An Invitation to “Look at Clouds from Both Sides Now”

Just as perspective was important in Joni Mitchell’s 1960s hit song, Both Sides Now, perspective is critical to the art and craft of personal history. With this in mind, I am pleased to invite APH members, colleagues, and others on the front lines of the memoir revolution to the fifteenth annual APH conference, Revolutionary Perspectives.

Our 2009 Program Committee has created a lineup that invites us to consider our profession from an amazing number of viewpoints. Not just the personal historian’s or narrator’s perspective, but the perspective of the reader or viewer, the perspective the medium brings to the work, the business perspective, the public history perspective, the perspective of future generations, and more! For the first time, conference attendees will hear from a panel of former personal history clients about their experiences with the process. Our keynote speakers include a “photo detective,” the president of the Oral History Association, the author of a bestseller based on a diary found in a dumpster, and an expert on marketing to age 50+ consumers.

As reflected in our conference logo, creating a personal history is a lot like working a jigsaw puzzle. You add one piece at a time, and each piece works with all the other pieces to bring perspective to the whole. This year, we’ve applied the jigsaw principle in putting together a fabulous conference package without increasing the registration fee. I hope you will join us and that when you leave beautiful Valley Forge, you will be energized with lots of new perspectives, great ideas, and pleasant memories.

Marianne Waller
APH Conference Program Chair