Today we launched, "History Events in Massachusetts," a weekly e-mail with a list of the history events taking place in Massachusetts during the next 11 days.  (It covers both the weekend coming up and the following weekend, giving people time to plan.)

All of the information is drawn from The History List.  Once your event is on The History List, it will be included automatically.  It's that simple.  More details on the new weekly list and on The History List and other resources for history professionals, board members, and volunteers, are in the slides below.

If you are interested in more information about The History List for your organization, or you wish to request an account in order to add your organization and events, this is the place to start: www.TheHistoryList.com/start.

Organizations in other states have expressed interest in a list for their states.  While a few state historical societies have dedicated part of a staff person's time to  publish a monthly list of events at historical societies in their states, all states and regions can now have a list of all history events from all organizations sent to subscribers without dedicating resources to collect event information, edit it, and compile it into a newsletter.

If your state organization is interested, or if there are 20 or more local institutions in a geographic region interested, contact us.

Updated August 13, 2015: Leo Landis and two presenters were interviewed by Charity Nebbe on Iowa Public Radio's "Talk of Iowa" about History Camp.  An audio archive is available.

Updated June 12, 2015: Registration is now open. 

The first History Camp was held in March 2014 in Cambridge.  That was the first time anyone had ever adapted the unconference or "barcamp" model to history.  The event filled up, there was a strong positive response at the event, and an anonymous survey after the event had very positive results.

A year later we held another History Camp, this time in Boston, and it got a a very favorable response, too.

From the outset, the hope has been that individuals in other regions would be interested in putting on a History Camp in their city or state.  And this fall that will happen.  The first History Camp outside of New England will be History Camp Iowa on November 14 in Des Moines.

The History Camp Iowa effort is being led by Danny Akright.  He's in the process of assembling his team, and earlier today we met in at the Iowa History Museum to kick off the process.  (See the photo below.)

It will be very interesting to see History Camp come to life in another region, and especially in this building, in this city, and at that time.  The space, rooms, and layout of the Iowa State History Museum make it perfect for the event, it's located just a few blocks from the beautiful Iowa state capitol building, and with the Iowa presidential caucuses just weeks away at that point, the state will be overrun with candidates and national news crews.

From the left: Lee Wright, founder of History Camp and The History List; Hope Grebner, an archivist at Drake University who is working on the Harkin Archives; Elaine Estes, former executive director of the Des Moines Public Library system, and the person who was instrumental in preserving the original downtown public library building, which is now the headquarters of the World Food Prize; Danny Akright, who works at Drake in communications and who has an undergraduate degree from Drake in history and has worked at history museums in Kansas City and London; and, Leo Landis, who has worked at several museums and living history sites, and who is currently the curator at the Iowa History Museum.

History Camp Boston 2015 took place at the Harriet Tubman House on Saturday, March 28. Despite a late change in the date and location, it was nearly full. Pictures from the day are below.

Other materials online include the session descriptions with speakers, the schedule for the day, slides from some of the sessions, and the post-event report, which includes the results of an extensive survey.

This was the second History Camp anywhere. The first was a year earlier in Cambridge.

The next History Camp is taking place in the Midwest: History Camp Iowa will take place in Des Moines on November 14. It's being organized by a group of local volunteers and will take place at the Iowa History Museum, just a few blocks from the state capitol.  And with the election in full-swing and the caucuses just weeks away, it will be an especially interesting time in Iowa.  Registration and additional details are online at HistoryCamp.org.

History Camp Boston 2016 is taking place on March 26 at the same location as we used this year. Registration is open and you can submit a session here.

If you're not familiar with History Camp, "This is History Camp" is a quick introduction.  

The ship the Hermione made a port call in Boston as part of her voyage from France.  The organizers claim that the ship is an exact replica of General Lafayette’s 18th-century ship and is "the largest and most authentically built Tall Ship in the last 150 years."

The ship sailed from the mouth of the River Charente, in Port des Barques, where Lafayette boarded on March 10th, 1780.  (More information on the ship, the voyage, and the organization behind it all.)

As part of a special event that Patti Violette, Executive Director of the Shirley-Eustis House Association, organized, a few of us from History Camp toured the ship and later enjoyed a reception at the Shirley-Eustis House and a lecture in their carriage house.  More information on the house is on The History List.  

Pictures from both events are below.

Shelburne really deserves at least two full days; I was only able to spend one day, but will be back.  These 650+ photographs show only a small part of the collection on display.  More information on Shelburne Museum is on their page on The History List.

The Round Barn, with carriages, coaches, sleighs, wagons, and other means of horse-drawn transportation. 

The Circus building, with carousel animals, a 500+ foot long miniature circus parade, a 3,500-piece miniature three-ring circus, circus posters, and more.