HIS 201 Introduction to Public History

Fall

In the field of public history, historical learning is disseminated to a broader public through a wide variety of means. This course will introduce some key issues in understanding the field of public history and the common challenges it represents. This course will expose students to a number of different kinds of public history work such as museum studies, archival work, historical interpretation, historic preservation, and digital history. Students will explore the conflicted terrain of public historical memory to better understand the decision processes that people, societies, and institutions make about what history to preserve and how to present that history to a broader public.

3 credit hours