History by design: a public historian in the creative field

25 November 2022 – Laurel Overstreet

Disturbing Justice: legacies of incarceration at the Old Idaho Penitentiary

24 December 2020 – Hayley Noble

The Old Idaho Penitentiary was the site of seven riots and disturbances and some of the structural damage from these actions is still evident today. For years, the exhibits and signage on display at the Old Idaho Penitentiary Historic Site never discussed the riots, so in early 2019 it was determined that the site’s latest exhibit should explain the damage still visible to visitors, contextualize the actions of prisoners and administrators, and connect historical situations in corrections to current affairs. Read More

Community, Public History, and the Failure of the Whaling Ship Progress

13 August 2020 – Dan Gifford 1

The importance of community undergirds nearly every corner and crevice of public history. From spatial communities bound by common geography to cultural communities of shared identity and lifeways, we almost instinctively understand that museums, archives, oral history projects, and other public history products require community engagement and engagement with communities. Read More

Let’s Go Shopping: Stories of Yesteryear Q&A

25 April 2019 – Aimee E. Newell 3

Editor’s Note: Our digital media editor Nicole Belolan primarily grew up in rural Pennsylvania, about a 45-minute drive from Wilkes-Barre. As a child, she remembers going frequently to the Wilkes-Barre mall since shopping was limited in her smaller community. When she read about the programming and exhibition at the Luzerne County Historical Society about Wilkes-Barre’s history as a shopping destination, she wanted to learn more. Read More

Project Showcase: Playing with Innovation

11 May 2018 – Florencia Pierri

When most people think of computer games they imagine something electronic with far more sophistication than the cardboard and plastic games played around a kitchen table. An ongoing exhibit hosted by the Sarnoff Collection at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey takes visitors back to a time when computer games had far more in common with Monopoly than with Minecraft. Read More

“The We of Me” in a scrapbook: Exploring Carson McCullers’ sexuality through material culture

12 February 2018 – Rebecca Bush 2

“Could you tell me more about this picture?”

The woman’s eyes were bright and curious, as she pointed towards a scrapbook in one of our exhibition cases. I had a good idea of which photo she was talking about, but I stepped closer to be sure. Read More

Project Showcase: Still Fighting For Our Lives

15 January 2018 – GVGK Tang

Still Fighting For Our Lives, an exhibition sponsored and hosted by the William Way LGBT Community Center, commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the Philadelphia AIDS Library. Read More

Public history on Broadway (Part 2)

29 February 2016 – Adina Langer

My recent review of the Georgia Social Studies Standards, as part of my work at the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, galvanized my desire to reflect on the importance of the Broadway musical, Allegiance, which tells the story in fictionalized form of George Takei’s family’s experience in internment camps during World War II. Read More