Get some tips from the DC History Center’s KNOW BEFORE YOU GO. All registrants as of noon on Tuesday, April 2 received this email, but you can view it here.

The DC History Conference welcomes students, community members, educators, artists, storytellers, and cultural heritage workers to join us at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for this FREE, three-day event.

Please register for FREE to let us know you’re coming. You may register at the door, but prior registration makes check-in faster.

All conference activities take place at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St NW. Street parking is metered and limited. We encourage taking public transportation, either the bus (30/42/70) or the metro (Gallery Place-Chinatown (red/green/yellow) or Metro Center (orange/blue/silver).

Yes, we invite volunteers to assist during the conference! Look at the shifts here and email us at conference@dchistory.org for more information.

Keynotes will be recorded and available on YouTube with closed captioning after the conference. ASL interpretation will be provided at keynotes and at one panel per session based on attendee requests.

To request a reasonable accommodation, including ASL interpretation, please contact the DC Public Library’s Center for Accessibility seven (7) days in advance at 202-727-2142 or by emailing DCPLaccess@dc.gov. The Center for Accessibility will have a table next to the registration table to provide assistance and answer your accessibility questions. These services were made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

History is not an exclusive club, and in fact our understanding of the past is made stronger by including multiple perspectives. That’s why we strive to offer panels with a range of perspectives, balancing lived experience with scholarly study, and valuing what we learn from different ways of knowing. Community-based history encourages the perspective of community members, gives equal weight to lived experience, values memory, and creates space for dialogue. The DC History Conference is for everyone with an interest in our city.

The “For Educators” pages highlight education-focused sessions and feature teacher professional development opportunities (43-46).

Sessions types include panels and roundtables. Some panels were proposed as a single submission. Combined panels include multiple presentations grouped under a common theme. You can identify this distinction in the program where 2-3 presentation titles are listed underneath the session name. Roundtables provide a forum for audience members to actively participate in a dialogue. Creative Expressions are designed to encourage creativity, arts, and unique program formats and are scheduled during the poster session.

Special features—including the History Network, Poster Session, the Authors’ Corner, and Friday After Hours—are community-building social opportunities that provide space for attendees to connect with organizations, research projects, scholars, students, and other history enthusiasts about their work.

The DC History Conference called for submissions from DC history researchers, educators, and enthusiasts to submit their topics in fall 2023. Conference committee volunteers on the program working group made the final decision on what presentations made it into the program. This results in a conference lineup dedicated to a wide variety of topics, time periods, and approaches. The interdisciplinary nature of this annual conference reflects the rich, diverse history of Washington, DC. We can’t include every important and timely topic in this one conference, but we do our best to create a program representative of what issues and histories are on our minds.

Be on the lookout for the call for submissions in fall 2024.

The planning committee is a group of dedicated volunteers supported by staff at the DC History Center. Learn who sits on the committee on the “Community” tab. Each volunteer has expertise across a variety of fields, all with a love for DC history.

New committee members join the committee at the start of the planning year in anticipation of the next annual conference. If you want to be involved with the committee, email us at conference@dchistory.org and specify you want to volunteer on the planning committee.

The DC History Conference is 100% free to attend and is run by a volunteer committee. As a result, donations and sponsorships are vital to sustaining the conference from year to year. If you want to support the future of the conference, there are a few ways you can get involved!

If you would like to make a gift of your choosing, you candonate online. Every dollar counts, and donations of all amounts are welcome and appreciated! Donations by mail can be sent to the DC History Center at 801 K St NW, Washington DC 20001, and should include their designation toward the DC History Conference.

Celebrate 50 Years of the DC History Conference with limited edition t-shirts and canvas totes available on our storefront through Monday, April 1 at midnight. After that, get yours at the conference!

For quick bites, we recommend Marianne’s by DC Central Kitchen on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library’s 1st Floor. For other bites and coffee, we recommend exploring the neighborhood!