Public History
(History 397Z)
“The history that lies inert in unread books does no work in the world.”
-- Carl Becker
Professor Samuel J. Redman
Office: Herter 605
sredman@history.umass.edu
Office Hours: Wed 1-4, and by appointment
Fall 2013
Herter 111 – Tu / Th 2:30-3:45
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What is Public History?
What is Public History? As a discipline in the Humanities, Public History emerged in the 1970s. Since
that time, public historians have been the national and global vanguard of history professionals seeking to
keep history relevant—in the public sphere, as well as the more personal spheres of family and community
life. Public history is a term that describes a constellation of activities related to the interpretation of the past
in public spaces. Public historians—whether they work in museums, archives, historic sites, federal agencies
or any of a number of other possibilities—aim to take the insights of the discipline cultivated in traditional
academic arenas and apply them in a wide range of public settings. Public historians, first and foremost, are
well-trained social, cultural and political historians who are often conversant in related humanities fields and
highly skilled in research methodology; they are capable of collegial interdisciplinary work with
anthropologists, archaeologists, librarians, advertising and marketing specialists, and computer scientists.
Public historians are constantly grappling with difficult issues. Whose history do we document and
preserve? Should the source of funding influence the content of an exhibit? Should we talk about potentially
controversial topics in history, and if so, how? How do
we make history exciting and meaningful to the many
While I have training and interests and
curiosities that have led me to become a
Americans who have been taught to believe that history
historian, I became a public historian when I
is simply a compilation of very dry and boring facts?
began actively to look for ways to be of
These are questions public historians strive to answer
service, to listen and learn about the precise
every day.
needs of a given community, and to gently
This course will introduce students to the theory
challenge a community to push its own
and practice of public history through the exploration of
sense of boundaries and exclusiveness.
five core themes: the tension between history and
memory, the nature and limits of shared authority, the
Denise D. Meringolo
interplay of agendas and audiences for historical work,
Associate Professor of
the ethical concerns that shape public history practice,
History University of
and the role of entrepreneurship.
Maryland, Baltimore Co.
Course objectives: The purpose of this course is to
introduce you to the world of public history – both the
ideas and questions that make it tick, and the practical,
on-the-ground concerns that confront public historians
in a variety of professional settings. The course will turn
on five key concept areas that inform the world of public history: History and Memory; Shared Authority
and/or Inquiry; Agendas and Audiences; Ethics; and Economics and Entrepreneurship. By the end of the
semester, you will have read some of the most significant past and contemporary literature in the field of
public history, and, through discussions in and beyond the classroom, have formed your own understanding
of what constitutes public history. Through our shared readings, forays into the community, conversations
with guest speakers, and through your own public history fieldwork, you will also have a clearer idea of what
it means to work in a variety of public history settings in terms of both theory and practice.
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This course offers students three critical experiences:
1) Expansion of Professional Knowledge and Skills: the readings,
class activities, and guest lectures will expand, broaden, and deepen,
your knowledge of how training in historical methods is used in a
variety of professions; in particular you will learn specific
occupational terminology that more traditionally trained historians
do not learn until after entering a public history profession.
2) Experiential Learning: Both individually and in groups, you will
apply what you are learning as you learn. Before the class ends you
will have not only studied public history: you will have practiced
public history.
3) Career Exploration You will discover the different professional
fields, collectively referred to as public history, that are open to
students of history and related humanities fields.
Class Etiquette: Because Public History is by definition history that
happens beyond the classroom, we necessarily welcome a number of guest
speakers to discuss their experiences. These visitors are integral to the
class and students are required to attend, and to take notes, just as you
would on any other class day. But please do more than merely this:
preparing thoroughly for class and listening intently to the presentation
may serve you well individually (should you in the future want to seek an
internship or even employment with the speaker), but also reflects on your
school as a whole. For some speakers, their encounter with you will form
the whole of their opinion of UMass and the students here. Be attentive,
be polite, ask good questions and leave them with the impression that they
will be glad to meet more UMass students in the future.
Public history is...
 a set of theories, methods,
assumptions, and practices
guiding the identification,
preservation, interpretation,
and presentation of historical
artifacts, texts, structures,
and landscapes in
conjunction with and for the
public.
 an interactive process
between the historian, the
public, and the historical
object.
 the belief that history and
historical-cultural memory
matter in the way people go
about their day-to-day lives.
