00am

Noon

LUNCH AND PRESENTATION
Awards Recognition & Closing Remarks with Christian Øverland and Staff
Noon - 12:30


How to Register

Register Today

Regular Prices

Two-Day - $175
Thursday Only - $110
Friday Only - $105

Student Prices

Student Two-Day - $70
Student One-Day - $40

Wisconsin Historical Society Members receive a 10% member discount.

Join Today


Hotel Information

Hotels have been organized with special rates for conference attendees.

Learn More

2023 Conference Partners

The Wisconsin Historical Society appreciates the support of our 2023 partners:


Have Questions?

Contact us at lhhpconference@wisconsinhistory.org.

Interested in submitting a session proposal for the 2024 conference? Please send an initial email to lhhpconference@wisconsinhistory.org by March 31, 2024.

Learn More

Preserve Your Homes and Properties

Resources for Local Historical Societies