The History in Our Parks Affinity Community serves history practitioners who work within local, state, or other parks and recreation departments. Guided by a committee of parks practitioners, the affinity community has two primary goals:

1. Help AASLH and the wider history community identify and serve the unique needs and challenges of practitioners at parks and recreation agencies that care for historic and cultural resources while operating within a system that is not geared towards history and cultural heritage.
2. Provide community for history practitioners at parks agencies, providing them opportunities to network with and learn from their colleagues working in similar circumstances across the country.

This affinity community was initially created as the “History in Our Parks Task Force” in 2019, seeking to better understand the needs of history practitioners operating within public parks agencies. In 2022, the Task Force completed a national survey of practitioners, offering an initial assessment of the unique challenges such practitioners are facing. That report can be found here. Following the publication of the report, the task force determined the best way to continue serving this group of practitioners was through an Affinity Community, allowing it to build community and share knowledge among parks practitioners nationwide.