This year, our department represented on several panels. Ph.D. students Mac Sanko, Luke Gramith, and Henry Himes formed panel "Dockworkers, Shipbuilders, and Steelworkers: Ideology, Immigration, and Long-Term Welfare Security, 1941-1949." Gramith presented his paper "Fascist Piecework: Fascist Era Managerial Practices and Visions of the Postwar Workplace in Monfalcone," which came from research he did in Italy last year. Himes presented, "The United Steelworkers of America and the Pursuit of Long Term Welfare Security, 1941-1949." Sanko served as the chair and presented, "Maltese Labor in the Maelstrom: How People Remember Their War Experiences in the Context of Migration."
Sanko also chaired a Roundtable titled, "Community Collaboration—Ethnic Communities and Public Historians." This roundtable formed from Sanko's involvment on a film on Maltese Migration. Sank served as a consulting historian for a documentary being created by London-based company Latitude 36 Read more about this project here.
Professor Hal Gorby spoke on panel, "Mine Wars and Museum Tours: Public History in West Virginia Today." He presented his experience working as an historian on the Mine Wars documentary produced by PBS.
M.A. student Katelyn Bosch presented on a panel focusing on Mexican migration. She presented the research performed for her Undergraduate thesis in, "Culture and Labor Immigration: Mexican-Americans in the Dutch-American Town of Holland Michigan."
This years' theme for NALHC was Public History. Dr. Melissa Bingmann, Director of Public History at WVU, played a pivotal role in making this years' conference a National Council of Public History (NCPH) mini-con. She also attended the conference.