Joan Ilacqua Executive Director of The History Project (THP) and Alumna
“I am the Executive Director of The History Project (THP) and an alum of the University of Massachusetts Boston, where I graduated with a Master’s in Public History in 2014. I chose UMass over Boston’s other “name-brand” programs because it allowed me to make connections, to work with other young professionals, and to learn from other experts in the field all at a public university. The archives and public history courses I took still influence my outreach work today.
My journey as a public history student began with internships and jobs at the JFK Library, UMass Boston University Archives, and Harvard Medical School’s Center for the History of Medicine. My passion for LGBTQ+ history led me to THP, where I completed my public history internship for my degree. I eventually joined THP’s Board of Directors, and in 2020, with a Mellon Foundation grant, I became THP’s first full-time staff member.
Attending UMass Boston allowed me to build connections, learn from experts, and develop skills in archives and public history. My experience as a public historian informs THP’s mission to serve Massachusetts’ LGBTQ+ communities through public programming. In 2023, we received Mass Humanities’ Mass History Commendation for our work in preserving and sharing LGBTQ+ history, a huge honor during a time when efforts to silence or erase LGBTQ+ history are at an all-time high. I’m thankful for the community and support I found at UMass Boston.”
Paul Wright, co-director of the South End Oral History Project, and board member of the South End Historical Society
Credit: Harold Crowley
“In 2018-2019, UMass Boston Prof. Maria John partnered with the South End Oral History Project, at the request of the South End Oral History Project (SEOHP, sponsored by the South End Historical Society (SEHS). The students in Prof. John’s oral history seminar used Boston’s South End as a case study, concentrating on interviews with parents, students, and teachers at the Bancroft School—an alternative public school that flourished in the neighborhood from the 1960s to the 1980s. This resulted in eight excellent digital audio files and transcripts, which are available online at the UMass Boston Archives and Special Collections website (Search Results – Open Archives at UMass Boston (umb.edu)). Professor John and her students educated themselves on the history of the South End and were consistently enthusiastic about the project and the neighborhood. Reports on this seminar and its work product can be found in the SEHS Newsletter: Newsletter-Fall-2019.pdf (southendhistoricalsociety.org) and Newsletter-Draft-Winter-2020_Web.pdf (southendhistoricalsociety.org).
Encouraged by the success of this partnership, SEOHP applied for and was awarded a $40,000 AHA/NEH grant in April 2022 to carry out further interviews on not only the Bancroft School but also the neighborhood at large during the early periods of “gentrification.” Our proposal and report for this grant emphasized the key role of our partnership with the UMass Boston Public History Program in carrying out this preservation project. We successfully completed in 2023 and deposited with the UMass Boston Archives and Special Collections, 38 interviews with 41 individuals. UMass Boston Professors, Jane Becker, director of the Public History Program, and Maria John and Nicholas Juravich, both experienced oral history practitioners and members of the history department were essential consultants for the grant application and its implementation, and we are also grateful for the support and advice of Andrew Elder, who directs University Archives and Special Collections at UMass Boston’s Healey Library. This was truly a team endeavor!
The SEOHP and the SEHS look forward to further productive partnerships with UMass Boston as we seek to extend our documentation and understanding of our special urban neighborhood during its stages of social, cultural, and economic change. Certainly, we would not be as far along as we are without UMass Boston. “
Rachel Hoyle Programs Coordinator at the Shirley-Eustis House Association and Alumna
“For my entire life, I had always known I wanted my career to involve history, though I wasn’t quite sure how until I applied for grad school. Public history turned out to be exactly what I was looking for – a way to make history broadly accessible and interesting to many people with different perspectives on the past and the present. UMass Boston’s Public History program helped me take my basic research and writing skills to the professional level and prepared me effectively to turn my love of history into a career. The comprehensive courses in the program included classes that let me fine-tune my research abilities and also learn new skills such as project and exhibit planning. UMB’s public history internship and final project components were especially appealing. They gave me a framework through which to gain practical, professional experience with local history organizations, and to apply the skills I was learning. And, as an added bonus, my internship during grad school actually evolved into a job offer and the organization I was with is now where I work full-time!
My favorite aspect of attending UMB was the professors. They are all incredibly kind and understanding but also know when to push and challenge their students. Each is an expert in their own topic and they all provide unique personal experiences and stories from the field of public history. I felt as though I could go to any of my professors with questions about the class, the field, or just life. I still talk to several of my former professors regularly today.
In my current job, I am the Programs Coordinator at the Shirley-Eustis House Association, a historic house in Roxbury. My day-to-day includes leading tours, coordinating events and rentals, and deepening our community partnerships with other local nonprofits. I have a lot of freedom in this role to develop new and creative programming that is catered to our community. As one of only two full-time staff, I have also been able to gain valuable experience in almost every aspect of historic house operations! I write grants, manage our donor and collections databases, coordinate volunteer involvement, help run our social media pages, and everything else under the sun. It is such a rewarding role.”