Tag Archive
27 June 2017 – Melissa Bingmann
Attending Humanities Advocacy Day this spring was a new experience for me. I have been a practicing public historian for almost 24 years working at museums and in the academy, but I had not been particularly active politically until recently. Read More
20 June 2017 – Nick Sacco 11
On July 9, 1776, General George Washington, his troops, and citizens in New York City heard the Declaration of Independence for the first time. Inspired by the words of this revolutionary document, opponents of King George III ran towards a statue of his likeness in Manhattan and proceeded to tear it down, later melting it to make bullets for use in their fight for independence. Read More
15 June 2017 – Beatrice Gurwitz
Two days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, we awoke to reports that the transition team was contemplating a proposal to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). On March 16, after almost two months of near silence on the subject, the administration released a budget blueprint even more threatening to humanities programs than had been initially reported. Read More
30 May 2017 – Will Walker 4
The first time I tried to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, my friends and I got only as far as the grassy area on the Constitution Ave. side of the building. Less than a month after the museum’s grand opening in September 2016, the feeling around the David Adjaye-designed masterpiece that Sunday was electric. Read More
27 March 2017 – Laura Ellyn Smith 7
Historically, imperial presidents have often expanded their power through a crisis that legitimizes their actions. As we look at current events, it is imperative to recognize how President Donald J. Trump is utilizing this tactic. Portrayed as a measure to curb terrorism, President Trump’s efforts to halt entry of migrants from selected predominantly Muslim countries, as well as refugees into the United States, have been identified by political commentators, such as Fareed Zakaria, as fear mongering and religious discrimination. Read More
27 February 2017 – Kirsten Delegard and Kevin Ehrman-Solberg 3
Not so long ago, few historians knew anything about GIS, or geographic information systems. Many of us saw little need to learn complicated software built on scripting languages and databases. We retreated to the familiar environment of the archives, leaving the technical challenges of GIS to geographers and computer scientists. Read More
24 February 2017 – Jean-Pierre Morin
For the past seventeen years, I have worn two hats every day that I’ve gone to work. The first one is my historian hat, as I’m the staff historian for the Canadian department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs where I research the history of the institution, prepare materials for public consumption and answer questions relating to the 260-year history of Canada’s policies towards Indigenous peoples. Read More
11 November 2016 – editors 6
How should public historians respond to the new reality of the incoming political leadership in the United States? Representative democracy in the United States has survived the bitter partisanship of the Early Republic, the Civil War, corruption and scandals, the rise of international fascism, and the paroxysms of protest against the Vietnam War, so it is likely to endure. Read More
19 July 2016 – Cathy Stanton 5
When I studied public historians within a large U.S. national park for my dissertation research 12 years ago, I was left with some questions that I’ve been pondering ever since and that have kept coming to the surface in various ways in more recent years. Read More
23 May 2016 – editors
The Internet has changed the way nearly every profession shares knowledge and communicates with the public. In the last few years archivists and historians working for the federal government have joined the conversation. In December 2015, the National Archives created History Hub, a platform for collaboration between researchers, historians, archivists, and the federal government. Read More