In the fourth installment of “Field Notes: Public History in the GAPE,” Marcus P. Smith shares how the Du Bois Freedom Center interprets the life of author, scholar, and civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) in his hometown of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The region, known as the Berkshires, is rich in history, culture, and natural beauty. As Smith explains, the Du Bois Freedom Center helps ground visitors of all ages in the Berkshires’ Black cultural heritage using the places that shaped Du Bois’s upbringing.
Minding the GAPE – August 2026
Black feminist thought in 1893, marble games, magic lantern art, 100 years of Route 66, New York anti-disguise laws and crossdressing, the possibilities of digital scholarly editing, and much more.
Field Notes: Leslie B. Jones and the Preservation Society of Newport County
In the third installment of “Field Notes: Public History in the GAPE,” Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator Leslie B. Jones speaks to her work at the Preservation Society of Newport County, also known as the Newport Mansions. Located in Rhode Island, the Preservation Society stewards eleven historic properties, including iconic Gilded Age properties like The Breakers and the oldest and northernmost topiary garden in the country. The Newport Mansions are among the top visited arts and cultural institutions in New England, educating hundreds of thousands of guests annually.
Call for Submissions: 2027 DeSantis Book Prize
The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is calling for submissions for its biennial Vincent DeSantis Book Prize. The DeSantis Book Prize is awarded in odd-numbered years for the best book treating any aspect of United States history in the period 1865 to 1920. It must be the author’s first book. The prize is given in honor of Vincent P. DeSantis, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, a distinguished historian of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.
Field Notes: The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums
In the second installment of “Field Notes: Public History in the GAPE,” Historian Joshua Dubbert, with support from Communications and Marketing Manager Kristina Smith, discusses the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. Located in Fremont, Ohio, the organization interprets the life, career, legacy, and times of America’s 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes. The site offers a variety of public tours and programming throughout the historic Spiegel Grove estate, including special offerings for America’s Semiquincentennial. Dubbert and Smith speak to the site’s unique history and scope, as well as how ongoing research is continuously building a fuller portrait of the Hayes family.
Minding the GAPE – June 2026
Birthright citizenship, 150 years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, the last veterans of the American Revolution, Frances Kellor and Americanization Day, cat tintypes, “Blue Humanities,” and much more.
Field Notes: Liz Ferry and the Driehaus Museum
Located in Chicago, the Driehaus Museum engages guests through architecture, art, and design within the 1883 Nickerson Mansion and the 1926 Murphy Auditorium. In this installment of “Field Notes,” Guest Services Coordinator Liz Ferry shares how the Museum’s rich interpretational scope, talented staff, and growing network of institutional connections help preserve these truly unique spaces and tailor the guest experience for maximum engagement. Driehaus Museum Executive Director Lisa Key will join other museum leaders on June 6 for the Closing Plenary of the SHGAPE Conference.
Minding the GAPE – April 2026
The 120th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, birthright citizenship and Reconstruction scholarship, the golden age of soapbox oratory, Indigenous centenarians in California, April Fools’ images, anxiety over teenage rebellion in the 1920s, and much more.
SHGAPE at the 2026 OAH
In addition to holding the Council Business meeting and the Editorial Board meeting for the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, SHGAPE organized several events at the Organization of American Historians annual conference (April 16-19).
Minding the GAPE – March 2026
Sources for local women’s history research, interviews with this year’s SHGAPE prize winners, the continuity of imperial myths and Latin American intervention, the origins of the bird conservation movement, visualizing the mood of the 1929 stock market crash, and much more.
2026 SHGAPE Conference: Interview with Conference Chair Amy Louise Wood
SHGAPE is holding its first standalone conference from June 4-6 in Chicago. We are pleased to present an interview with the conference committee chair, Dr. Amy Louise Wood, who shares context for the decision to hold the conference and provides further details on what attendees can expect. Registration for the conference is currently open on the main SHGAPE website.
Minding the GAPE – February 2026
Carter G. Woodson and the origins of Black History Month 100 years ago, Olympics pin trading, valentines for your enemies, love letters in the stacks, preserving Ellis Island Hospital, animal rights during Reconstruction, spiritualism and UFOs, the suffrage movement on college campuses, and much more.