Beamish and Skilton Publish Article on COVID-19’s Impact on Lower Mississippi River Valley Museums and Public History Sites

Congratulations to Dr. Ian Beamish (associate professor of History and director of Public History) and Dr. Liz Skilton (associate professor of History and associate director of research at the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center) for the publication of "Beyond Keeping the Lights On: COVID-19’s Impact on Lower Mississippi River Valley Museums and Public History Sites." Drs. Beamish and Skilton were assisted by History undergraduate and graduate students Amaya Gradnigov, Amber Gates, Anna Dardeau, Benjamin Omelev, Carson Savoie, Christine Savoie, Derrasia Williams, Elliott Wade, Emily Lindner, Greg Thomas, Jacilyn Rabb, Jeanne-Claire Benton, Kaci Breau, Kerstyn Jones, LaTassia Dunn, Lauren Weimer, Lindsey DeLaughter, Luca Lancon, MJ Fasullo, Brad Parfaitv, Rex Jones, Shydee Johnson, Tanya Greene, Taylor Townsend, and Wesley Brown.

The article, which appears in the newest edition of The Public Historian, "reviews the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public history sites and museums along the Lower Mississippi River Valley between 2020 and 2024. Constructed from interviews with sixty-seven sites across a four-year period, it uses a regional approach to examine how pandemic closures, reopening processes, and adaptations impacted public history sites and museums in the short-, medium-, and long-term, arguing that the pandemic created lasting changes through adaptation rather than large-scale closure of public history institutions. It concludes with an assessment of what can be learned from the pandemic period’s effect on public history."

The article is also available via UL Lafayette’s depository, Scholars Hub @ UL Lafayette.