Public History

(History 659)

 

 

ÒThe history that lies inert in unread books does no work in the world.Ó

                                                            -- Carl Becker

 

 

Professor Marla Miller                                                                                    Fall 2004

Herter 609, 545-4256                                                                          Herter 640

mmiller@history.umass.edu                                                                Tuesday, 2:00-5:00

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9-11 a.m., and by appt.

 

Course objectives: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the world of public history – both the ideas and questions that make it tick, and the practical, on-the-ground concerns that confront public historians in a variety of professional settings.  The course will turn on five key concept areas that inform the world of public history: History and Memory; Shared Authority and/or Inquiry; Agendas and Audiences; Ethics; and Economics and Entrepreneurship.  By the end of the semester, you will have read some of the most significant past and contemporary literature in the field of public history, and, through discussions in and beyond the classroom, have formed your own understanding of what constitutes public history.  Through our shared readings, forays into the community, conversations with guest speakers, and through your own public history fieldwork, you will also have a clearer idea of what it means to work in a variety of public history settings in terms of both theory and practice.

 

Course requirements: Formal requirements include: 1) attendance at all seminar discussions and field trips, guided and self-guided; if you must miss something, make arrangements with me in advance; 2) weekly response papers (ca 2-3 pp; these will be evaluated on a simple …  …+  …- system, with …+ only available to papers that engage all  of the assigned readings ); 3) participation in one major project, executed in teams, exploring some facet of public history in more depth (see below); and 4) a ca. 8-10 page paper reflecting on the topic chosen. 

 

Though this course explores the work historians do out in the world, it is itself of course a seminar, and the essence of a seminar is discussion; each week, we will meet to discuss, among ourselves and with others, issues and subjects of current concern to the Public History community.  It is essential that you come to class prepared to contribute to those conversations, having read the material at hand and having given it some thought as well.  I take the idea of contribution very seriously; it is the obligation of each student to guide our shared conversation toward the subjects he or she thinks most important for the course to cover.

 

Readings: Books listed below are on Reserve at DuBois Library and available for purchase at Jeffrey Amherst Bookstore.  Some of these we will read in their entirety, while only selections of others are assigned for the course; you may wish to review your syllabus before making your purchases.  Most of the articles assigned in this course (those marked with a …) are contained in the coursepack available for purchase at CopyCat.

 

 

           

Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History

Allison Landsberg, Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age

            of Mass Culture

Edward Linenthal, The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory

Gary Nash, History on Trial

            Max Page, Giving Preservation a History

Roy Rozenzweig and David Thelen, Presence of the Past. Popular Uses of History in American Life 

Patricia West, Domesticating History

Richard White, Remembering Ahanagran: Storytelling in a Family's Past.

 

 

Group project: In order for you to gain greater depth in one of the five concept areas, each of you will join a team whose charge is to develop a presentation for the rest of the class (and other interested faculty and graduate students) that explores some key episode, incident, or issue within that topic area.  For example, the team assigned to the topic ÒEthicsÓ might present on the recent tangle at the New York Historical Society, which some historians fear has come under the influence of a single wealthy donor.  The team assigned to ÒAudiencesÓ might present on innovative new approaches and/or Òbest practicesÓ you have discovered to forge collaborations between museums and historic sites and new communities of users.  Each student in the course will submit his/her list of preferred topics to me at the 3rd class meeting, along with a note explaining their rankings.  Groups must report their proposed plan to me no later than OCTOBER 12th. 

 

Groups will present their findings in a conference-style event that will be open to the department on the afternoon of FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3rd.  Each team will make a 30-minute presentation, with 10 minutes of discussion to follow (Session I: 12:30-1:10; Session II: 1:15-1:55; Session III: 2:00-2:40; Session IV: 2:45-3:35; Session V.  3:30-4:10).

 

 

Course Schedule

 

 

Tues Sept 14: Introduction: What is Public History?