Debra DeRuyver, Managing
Editor, Public History Resource
Center
Readings: Short readings will be provided electronically. The following books (available in the textbook
annex) will be assigned in full:
Denise D. Meringolo - Museums, Monuments, and National Parks: Toward a New Genealogy of Public
History. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. 2012.
Eric Foner’s Who Owns History? Rethinking the Past in a Changing World. New York: Hill and
Wang. 2002.
Optional but highly recommended for this course – Marla R. Miller and Max Page The Campus Guide
University of Massachussets an Architectural Tour by Marla R. Miller and Max Page, New York:
Princeton Architectural Press. 2013.
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Assignments:
Short: There will be several short assignments (a book response, a museum review, and a website review),
during the semester that are each designed to give you a chance to get hands-on experience with public
history practice. These should each be 800-word essays.
Over the course of the semester, to practice writing for wide audiences and to contribute directly to a public
history project, you will also have an opportunity to engage in an effort to research and interpret an aspect of
the history of UMass, as a contribution to the Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration. This will be a
contribution to a blog, Lost UMass, on the now-vanished buildings and landscapes once present on campus.
Each student will research and write 3 entries of 300-500 words for the website.
Alternatively you can choose to contribute to a national digital history project aiming to document and make
accessible the living legacy of the New Deal. The Living New Deal is a project originating in the Geography
Department at the University of California, Berkeley – however, the project has expanded its reach across the
country in recent years. This said, hundreds if not thousands of sites were created or improved by New Deal
agencies such as the Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), National
Youth Administration (NYA), or Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and this project aims to document this
legacy. As an alternative to the Lost UMass assignment, students may contribute 3 entries of roughly 300-500
words for the website.
Group Project: You will also undertake, working together with classmates, research on a current issue in public
history. Mid-semester, you will choose an area of public history practice in which you have developed an
interest: 1) Museum and Historic Site Interpretation, 2) Digital History, 3) Archives, 4) Historic Preservation,
or 5) Documentary Film. You and your classmates will look into the issues currently challenging
professionals in your field, and choose one of them on which to develop a presentation. Presentations will
occur at the end of the semester; your grade for this aspect of the course will be an average of the grade
achieved by the team and the grade assigned to a paper (10 -12 pages) you draft alongside the development of
the presentation. More details on this will follow later in the semester.
Note on Office Hours: Wed 1-4, and by appointment. I encourage students to visit my office hours, which are
first-come, first-served. My office is in Herter Hall, room 605.
Exam: There will be a take-home final exam offering you the opportunity to synthesize your experiences.
Grading
20%
10%
10%
Participation
Book Response
Lost UMass/Living New Deal
10%
10%
20%
20%
Website Review
Exhibit Review
Group Project
Take-Home Final
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Course Schedule
TUES SEPT 3
Introduction: What is Public History?
THURS SEPT 5: Discussion: Who owns the past? What is the nature of historical authority?
READ:
Edward T. Linenthal, “Committing History in Public,” Journal of American History 81 (December 1994),
986-991. J-STOR
Felix V Matos Rodriguez "`The ‘Browncoats’ Are Coming’: Latino Public History in Boston.” The
Public Historian, 23 (Fall, 2001): 15-28, J-STOR
Christine Baron,“One if by Land! Two if by River! Or, What if Everything You Thought You Knew
Were Wrong?” The History Teacher 43 (August 2010): 607-615. (a brief account of the difficulties
encountered when historians and educators attempted to reinterpret the Old North Church,
Boston) J-STOR
TUES SEPT 10: Lecture & Discussion: The History of History
READ:
Eric Foner, Who Owns History ix-25
PART I:
HISTORY, MEMORY, AND THE STUFF IN BETWEEN
THURS SEPT 12 - Lecture & Discussion: The History of History, continued
READ:
Eric Foner, Who Owns History, 25-149
READ:
David Glassberg, “Public History and the Study of Memory,” The Public Historian, Vol. 18, No. 2
(Spring, 1996): 7-23.
J-STOR
TUES SEPT 17 – Alexander Graham Bell, James Smithsonian’s Bones and the Origins of Museum Culture(s) in the
United States
READ:
Eric Foner, 149-end
THURS SEPT 19 – History and Origins of Museums in the United States Continued: So How Did Museums Get All
This Stuff?
