HIST 220 - Introduction to Public History

CR: 3
This course examines how historians approach and apply their craft outside of classroom settings to and for the wider public. What is public history? Who has the authority in presenting history? What is the relationship between history and memory? Who controls the politics and ethics of history? How does the community help share the past? In this course, we will combine theory and practice, discuss a variety of presentation formats, reframe historical questions and narratives, wrestle with historical interpretation of the past, and engage with the public in collaborative ways. We will also encounter history through a variety of ways: exhibits, performances, walking tours, visits to public sites, film, the internet, and such. This course includes a service-learning internship requirement of 20-hours per semester with placement by the course instructor. III.O, V.1, V.5