The UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture will co-sponsor historian and artist Erin Bernard, developer of the Philadelphia History Truck, an innovative, community-based public history project, for two events in Little Rock, March 3 and 4, 2017.
March 3 | 4 p.m.
“Hotwire History: The Evolution of the Philadelphia History Truck”
Arkansas Studies Institute building · Room 124
401 President Clinton Ave, Little Rock
March 4 | 1 p.m.
“The History Truck WIC Work/Shop”
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
501 W. 9th Street, Little Rock
Erin Bernard is among the rising generation of young historians developing new ideas about community history in concert with her urban neighbors. She works in the store front tradition, using an adapted commercial van and digital technology to assist groups in developing community-based projects based on oral histories, archival documents, collective mapping and other resources.
Many of the neighborhood projects explore factors such as fire, homelessness, and the expansion of large institutions such as hospitals and universities in urban neighborhoods as aspects of everyday work and family life.
Bernard received the M.A. from Temple University and teaches history at University of the Arts and museums studies at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia.
Bernard comes to Little Rock in conjunction with Women’s History Month and the collaborative exhibit Reflections: Images and Objects from African American Women, 1891-1987, now on view at Esse Purse Museum, co-produced by Esse and the Mosaic Templars staff.
This project is supported in part with funds from the Arkansas Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Bernard’s visit is sponsored by these institutional collaborators: The First Person Plural working group, Just Communities of Arkansas, Esse Purse Museum, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Little Rock Central High School Historic Site, and the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