 

Shopes, et al, ÒPublic History, Public Historians, and the American Historical

            Association,Ó Report of the Task Force on Public History, submitted to AHA

            Council, Dec 2003

 

Recommended: Kenneth T. Jackson,Ó  ÒThe Power of History: The Weakness of a

                                    Profession,Ó  Journal of American History 88 (March 2002):  1299-1314.

                                    (J-Stor)

 

History and Memory)

 

Tues Sept 21:  Memory v. History

 

Richard White, Remembering Ahanagran: Storytelling in a Family's Past.

                        …Barbara Taylor, ÒHow Far, How Near: Distance and Proximity in the Historical

                                    Imagination;Ó and Mark Salber Phillips, ÒDistance and Historical

                                    Representation,Ó in History Workshop Journal  (Vol. 57), 117-141.

                        …Christopher Bollas, ÒThe Functions of History,Ó from Cracking Up: The Work of

Unconscious Experience (1995)

…Margaret Strobel, ÒGetting to the Source: Becoming a Historian, Being an Activist, and Thinking Archivally: Documents and Memory as Sources,Ó Journal of WomenÕs History  Vol 11 No. 1 (Spring 1999): 181-92.

A Family Gathering, Lise Yasui, The American Experience (1989) [AVAILABLE ON

RESERVE FROM SEPT 18-21) There are 2 versions of this on reserve, the hour-long PBS version, and her original, 30-minute student edition.  Please see the PBS version, nominated for the Oscar for short documentary.  Those of you with special interest in documentary, however, will be interested to see the changes in the film from YasuiÕs original version to the one broadcast nationally.  The later is available Sept 18th

 

**Friday Sept 24   The Past in Everyday Life: FIELD TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY**

 

Roy Rozenzweig and David Thelen, Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in

American Life 

Carl Becker, ÒEveryman his own HistorianÓ (1932)

Cameron and Gatewood, ÒExcursions into the Unremembered Past: What People Want

from Visits to Historic Sites,Ó The Public Historian 22 (Summer 2000), 107-127.

 

We will draw on the insights from Presence of the Past in our discussion of the work of the Brooklyn Historical Society; please get through the intro, chapter 1, and the afterthoughts, and skim the rest.

 

Tues Sept 28   Memory Studies (as you prepare your response papers this week, please try to incorporate relevant insights from the preceding readings)

 

                        GUEST: David Glassberg

 

Allison Landsberg, Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in

 the Age of Mass Culture

                        …David Glassberg, ÒPublic History and the Study of MemoryÓ Public Historian     

(Spring 1996): 7-23.

…Marla Miller and Anne Digan Lanning, ÒÕCommon Parlors: Women and the

            Recreation of Community Identity in Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1870-1920,Ó

            Gender and History (1994), 435+

 

 

Shared Authority, Shared Inquiry

 

Tues Oct 5:     Shared Authority

 

GUEST SPEAKERS; Joyce Berkman, Chris Appy

 

Michael Frish, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Public History

            Alessandro Portelli, ÒThe Death of Luigi Trastulli: Memory and the Event,Ó

            in Portelli, The Death of  Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories (1991), 1-26.

                        Sherna Gluck, ÒWhatÕs So Special About Women? WomenÕs Oral History,Ó in

Dunaway and Baum, Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (1996), 215-230.

                        Joan Sangster, ÒTelling Our Stories: Feminist Debates and the Use of Oral History,Ó

                                    in Perks and Thomsom, The Oral History Reader (1998), 87-100.

Ronald J. Grele, ÒMovement Without Aim: Methodological and Theoretical

Problems in Oral History,Ó in Perks and Thomson, The Oral History Reader

(1998), 38-52.

