History 512-531

Introduction to Public History

We care about the past because it is the only way we can expand the present. The historian works by converting phenomena into evidences, occurrences into episodes. Paying attention and respect to the passing details of the world enlivens us.

BRichard Rabinowitz, President, American History Workshop, Philadelphia, May 16, 2003

This courses serves as an introduction to the practice of public history, with special emphasis on activities in the Mid-Atlantic region. It is organized to prepare even those not interested in careers in public history to take advantage of the cultural resources available in the area. Course evaluation will follow from the creation of an annotated bibliography, a survey of an area cultural institution, and the evaluation of an area cultural institution.

January 20 Introduction

January 27 Contested Interpretations: The Enola Gay Controversy

Read: Edward Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt, eds., History Wars

February 3 Addressing Difficult Issues: Sites of Slavery & Independence

Visit the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities Website (www.march.rutgers.edu). Read the materials relating to the new sites on Independence National Historical Park (under demonstration projects)

Read: James Oliver Horton, APresenting Slavery: The Perils of Telling America=s Racial Story,@ Public Historian 21,4 (Fall 1999): 19-38.

Charlene Mires, AIn the Shadow of Independence Hall: Vernacular Activities and the meanings of Historic Places,@ The Public Historian 21, 2 (Spring 1999): 49-64

Richard Rabinowitz, AThe Devil in the (Liberty Bell=s) Belfry: The Transformation of Cultural Practice@ (MARCH website, demonstration projects section)

Stephan Salisbury, AA more perfect Philadelphia story,@ Philadelphia Inquirer, December 21, 2003.

Guest: David Hollenberg, National Park Service

February 10 Sites of Myth and Memory

Read: Patricia West, Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America=s House Museums

Class meeting: Betsy Ross House, 39 Arch Street

Guest: Lori Rech, Executive Director

February 17 Too Much Stuff: The Future of Historical Resources

Visit Atwater-Kent Museum, 15 S. 7^th Street, Philadelphia (in advance of class)

Read: Jennifer Esler, AHistoric House Museums: Struggling for Survival,@ Forum On-line, Summer, 1996, Vol 10, No 4, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Stephen E. Weil, Introduction, A Deaccession Reader, American Association of Museums, 1997

Guest: Barbara Silberman, Executive Director, Heritage Philadelphia Program

February 24 Addressing Material Culture Resources

Read: Levy, Lloyd, & Schreiber, Great Tours! Thematic Tour s and Guide Training for Historic Sites

Guest: Sandy Lloyd

March 3 Film and History: Screening of AMiss America@ (note special day and time)

Read: AKen Burns= Rebirth of a Nation: Television, Narrative and Popular History,@ in Marcia Landy, ed., The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media (Rutgers University Press, 2000).

Joy Press, AThe Doc is In: PBS Tries to Stay King of the Real Reality TV,@ Village Voice, February 18-25, 2003.

Guests: Jeanne Houck, History Works, executive producer; Professor Kathy Peiss, University of Pennsylvania; Jill Horner, History graduate student, Rutgers, Miss New Jersey, 2000

March 9 Interpreting Industrial Heritage

Read: Stephen H. Cutcliffe and Steven Lubar, AThe Challenge of Industrial History Museums,@ Harold Skramstad, AThe Mission of the Industrial Museum in the Postindustrial Age,@ and Matthew Roth, AFace Value: Objects of Industry and the Visitor Experience,@ Public Historian, Summer, 2000.

Emory L. Kemp, AA Perspective on Our Industrial Past Through Industrial Archaeology,@ in Barbara J. Howe and Emory Kemp, eds., Public History: An Introduction (Kreiger, 1986).

Kirk Savage, AMonuments of a Lost Cause,@ in Jefferson Cowie and Joseph Heathcott, eds., Beyond the Ruins: The Meanings of Deindustrialization (Cornell University Press, 2003).

March 23 Forming Heritage Areas

Visit: www.heritagetrail.org/crossroads.html

www.riversofsteel.com

Guest: Peter Iris-Williams, planner, Northeast Regional Office, National Park Service

March 30 Building Heritage Audiences

Read: Capital Sites. Area sites assigned.

Guests: Katherine Smith, Cultural Tourism-DC, John Seitter, Waterfront Marketing Bureau, Camden

April 6 Archives and their Role in Public Life

Read: Fredric Miller, AArchives and Historical Manuscripts,@ in Howe and Kemp, eds., Public History: An Introduction, 36-56

On line publications (attached)

Meet: Regional Office, National Archives, 900 Block Chestnut Street

Guest: V. Chapman-Smith, Regional Director

April 13 Public Interest Folklore

Read: Deborah Wei and Deborah Kodish, ASites of Struggle: Bringing folklore and social change into the classroom,@ Works in Progress, Summer, 2001, 4-9; AWho speaks for South Central Philadelphia?@ (Electronic reserve).

Gentrification and Community, in relationship to ODUDE and China Town, Works in Progress, 17: 1, 2 at www.folkloreproject.org/archive/pubs/index.shtml

Essay on inequities in folk arts funding at www.folkloreproject.org/archive/usefulinfo/suggestions.shtml

Guest: Deborah Kodish, Director, Philadelphia Folklore Project

April 20 Interpreting Women=s Heritage Sites

Read: Kaufman, Her Past Around Us

Guests: Lucy Beard, Alice Paul Foundation, Barbara Irvine, Heritage Philadelphia

April 27 Cultural Evaluation Reports