Humanities Forum Thursday, December 1 Marci Reaven: "Giving the Past Presence: Public History Experiments in New York City" The Humanities Forum presents historian Marci Reaven, who will speak on "Giving the Past Presence: Public History Experiments in New York City." Reaven will draw on her own experiences with exhibit planning at the American History Workshop, New York City's City Lore/Place Matters project, and the New York Historical Society to discuss the joys and challenges of public history. She will pay particular attention to projects that center around places and their ability to connect us to the past, and to diverse communities and their ongoing cultural traditions. ... Marci Reaven is a public historian and the managing director of City Lore, a nonprofit cultural organization that documents and presents New York City's living cultural heritage. She is the co-founder and director of Place Matters, City Lore's joint project with the Municipal Art Society to promote and protect places of history and tradition throughout the city. She co-authored Place Matter's guidebook to New York City, Hidden New York: A Guide to Places that Matter (Rutgers University Press, 2006), and directs other Place Matters initiatives, including its citywide survey, historical sign projects, preservation efforts, and community planning collaborations. She is the author and producer of exhibits and public programs created for museums and historic sites, most recently curating the Nueva York exhibit for New-York Historical Society and El Museo del Barrio. She holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from New York University and is an adjunct assistant professor in NYU's Archives and Public History program. 4:00 p.m., Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. This event is sponsored in part by the Orser Center for the Study of Place, Community & Culture, and the Department of History.