Seen from the sidewalk: (U)-Hauling history

, ,

You never know where history might pop up. This Underground Railroad panel is part of U-Haul’s “Venture across America and Canada” SuperGraphics program, which features a different design for each of the 50 states and 12 provinces and territories. While many focus on technological, natural, and even supernatural wonders, several are history-themed, and many, like the Ontario entry, also feature extensive web pages. Read More

Serving two masters: Questions of audience at the Joseph Smith Documentary Editing Project (Part 3)

, , , , , , ,

Historians working on the Joseph Smith Papers have to navigate a balancing act between our various audiences—much like those who do contract history work. For the most part, the project has succeeded in its attempts to be balanced. In a review of the first volume of the Journals series in the journal Documentary Editing, Kenneth Minkema, executive editor of the Works of Jonathan Edwards, declared, “Readers need not raise a skeptical eyebrow when they see this edition is produced by LDS members and printed by an LDS press.” Read More

Project Showcase: MNopedia

, , , , ,

web pageMNopedia is a new born-digital, open-access encyclopedia of Minnesota. It is a project of the Minnesota Historical Society, one of the largest and oldest historical societies in the nation. Funding so far has come from a special statewide fund established in 2008 by the taxpayers of Minnesota, the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (ACHF), a portion of which is specifically dedicated to projects that preserve Minnesota’s historical and cultural heritage. Read More

Serving two masters: Questions of audience at the Joseph Smith Documentary Editing Project (Part 2)

, , , , , , ,

In my years as a historical consultant, I did several projects for agencies such as the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Much like the church for which I now work, these agencies are interested in their past, but also are sensitive to criticisms that have been levied against them by opposing groups, such as environmental organizations. Read More

Serving two masters: Questions of audience at the Joseph Smith Documentary Editing Project (Part 1)

, , , , , , ,

row of booksSome time ago, I had the opportunity of hearing a presentation by Daniel Walker Howe, a historian who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his book What Hath God Wrought: A History of the United States, 1815-1848. In the course of the seminar, Howe made a plea for academic historians to stop ignoring the general public in their work, declaring that it was time for historians to stop talking only to each other and to engage the larger public. Read More

Speaking of the survey (Part 6): Models for a 21st century public history journal

, , , , , ,

people looking at documentThis is the sixth and final in a series of posts about the findings of our summer 2012 survey on the current state and possible future directions of The Public Historian journal and other NCPH media.

from Anne Mitchell Whisnant, NCPH Journal Task Force:

As a member of the NCPH task force considering the future of The Public Historian, I, like several of my colleagues, have been mining the data from last summer’s survey about the journal.   Read More