The Histories Collaborative of Philadelphia (HCP) is a new sector-wide organization being established to convene, advocate for, and strengthen the region’s histories ecosystem, the museums, historical societies, neighborhood archives, house museums, and community-rooted projects that together preserve and interpret Philadelphia’s past.
Sam Katz is co-founder and executive director of HCP. He has spent many years building the organization’s foundation including conducting a two-phase industry assessment by Lord Cultural Resources culminating with a meeting of roughly eighty leaders from across the sector who unanimously passed three resolutions affirming HCP’s role in convening, advocacy, and organizational development. Sam’s talk will share what the assessment revealed and what comes next as HCP moves toward hiring an executive director, seating a representative board, and launching its first working groups. Most importantly, it will open a conversation about what a stronger, better-resourced, and more connected histories sector could mean for the organizations doing essential work in neighborhoods across the city — including and especially Northeast Philadelphia.
