Lessons in interpreting controversial history at a Southern heritage site

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Part of what drew me to the University of South Carolina’s Ph.D. program in history in 2010 was the opportunity to engage with controversial topics while pursuing an M.A. in public history along the way. The summer after my first year in the program, I found a part-time job with a private non-profit organization looking for someone to produce a new guidebook for an historic property it managed: a farmhouse located on a former plantation in the hills of one of the Border States. Read More

Subjecting History: Launching a digital open review process

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magnifying-glassThe recent History@Work post postulating the importance of peer review and its possibilities in digital form challenges us to rethink more traditional methods of scholarly review. History@Work’s inaugural year demonstrates that the uptick in attention to public history’s products and projects in academic, international, and other circles is pushing and pulling us in new directions.  Read More

What employers seek in public history graduates (Part 4): An online discussion in preparation for NCPH 2013

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binocularsAs a public historian and manager of historical research at Parks Canada for the past 12 years, I have sat on many hiring committees to hire historians, policy analysts, program officers and university students for a range of heritage and history projects based in our national office in Gatineau, Quebec.  Read More

NCPH 2013 Book Award: Public history's surprising roots

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Editors’ Note:  This series showcases the winners of the National Council on Public History’s annual awards for the best new work in the field.  Today’s post is by Denise Meringolo, whose book Museums, Monuments, and National Parks:  Toward a New Genealogy of Public History is the winner of the 2013 NCPH Book Award.

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New issue of The Public Historian

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A new issue of The Public Historian will be appearing in libraries and subscribers’ mailboxes soon.  Below is an advance look at the Table of Contents:

The Public Historian
A Journal of Public History
Volume 35    February 2013     Number 4

Editor’s Corner
The Past Enhanced, Endowed, Engaged
Randolph Bergstrom

Roundtable
Imagining the Digital Future of The Public Historian
William Bryans, Albert Camarillo, Swati Chattopadhyay, Jon Christensen, Sharon Leon, and Cathy Stanton

Public History and Public Humanities: State Humanities Councils
Public Works: NEH, Congress, and the State Humanities Councils
Jamil Zainaldin
Making the Humanities Public:  The Example of Connecticut’s Humanities Council
Briann Greenfield

Digital History at Historic Sites
#VirtualTourist: Embracing Our Audience through Public History Web Experience
Anne Lindsay

Crossing Borders: Conversations on the War of 1812 Bicentennial Online and in Print
Now You See It, Now You Don’t: The War Of 1812 In Canada And The United States In 2012
Karim M. Read More

Professional opportunities March 5, 2013

ANNCT: New online resource, “American Pamphlets, Series 1, 1820-1922” from New-York Historical Society

CFP: 9th Annual Indigenous and American Studies Storytellers Conference, April 12-13, 2013, State University of New York Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, U.S. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 8, 2013

CFP: The Sixth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, April 22-24, 2013, National Art Gallery of Denmark, Kunst, Denmark SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 22, 2013

CONF: Oral History and Institutional History – The Warwick Project “The Voice of the Past” Part 2, March 12, 2013, University of Warwick, UK

CONF: Public History in the Digital Age, April 4-5, 2013, National Archives at College Park, Maryland, U.S. Read More

When public history goes global: Discussing international teaching practices

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globe-puzzle1In a recent post on History@Work, Zachary McKiernan discussed the utility of an international vision of public history. In many ways, this post encapsulates the rising interest in public history practices outside North America. The recent creation of the International Federation for Public History (IFPH) is a prime example of this. Read More