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Best Practices for Public History Training


The NCPH Curriculum and Training Committee is developing
“best practices” documents for several key aspects of public history curriculum and program development. Recognizing that each graduate or undergraduate program has its own goals, resources, and needs, we hope these documents will highlight some of the core elements to which every program should aspire. Three best practices documents are finished and have been officially adopted by the NCPH, a fourth is nearly finished:

  • undergraduate programs in public history
  • M.A. programs in public history
  • public history internships
  • graduate certificates related to public history [The Curriculum & Training Committee is updating this document, which will be posted here in summer 2010.]

The committee continues to work on other best practices documents. Please contact the committee at ncph@iupui.edu with your comments.

NEW!  Guide to Public History Programs
This is a free, comprehensive resource for prospective students, faculty, employers, and anyone interested the shape of public history education today. Standardized formatting makes it easier to compare resources and practices, whether at graduate or undergraduate levels. The guide is also designed to be useful to museums and other public history institutions, government agencies, pre-collegiate schools, businesses, and community groups that want to identify potential academic partners in their geographical area. NCPH will continue to add listings as program directors supply their information.

New Directions in Training
Click here for occasional articles written exclusively for the NCPH website to enable public history educators to share ideas and participate directly in shaping best practices.

Academic Program Reviewers
The individuals listed here are available to offer expert advice to university and college departments or programs in public history.

Listserv for Public History Program Educators
Send us an email if you would like to join a discussion listserv for public history educators. Please include your name, email address, and the name of your department and program. Here is a sample discussion thread (about internships) that shows the kind of question one might post as well as the generous, collegial responses of list members.

Other Online Resources for Public History Educators
A number of organizations devoted to history practice and education have gathered resources of use to public history educators. Here are some of the most useful materials available online:

  • Click here for a list of articles from The Public Historian that are most often assigned in public history classes.
  • For a short list of articles on public history in the college or university history department, including Cynthia Brandimarte’s Spring 2000 essay “Developing a Public History Program” click here. Click here for the 2004 report of the American Historical Association Task Force on Public History.
  • See also Phil Katz’s article in the AHA’s Perspectives, “Public History Employers-What Do They Want?” and a wide variety of other articles at the AHA web page for public historians.

Please contact the NCPH Curriculum and Training Committee if you have questions about or suggestions for this page.