READ: Denise Meringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks xiii-25
WRITE: 800-word response to Foner’s book, in which you identify his main arguments, and
evaluate them: is it well-grounded? Persuasive? What’s most compelling? What’s missing?
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TUES SEPT 24 - Discussion: Why, when and how do people care about the past?
READ :
Roy Rozenzweig and David Thelen, Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life (New
York: Columbia, 1998), 1-13; 15-36; 88-114. (hand-out/pdf)
Cameron and Gatewood, “Excursions into the Unremembered Past: What People Want from Visits to
Historic Sites,” The Public Historian 22 (Summer 2000), 107-127. J-STOR
THURS SEPT 26 – Museums, World’s Fairs, and the Exhibition Tradition in Urban and Rural America
READ:
Handouts and other materials on this topic from instructor
TUES OCT 1 - Why not just ask? The risks and rewards of oral history
READ :
Alistair Thomson, "Four Paradigm Transformations in Oral History," The Oral History Review
Winter/Spring 2007, 34:1, 49-70 pdf
Alessandro Portelli, “The Death of Luigi Trastulli: Memory and the Event,” in Portelli, The
Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories (1991), 1-26. pdf
READING RESPONSE TO ERIC FONER’S BOOK Who Owns History? DUE.
THURS OCT 3 – Oral History continued
READ: Handouts and other materials on oral history from instructor
TUES OCT 8 – Lecture & Discussion: The History of History Museums: Is there such a thing as revisionist history?
READ: Denise Feringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks 59-83
READ :
Henry Flynt, introduction, Frontier of Freedom (Hastings House, 1952) (1 page pdf)
Miller and Lanning, “Common Parlors: Women and the Creation of Community Identity in
Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1870-1920,” Gender and History Vol 6 No 3 (November
1994): 435-55. [available online via the journal title, rather than J-Stor]
Stephen E. Weil, “From Being about Something to being for Somebody: The Ongoing
Transformation of the American Museum,” Daedalus (Summer 1999),109-129.229258. J-Stor
Extra-credit FIELD TRIP BEFORE THIS DATE: Historic Deerfield.
THURS OCT 10 – Special session on Du Bois in our Time
GUEST LECTURE / Class combined with Prof. David Glassberg’s W.E.B. Du Bois Class – UMass
Artist-in-Residence – University Museum of Contemporary Art at the fine Arts Center – Video Artist
Jefferson Pinder, www.jeffersonpinder.com/newsite/
TUES OCT 15 - Lecture & Discussion: Whose Story is it to Tell?
READ: (all J-STOR)
Roger D. Launius, “American Memory, Culture Wars, and the Challenge of Presenting Science
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and Technology in a National Museum,” Public Historian 29:1 (Winter 2007): 13-30. J-STOR
Robert C. Post, “A Narrative for Our Time: The Enola Gay ‘and after that, period’,” Technology and
Culture 45 (April 2004): 373-395. J-STOR
David Thelen, “History After the Enola Gay Controversy,” Journal of American History 82:3
(December 1995): 1029-1035 J-STOR
LOST UMASS or LIVING NEW DEAL DIGITAL SITE ENTRY DUE. Some guidelines:
First, make sure your document covers the basics, what, when, where, built by who, and so forth. In
your detailed submission, provide a detailed list of citations, useful for our discussion and sharing your
work, with the intention of simplification before final online publication.
THURS OCT 17 - Lecture & Discussion: What’s the difference between history and commemorations?
READ:
Roger D. Launius, “American Memory, Culture Wars, and the Challenge of Presenting Science
and Technology in a National Museum,” Public Historian 29:1 (Winter 2007): 13-30. J-STOR
Robert C. Post, “A Narrative for Our Time: The Enola Gay ‘and after that, period’,” Technology and
Culture 45 (April 2004): 373-395. J-STOR
VISIT: http://blog.historians.org/resources/1619/national-park-services-new-civil-war-website
Question for discussion: Be it UMass, or the American Civil War: What happens during a
Sesquicentennial that’s helpful to history practice, and what happens that is less so?
TUES OCT 22 - Lecture & Discussion: Whose Story is it to Tell?