 

                        You may also wish to examine the website for the New England Center for Oral

History: http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~cohadm01/neaoh.html

           

                                    And

 

Judith MoyerÕs ÒStep-by-Step Guide to Oral HistoryÓ at: http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

 

Tues Oct 12    Contested Authority in Museums

 

Gary Nash, et al, History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past (chs 1, 5, 7-10)

                                                [RESERVE]

*ÒIntroduction,Ó and ÒAnatomy of a Controversy,Ó  Edward T. Linenthal and Tom

                                    Engelhard, eds.,  History Wars: the Enola  Gay and Other Battles for the American

                                    Past  (Holt, 1996), pp. 1-62.  [RESERVE]

Faith Davis Ruffins, ÒCulture Wars Won and Lost:  Ethnic Museum on the Mall,

                                    Part I:  The National Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of the

                                    American Indian,Ó Radical History Review 68  (Spring 1997):  79-100.

                        Faith Davis Ruffins, ÒCulture Wars Won and Lost, Part II:  The National

African-American Museum Project,Ó Radical History Review 70 (Winter 1998): 78-101.

 

Tues Oct 19:  Contested Authority and Memorials

 

Linenthal, The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory

                        Jacqueline Trescott, ÒSmithsonian Curators Scramble to Save Artifacts,Ó 

                                    Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2002

                        James B. Gardner and Sarah M. Henry, ÒSeptember 11 and the Mourning After:

Reflections on Collecting and Interpreting the History of Tragedy,Ó Public   

Historian Vol 24 (Summer 2002), 37-52.

 

AGENDAS AND AUDIENCES

 

Tues Oct 26:               The Politics of Museum Interpretation

 

Field trip to Historic Deerfield.

            MEET AT THE FLYNT CENTER AT 2:00 p.m.

 

 

Pat West, Domesticating History.

…Henry Flynt, introduction, Frontier of Freedom (Hastings House, 1952).

…Harold Skramsted, ÒAn Agenda for American Museums in the Twenty-First

CenturyÓ Daedalus (Summer 1999),109-129.

                        …Stephen E. Weil, ÒFrom Being about Something to being for Somebody: The

            Ongoing Transformation of the American Museum,Ó Daedalus (Summer

 1999),109-129.229-258.

 

Recommended: John Herbst, ÒHistoric Houses,Ó in Leon and Rosenzweig, eds.,

History Museums  in the United States: A Critical Assessment (Univ. of IL, 1996), pp. 98-114.

Michael Wallace, ÒVisiting the Past: History Museums in the U.S.,Ó in Mickey

 Mouse History.

 

 

Tues Nov 2 :    New Agendas, New Audiences:

 

                        …Lois H. Silverman, ÒThe Therapeutic Potential of Museums as Pathways to Inclusion,Ó

                                    In Sandell, ed., Museums, Society, Inequality (Routledge), 69-83.

                        James Green, Taking History to Heart: The Power of the Past in Building Social

Movements, Introduction and Ch 2, on the Massachusetts History Workshop

…Ron Chew, ÒAdvocates? Or Curators of Advocacy?  Taking Action!  Museums News

            (March/April 2004)

                        Ruth Abram, "Planting Cut Flowers,"History News, Vol. 55, #3 (Summer 2000); 4-

10
"The National Park Service and Civic Engagement: The Report of a Workshop Held

December 6-8, 2001 in New York City," NPS: Northeast Regional Office, 2002.

 

                        Browse these 2 websites:

 

ÒGreat Places, Great Debates; Opening Historic Sites to Civic

EngagementÓ

http://www.nps.gov/nero/greatplaces/indexgreatplaces.htm

 

International Coalition of Historic Site museums of Conscience

                        (http://www.sitesofconscience.org/) including 2003 Conference Report.

