Please welcome our new program manager, Maren Orchard!
As a community-oriented public historian with a focus on DC history, Maren brings a demonstrated commitment to community outreach as the basis for successful, engaging, and challenging programming. Her primary focus at the DC History Center will be producing a stellar slate of public programs for adult audiences. This includes Context for Today, building on the series produced over this past year by exceptional programs coordinator Maggie Downing.
Maren’s recent contributions will already be familiar to many in the DC History Center world. When the pandemic hit, the 47th annual DC History Conference, originally scheduled for Fall 2020, needed to be reimagined top-to-bottom. In stepped Maren. Last November, she produced the first-ever virtual DC History Conference, which gathered more than 350 historians, students, and members of the community for panels, lectures, and thoughtful conversation. In addition to managing the conference’s online platform and overall conference planning, Maren marshalled social media to bring digital poster sessions and the History Network to an even wider audience. We’re absolutely thrilled to say that the 48th DC History Conference will fall under Maren’s purview as well! (Stay tuned for more updates on the conference.)
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to uplift issues meaningful to Washingtonians—in our city, our neighborhood, and even on our own block. I’m committed to building long-term relationships so that our programs—from start to finish—involve individuals and communities from across the District.”
As the inaugural Graduate Fellow for the Humanities Truck, an adaptable, mobile exhibit space/oral history studio, Maren facilitated partnerships with organizations and individuals across the District, working closely with the 1882 Foundation, Trabajadores Unidos de Washington DC, AfroLatino activists, and environmental justice advocates. Additional past local projects include conducting oral histories addressing race, activism, art, education, and recreation for the National Park Service; researching Webster Girls School; and working with HumanitiesDC on new community-based story-sharing initiatives.
Hailing from Muncie, Indiana, Maren holds a master’s degree in public history from American University, and a BA from Ball State University, where she majored in public history and gender studies.