The AASLH Joint Conference with the National Council on Public History will be a unique opportunity to reach people across the history field. We anticipate over 1,400 attendees. Between our two organizations we have over 50,000 email contacts for our weekly email blasts and over 40,000 followers on social media.

Sponsor: Get maximum brand exposure as a Joint Conference sponsor. Packages start at $500.

Exhibit: Reserve a booth in our two-day Exhibit Hall. Don’t delay! Exhibitor space is expected to sell out.

Advertise: Raise awareness of your organization or product with a full-color ad in our online Preliminary Program. We also offer advertising on the conference app or in tote bag inserts.

For questions or additional information, contact Rey Regenstreif-Harms, Senior Manager, Membership Data and Development, at [email protected].

The poster session is an ideal way to present work in progress or especially visual work, and it’s a great way to get targeted feedback on your project or program while securing your place on the conference program. The poster session will be held on Friday, September 18. Proposals are due on March 30.

Read the Call for Proposals

Submit a Proposal

Registration for the Joint Conference will open in late spring 2026.

Conference Location

Rhode Island Convention Center
1 Sabin Street
Providence, RI 02903

Hotel Room Blocks

The links below will allow you to book rooms in our blocks at the conference rate. Reservations must be made by August 21 to receive the conference rate.

The Omni Providence Hotel
1 W Exchange Street
Providence, RI 02903

• Conference Rates:
  • Single/Double Rate: $219/night
  • Triple Rate: $249/night
  • Quad Rate: $279/night

Graduate Providence (a Hilton property)
11 Dorrance Street
Providence, RI 02903

• Conference Rates:
  • 1 bed: $209/night
  • 2 beds: $229/night

Courtyard by Marriott Providence Downtown
32 Exchange Terrace at Memorial Blvd
Providence, RI 02903

• Conference Rate: $215/night (1 or 2 beds)

What is the AASLH and NCPH Joint Conference?

The 2026 AASLH and NCPH Annual Conference is an in-person experience that engages and connects history professionals and volunteers and inspires them in their work. For the first time, two public history-focused professional associations are bringing their largest gatherings together.  We encourage every attendee’s full participation in the sessions, workshops, tours, and discussions. Each session type is categorized so that attendees can see the level of participation it involves. Before you propose a session, think carefully about how it will engage your audience.

We hope the Joint Conference becomes a transformative moment for all, a chance to go deep, to reenergize, to build professional relationships, and to focus on a sense of place and history in the host city. In formal and informal spaces, participants will work through challenging discussions and learn new practices. While there will be an emphasis on communal events to build shared experience, we will offer multiple opportunities for personalized learning, in tours, workshops, and sessions.

2026 Conference Fellowships and Scholarships

The Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko Memorial Scholarship, Douglas Evelyn Diversity Fellowships, and Small Museums Scholarships are the three programs that AASLH offers to assist those who would like to attend the AASLH Annual Conference. Applications for all scholarships will open on April 1. The application deadline is June 12.

Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko Memorial Scholarship

Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko will be best remembered because she used her power to change lives, inspire movements, and challenge the status quo for the better. In memory of Cinnamon and her generational impact on museums, historic sites, and public history, AASLH has created a special scholarship in her name to advance her legacy of transformational change across the museum community. The fund will provide one $1,000 scholarship for the AASLH Annual Conference which includes a full conference registration. The remainder of funds can be used for ticketed events or travel costs. Eligible applicants include those working in small museums, as either full-time or part-time paid or volunteer employees and who are institutional or individual members of AASLH; and Indigenous persons and those employed as staff members with a tribal organization, program, or collection. Click here for guidance on what constitutes a small museum.

Douglas Evelyn Diversity Fellowship

The Douglas Evelyn Diversity Fellowship is named in honor of Douglas Evelyn, AASLH president from 1992-1994, and recognizes Evelyn’s strong support of AASLH’s professional development mission. A primary objective of the Douglas Evelyn Diversity Fellowship is to increase culturally diverse participation at the AASLH Annual Conference and in all the association’s programs. The scholarship covers full registration and a $750 travel stipend. Ticketed events with an extra fee are not included in the scholarship but can be covered with a portion of the travel stipend. AASLH will offer up to five full conference scholarships for culturally diverse attendees.

Small Museums Scholarship

AASLH’s Small Museums Committee is offering scholarships to any AASLH members who are full-time, part-time, paid, or volunteer employees of small museums. The $850 scholarship will cover the cost of registration and the Small Museums Luncheon. Any remaining funds can be used to offset travel and/or lodging expenses. To qualify, the applicant must work or volunteer for a museum with a budget of $250,000 or less and either be an individual member of AASLH or work for an institutional member.

We thank the members of each committee listed below for their volunteer work that helps make the conference possible.

Program Committee

For the joint 2026 conference, AASLH and NCPH each appointed a co-chair and three representatives to a steering committee to start planning earlier than our usual planning timelines. This steering committee has been meeting regularly since 2024, and will be joined by a larger Program Committee.

Kacie Lucchini-Butcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Campus History
NCPH Program Chair

Jennifer Saunders, New York State Museum
AASLH Program Chair 

Melanie Adams, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum (AASLH)
Jamie Bosket, Virginia Museum of History and Culture (AASLH)
Modupe Labode, Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NCPH)
Sarah Marsom, Heritage Resource Consultant (NCPH)
Jennifer Ortiz, Utah Division of State History (AASLH)
William Walker, Cooperstown Graduate Program (NCPH)

Local Arrangements (Host) Committee

For the joint 2026 conference, NCPH and AASLH each appointed a co-chair to head our Local Arrangements Committee.