 

Ethics

           

 

Tues Nov 9:    Who Controls the Past?  Donors and the Ethics of Collections Management

 

Field Trip to the Sophia Smith Collection and Smith College Archives

Alumnae Gym, Nielson Library, Smith College

Host:  Sherrill Redmon, Director, Sophia Smith Collection

 

                        …Karen Benedict, Ethics and the Archival Profession (excerpts – coursepack)

                        ÒA Code of Ethics for Archivists with Commentary,Ó SAA

                        …ÓGuidelines for Museums on Developing and Managing Individual Donor SupportÓ

                                    (AAM)

                        …International Council of Museums Code of Professional Ethics (ICOM

Steven L. Hensen, ÒThe President's Papers Are the People's Business,Ó Washington

 Post, 16 December 2001

Amy E. Hague, ÒNeverÉAnother Season of Silence: Laying the Foundation of the

            Sophia Smith Collection, 1942-1965,Ó Revealing WomenÕs Life Stories (Smith

College, 1992):  9-28.

 

                        Browse website of the Society of American Archivists: www.archivists.org.

 

 

 

Tues Nov 16 Show Me the Money: Integrity, Interpretation, and Cold Hard Cash

 

Daniel Penrice, ÒCan this Museum be Saved?Ó Parts I & 11 and associated

                                    links, Common-Place (vol. 3  no. 1 October 2002)

http://www.common-place.org/vol-03/no-01/penrice/index.shtml

…Joe Pratt, ÒWarts and All?: An Elusive Balance in Contracted Corporate Histories

about Energy and EnvironmentÓ The Public Historian Winter 2004, Vol. 26, No. 1: 21-40

…James C. Rees, ÒForever Changing. Forever the Same; The Dilemma Facing Historic

            HousesÓ American House Museums in the 21st Century, An Athenaeum of

            Philadelphia symposium, December 1998.

…Marjorie Schwarzer, ÒSchizophrenic Agora: Mission, Market, and the Multi-Tasking

            Museum,Ó Museum News (Nov/Dec 1999).

… ÒIs There Enough History to Go Around?Ó HistoryNews (Winter 1996),

 

 

 Economics and Entrepreneurship

 

Tues Nov 23:  History, Integrity, and Marketable Assets: Historic Preservation

 

Guest: Max Page

 

Page and Mason, eds., Giving Preservation a History – essays by Page, Lowenthal,

                                    Greenfield, Wilson & Morley

            Mason, et al, Economic and Heritage Conversation (proceedings of a meeting organized

by the Getty Conversation Institute, 1998):                                         http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/pdf_publications/econrpt.pdf

 

                        Also, please review the below, all on RESERVE

                                    Donovan D. Rypkema, The Economics of Preservation: A Community LeaderÕs

                                                Guide (NTHP)

                                    ÒKnow-How #3:What You Need to Know About Listing on the National

                                                Register

ÓLocal Historical Commissions: Their Role in GovernmentÓ                                                  (MHC, 1992) RESERVE

ÓPreservation Through By-Laws and OrdinancesÓ (MHC, 1999)

            RESERVE

 

Recommended: Michael Wallace, ÒPreserving the Past: A History of Historic Preservation in the U.S.Ó and ÒPreservation Revisited,Ó in Mickey Mouse History.

 

 

Tues Nov 30th Heritage Tourism

 

                        Browse website: http://www.nationaltrust.org/heritage_tourism/ (especially :Getting

                        Started,Ó ÒBenefitsÓ and ÒSuccess Stories.Ó

 

                        ÒHeritage Tourism and the Federal GovernmentÓ

                        (http://www.achp.gov/heritagetourismsummit.pdf)

 

                        ÒAlternative Enterprises; Heritage Tourism: How to Use your LandÕs Legacy to

                        Benefit the Public and Boost your Bottom LineÓ

                        http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/RESS/altenterprise/info_heritage.pdf

 

FRIDAY DEC 2nd: CLASS CONFERENCE

 

Tues Dec 7      LAST CLASS:  Taking Stock: Public History in Contemporary American Culture

 

FINAL PAPERS DUE!

 

 

                        And donÕt forget: tonight is the PH program event "The Civil Rights Movement in

History and Public Memory"  106 Thompson Hall, 7:30 p.m.