Welcome to NRHC 2027 in Baltimore, MD. Baltimore is nicknamed the city of neighborhoods, comprising 72 distinct historic districts, each with its own architecture, ethnic heritage, and local identity. Notable examples include the Italian-American enclave of Little Italy to the maritime charm of Fells Point to the rowhouse blocks of Pigtown. In devising this year's conference theme, I wanted to explore this idea of how individual pieces come together to create a unified whole. Too often we are limited by self-imposed restrictions of our disciplines (our “neighborhoods”). I am reminded of the unfortunate truth that neighborhoods are often separated from each other in ways that are not easy to bridge. Baltimore's own history offers a sobering example: in 1911, it became the first U.S. city to codify racial segregation into law block by block, and later, 1930s-era redlining maps split the city into a "White L" of well-resourced neighborhoods along Charles Street and the Inner Harbor, and a "Black Butterfly" of underinvested communities extending outward. Nearly a century later, that map still predicts patterns of health, wealth, and opportunity across the city. It is a stark reminder that proximity alone does not create community. Neighborhoods can sit side by side for generations and remain worlds apart.

Honors, by definition, is interdisciplinary. More to the point, we not only are a community of like-minded individuals drawn to research, scholarship, and civic responsibility, but we embrace difference, be that of discipline, method, or perspective, as a strength rather than a barrier. As I am sure you know, some of the best scholarship emerges from collaborations across disciplines. A historian working alongside a data scientist, a biologist partnering with an artist, a philosopher in dialogue with an engineer. Such collaborations mirror the way a city's neighborhoods, each distinct, ultimately depend on one another to function and grow as a whole. Honors students, by training, are uniquely positioned to build these bridges: you are equipped to move fluently between disciplinary "neighborhoods," carrying ideas and methods across borders that too often go uncrossed. A city of neighborhoods becomes a strong community not when its differences are erased, but when its neighborhoods actively choose to connect: through shared infrastructure, shared investment, and shared purpose. In the same way, a community of scholars becomes strong not when disciplines dissolve into sameness, but through a collective effort across fields: through interdisciplinary research, cross-campus collaboration, and conversations like the ones we will hold at our conference. 
 

Baltimore's neighborhoods remind us that this bridging work is neither automatic nor easy, but that it is both essential and possible. If we consider our respective academic disciplines as our “neighborhoods,” you might consider the importance of maintaining an interdisciplinary focus as the glue that binds our neighborhoods together. How might your scholarly work bridge multiple disciplines or consider its central research question from more than one disciplinary approach? To what extent would such an interdisciplinary approach strengthen its impact and reach? These questions are intentionally broad. It is up to you to shape them and find a lens through which you can build a foundation for your presentation. Our disciplinary track descriptions can also serve as inspiration for your proposal. We also welcome you to forge your own path and presentation for this year’s conference. We invite you to think of NRHC as its own city of neighborhoods. As you prepare for and arrive in Baltimore, engage each other in conversation - ask questions, offer your disciplinary perspective to another outside of your own. Foster a collaboration. We will all be better off for it.