Morgan Grefe, Rhode Island Historical Society
AASLH Host Committee Chair

Karin Wulf, Brown University
NCPH Local Arrangements Committee Chair

Becca Bertrand, Newport Historical Society
Sarah Carr, Rhode Island Historical Society
Liz Covart, Ben Franklin’s World
Trudy Coxe, Preservation Society of Newport County
Jim Donahue, Old Sturbridge Village
Lauren Fogarty, Rhode Island 250 (RI250)
Elizabeth Francis, Rhode Island Humanities
Jordan Goffin, Providence Public Library
Sheryl Hack, Preserve Rhode Island
Annalisa Heppner, North Burial Ground, City of Providence
Allison Horrocks, Slater Mill Historic Site, National Park Service
Leslie Jones, Preservation Society of Newport County
Carl Keyes, Assumption College
Marta Martinez, Rhode Island Latino Arts
Kelsey Mullen, Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission
Ingrid Peters, Newport Historical Society
Dan Santos, Historic New England
Lorén Spears, Tomaquag Musuem
Evelyn Sterne, University of Rhode Island
Elaine Stiles, Roger Williams University
Keith Stokes, State Historian Laureate
Theresia (Soni) Stokes, Rhode Island Black Heritage Society
Ken Turino, Independent Consultant
Kate Wells, Rhode Island State Library
Catherine Zipf, Bristol Historic Preservation Society

Be sure to participate in AASLH’s silent auction onsite once again! Details for date, time and location of silent auction will be posted soon. Meanwhile, be sure to have a glance at our incoming donations. A big thank you to our generous donors for their support of AASLH! All earnings will be used to support AASLH’s professional development and educational opportunities for our history and museum community. Keep an eye out for additional donors as donations are added!

Thank You to our Individual Donors! 

• John Garrison Marks, Author of Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory 
• David Ocheltree, Author of The Art of Leadership
• Julian Brave NoiseCat, Author of We Survived The Night
• James M. Tabor, Author of Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age
• Steven M. Miller, Author of Perpetual Museum Issues
• Lizzie Wade, Author of APOCALYPSE: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures

Upcoming Annual Conferences

September 20-23, 2027: Madison, Wisconsin

September 6-9, 2028: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Cancellation / Refunds
All cancellations must be in writing. Cancellations postmarked on or before August 15, 2025, will be subject to a $55 processing charge on the cancelled registration fee and a 50% cancellation fee on all special events, including workshops. No refunds for registration, workshops, and special events will be made after August 21, 2026. AASLH is not responsible for cancellations that were mailed or emailed but never received. If you do not receive confirmation from AASLH within three weeks, please contact the AASLH office at 615-320-3203 or [email protected].

Waiver and Photo Release
By submitting a registration for the AASLH Annual Conference, you agree to the following:

• AASLH is committed to provide a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all meeting participants and AASLH staff. All participants, including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, AASLH staff, service providers, and others are expected to abide by the Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy. You can read the full policy below.
• You authorize AASLH to use, reproduce, and/or publish photographs and/or video that may pertain to you — including your image, likeness, and/or voice without compensation. AASLH may use this material in various publications, recruitment materials, or for other related endeavors in print and online, including the AASLH website and email correspondence.

Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy
AASLH is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all meeting participants and AASLH staff. All participants, including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, AASLH staff, service providers, and others are expected to abide by this Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy. This Policy applies to all AASLH meeting-related events, including those sponsored by organizations other than AASLH but held in conjunction with AASLH events, in public or private facilities.

Unacceptable Behavior
AASLH has zero-tolerance for any form of discrimination or harassment in any form, including but not limited to sexual harassment by participants or our staff at our meetings. This policy also covers any virtual meetings hosted by the association.

Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to, verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, national origin, inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces or in presentations, or threatening, cyber-bullying, or stalking any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, AASLH staff member, service provider, or other meeting guests.

Physical or verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, AASLH staff member, service provider, or other meeting guest or disruption of presentations at sessions, in the exhibit hall, or at other events organized by AASLH will not be tolerated.

Attendees should respect all participants’ personal choice on the mask issue and any harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.

If you experience harassment or hear of any incidents of unacceptable behavior, AASLH asks that you inform either John Dichtl, President and CEO, [email protected] or 615-320-3203, or Bethany Hawkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, [email protected] or 615-320-3203, so that we can take the appropriate action. You can also or email [email protected].

AASLH reserves the right to take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, including immediate removal from the meeting without warning or refund, in response to any incident of unacceptable behavior, and AASLH reserves the right to prohibit attendance at any future meeting.

Solicitation and Promotional Activities
All promotional activities, demonstrations, and distribution of marketing materials must take place within the exhibitor’s assigned booth space. Exhibitors may not distribute materials, engage attendees for promotional purposes, or conduct sales activities in aisles, meeting rooms, registration areas, networking events, or other common areas of the conference venue without permission from AASLH.

Non-exhibiting companies or individuals are prohibited from soliciting business or distributing promotional materials anywhere within the conference venue. Sponsors of the conference who are not exhibiting can distribute materials as outlined in their sponsorship level/agreement. The conference organizer reserves the right to remove any individual or company found in violation of this policy.

Based on guidelines from the American Society of Society Executives.