Yoga among the ruins? The challenges of industrial heritage in postwar Pittsburgh

12 January 2018 – Aaron Cowan

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of posts on deindustrialization and industrial heritage commissioned by The Public Historian, expanding the conversation begun with the November 2017 special issue on the topic. 

At its peak, the Carrie Furnace of the massive, sprawling Homestead Steel Works was a bastion of American industrial might, belching flame and smoke around the clock and employing hundreds of men in the dangerous, grueling work of producing more than one thousand tons of iron per day. Read More

Digital history for undergraduates….without the coding

08 November 2013 – Aaron Cowan

The digital humanities are rapidly transforming both the discipline of history and the pedagogy of public history.  When I taught my first Introduction to Public History course six years ago, my course schedule had two weeks devoted to digital history; today it occupies more than half of the semester. Read More

Lessons from the community engagement trenches

09 May 2012 – Aaron Cowan 8

“The one thing I’ve learned from this experience about public history is that I don’t want anything to do with it.”

Charlotte–a talented, enthusiastic graduate student in our History department–made this statement as she was reflecting on her first foray into the realm of public history. Read More