Cantelon began his teaching career at Williams College in 1968 , specializing in contemporary American and Oral history . In 1974 , he took a leave of absence from Williams to work in the policy office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a speechwriter for Secretary Carla Hills . In 1978 , he received a Fulbright Professorship of American Civilization to teach history for a year at Kyushu University and Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka , Japan . After his HUD and Fulbright experience , Cantelon turned from the classroom to the practical application of history – what would become popularized as ‘ public history ’ . The opportunity to apply history came soon after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 . A former Williams colleague at the United States Department of Energy asked if Cantelon would write a history of the agency 's response to the accident . Cantelon teamed up with Robert C. Williams , a professor at Washington University in St. Louis , to write Crisis Contained : The Department of Energy at Three Mile Island , published in 1980 . Struck by the impact of a practical application of history – and that historians could assess an event that happened months , not just decades before – he and three colleagues , Richard G. Hewlett , who was retiring as the Department of Energy ’s Chief Historian , Williams , and Rodney P. Carlisle of Rutgers University established a new business venture . In January 1981 , they founded History Associates Incorporated . Cantelon served as president from 1981 to 2006 . Since then , he has served as the organization 's CEO and senior historian . His client list includes General Electric , the Kendall Foundation , the GAR Foundation , Consolidated Edison , Texas Instruments , MCI Communications , Roadway Services , CF Transportation , the National Institute of Nursing Research , The Children ’s Inn at NIH , The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations , and the World Association of Nuclear Operators . Under Cantelon 's leadership , History Associates has grown to become one of the largest historical consulting firms in the U.S . The company made the Inc. 500 list in 1986 and the Inc. 5000 list in 2012 , 2013 , and 2014 . Cantelon has been actively involved in numerous organizations that further the mission of public history . He was a founder of the National Council on Public History in 1979 , serving as the organization 's first executive secretary . During the same year , Cantelon helped charter the Society for History in the Federal Government , where he served as executive secretary from 1979 to 1983 and president from 1995 to 1996 . Cantelon has also served as chairman of the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission in Maryland , as well as president of the Montgomery County Historical Society . He continues to play an active role in both past and present issues impacting Montgomery County historic resources
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
Philip L. Cantelon