While driving being a passenger on the drive to London I finally finished reading through the August issue of The Public Historian. A couple of the articles in this issue sparked some reflection on my historical practice, including Charles W. Romney's "New City Guides and Anachronic Public History" article. Romney examined historical cities guides including … Continue reading Contested History and Multiple Chronologies
Collaborative History and Virtual Peer Networks
I recently wrote a short post on historical trauma and self-care. Shortly after writing that post I read Shurlee Swain's Public Historian article "Stakeholders as Subjects: The Role of Historians in the Development of Australia's Find & Connect Web Resource." Swain's article reflected on the challenges of creating the Find & Connect digital resource that … Continue reading Collaborative History and Virtual Peer Networks
Digital Community Archives: South Asian American Digital Archive
The recent issue of The Public Historian featured an article, "Seeing Yourself in History: Community Archives and the Fight Against Symbolic Annihilation", by Michelle Caswell. The article looks at the development of the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) and the role the archive has played in preserving the marginalized history of the South Asian … Continue reading Digital Community Archives: South Asian American Digital Archive
Public History and Environmental Engagement: Scotland’s Coastal Heritage
The recent special issue of The Public Historian focused on public history and environmental sustainability. This issue builds on the sustainable public history theme that was the focus of the 2014 National Council on Public History conference and the digital collection Public History in a Changing Climate which appeared on the Public History Commons. The … Continue reading Public History and Environmental Engagement: Scotland’s Coastal Heritage
Contested Public History and Public Engagement
The Spring 2014 issue of The Public Historian focused on contested histories, addressing controversy through public history, and the relationship of controversy and commemoration. Christine Reiser Robbins and Mark W. Robbins' piece "Engaging the contested Memory of the Public Square, Community Collaboration, Archaeology, and Oral History at Corpus Christi's Artesian Park" is an excellent example … Continue reading Contested Public History and Public Engagement
Ask A Slave Web Series
The winter issue of The Public Historian included an interview with Azie Mira Dungey the creator of the "Ask A Salve" web series. Dungey was a living history first person interpreter at George Washington's Mount Veron, where she portrayed Caroline Branham an enslaved housemaid. The web series draws on her experience working at Mount Vernon … Continue reading Ask A Slave Web Series
Decolonial Public History and Shared Authority
The winter issue of The Public Historian contained an article by Katrine Barber titled "Shared Authority in the Context of Tribal Sovereignty: Building Capacity for Partnerships with Indigenous Nations." Barber's article addresses the challenges of Indigenous and non-Indigenous public history projects, historical colonial practices, and the idea of shared authority and decolonial public history practices. … Continue reading Decolonial Public History and Shared Authority
Virtual Tourism and Audience Engagement
A recent issue of The Public Historian contained an interesting article, "#VirtualTourist: Embracing Our Audience through Public History Web Experience" by Anne Lindsay. The article highlighted the ongoing challenges that cultural heritage sites in engage new and diverse audiences. Lindsay focused on the potential of institutional web presence in the development of audience and donor … Continue reading Virtual Tourism and Audience Engagement
Public History on Stage: Theatre and the Past
The latest issue (Vol. 34, No. 3) of The Public Historian finally arrived at my house this week. The issue presented a number of interesting field reports and case studies, many of which focused on areas of nontraditional historical practice. One article which drew me in, was "Theatre: A Neglected Site of Public History" by … Continue reading Public History on Stage: Theatre and the Past
Food Memories and Public History
The latest issue of The Public Historian, "Time's Tables: Food in Public History" had a special focus on the interaction of food and public history. Reading the issue made me hungry and intrigued by the complexity of intertwining food into conceptions of the past.I particularly enjoyed Adam Steinberg's article "What We Talk About When We … Continue reading Food Memories and Public History