READ: (all J-STOR)
David Thelen, “History After the Enola Gay Controversy,” Journal of American History 82:3
(December 1995): 1029-1035 J-STOR
Edward Linenthal, “Struggling with History and Memory,” Journal of American History 82:3 (December
1995): 1094-1101. J-STOR
MUSEUM REVIEW DUE. Some guidelines: Good reviews involve a little journalism.
Don’t forget to include at the top the name of the museum, its location, and any featured
exhibit(s), and briefly discuss the holdings of the museum. In what period or periods is the
museum particularly strong? As in any review, the question is not about what you “liked” or
didn’t like, but rather an evaluation of what the site sets out to do, and how well it reaches
those aims. (a hand-out will be provided; please also see Schrag, “How to Write A Review,” at
http://historyprofessor.org/reading/how-to-write-a-review/).
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PART II:
SHARED AUTHORITY, SHARED INQUIRY, AND
HISTORY 2.0
THURS OCT 24 – History in a Digital World: Public History and New Media
READ: Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide
On-line book: http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
NOTE: This is indeed a book, and is book-length. Budget adequate time (please
note: there is a full week between classes, partly designed to give you time to engage
with this longer work and to use it to develop your review.
TUES OCT 29 – History and New Media
Browse: Dan Cohen’s Digital Humanities blog at
http://www.dancohen.org/
Browse: the Tools and Projects sections of the
 Center for History and New Media:
http://chnm.gmu.edu/
 The American Association for History and Computing
(http://www.theaahc.org/cfp.htm)
 Maine Memory Network http://www.mainememory.net/
 Many Stories of 1704 (http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/)
 Do History (www.dohistory.org)
THURS OCT 31 – History and New Media
Guest: Kevin Malloy, Ph.D. candidate in archaeology, University of Wyoming
READ: TBA
WRITE: WEBSITE REVIEW DUE (please review instructions for museum review)
PART III: HISTORY ON THE LANDSCAPE
TUES NOV 5 - Discussion: Remembering UMass
GUEST: Joseph Larson, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Conservation
THURS NOV 7 - NAGPRA
GUEST: Rae Gould, Repatriation Coordinator, Department of Anthropology, UMass
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TUES NOV 12 – The National Park Service
READ:
Denise Meringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks 26-58
READ:
Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service
Available online at http://oah.org/programs/nps/imperiled_promise.html
This is also book-length: again, budget adequate time.
Browse websites: http://www.nps.gov/
Victoria Hardin, “What Do Federal Historians Do?,” Perspectives 1999
http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/Issues/1999/9905/9905pub4.cfm
Part IV:
ECONOMICS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
THURS NOV 14 – Devil’s Bargains – The Promise and Perils of Heritage Tourism in the United States 1900-today
READ: Denise Meringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks 84-131
TUES NOV 19 - Heritage Tourism, continued
READ:
Andrew Hurley, “Narrating the Urban Waterfront: The Role of Public History in Community
Revitalization” The Public Historian, Vol. 28, No. 4, Fall 2006 J-STOR
Gerald Figal, “Between War and Tropics: Heritage Tourism in Postwar Okinawa,” The Public
Historian Vol. 30, No. 2, (Spring 2008) J-STOR
Wilton Corken, “Heritage Tourism: Where Public and History Don't Always Meet,” American Studies
International Vol. 42, No. 2/3 (JUNE-OCTOBER 2004) J-STOR
PART V:
THE FUTURE OF THE PAST
THURS NOV 21 – NO CLASS – INSTRUCTOR ATTENDING CONFERENCE
READ:
Daniel Penrice, “Can This Museum Be Saved?”
http://www.common-place.org/vol-03/no-01/penrice/index.shtml
Rosen, Michael J. "Doing Well by Doing Right: a Fundraiser's Guide to Ethical DecisionMaking."
International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, vol. 10 (August 2005): p. 175-81.
(hand-out)
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TUES NOV 26 – The Museum in “Crisis”
READ: Denise Meringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks 131-end
Ira Jacknis, “A New Thing? The NMAI in Historical and Institutional Perspective”
(TAKE-HOME FINAL DISTRIBUTED TODAY)
THURS NOV 28 – NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING BREAK
TUES DEC 3 – Group Project Presentations
THURS DEC 5 – Group Project Presentations
FINAL EXAM
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