Archives Track
Training in historical methodology provides a crucial foundation for practicing archivists in the 21st century. Thus, archives students earn an MA in history with a concentration in archives, rather than an MA in library and informational science with a concentration in archives. Today, in an age in which information is created in various forms at exponential rates, archivists must learn to preserve and provide long-term access to materials and also learn to create, present, and archive history online. As technologies rapidly evolve, archivists must continually learn new technological skills throughout their career. Acquiring and mastering research and critical-thinking skills in history, rather than learning only technical skills, provides archivists with a vast and deep foundational knowledge and subject area expertise. This imbues them with an invaluable and transferable skill: the ability to assess and recognize the intrinsic research value to collections.
The mission of the UMass Boston Archives Track within the history MA program is:
- To provide students with a firm theoretical knowledge and hands-on training to prepare them to become professional archivists with technical skills, subject-area knowledge, research skills, and abilities to manage archival collections and electronic records
- To provide students with practical experience in archives, special collections libraries, historical societies, and cultural institutions
- To provide a space for students, faculty, and professional archivists to collaborate on digital archives and exhibits that increase public access to collections.
Students in the Archives Track have the option of writing a thesis or a capstone. All archives students should consult with the director of the archives program about their final project and whether they should write a thesis or a capstone.
History Track
The History Track is the traditional MA path for graduate students. Students in the History Track are required to write a thesis. The History Track emphasizes historical research methods as well as historical writing and analysis of primary and secondary sources. Students who choose the History Track also take a large number of history elective courses to broaden their knowledge of history.
The history track may be completed online.
Public History Track
Public historians study the way we remember and interpret the past. They use historical methodologies to preserve, collect, present, and interpret history with and for public audiences. Public historians work with historic landscapes, sites, parks and monuments; in museums and historic buildings; on film and the worldwide web; and with community groups and organizations, families, and institutions.
They also study public awareness and consciousness of the past and how various actors, including public intellectuals and public interest groups, seek to “raise” historical consciousness and nurture historical thinking.
Training in historical methodology is a crucial foundation for practicing public historians. That is reflected in the structure of our program—public history students earn an MA in history rather than a specialized MA in public history. Public history students need to gain strong subject-area knowledge and research skills as well as an introduction to the theory and methods of public history. This model provides a cross-disciplinary approach that benefits professional training for public history students. The mission of UMass Boston’s Public History Track is:
- To prepare students to become professional historians with the knowledge and skills to analyze, preserve, and interpret the past with and for a broad range of audiences and communities;
- To provide students with practical experiences in historical and cultural institutions;
- And, to serve as a space for students, faculty, and practitioners to collaborate on civically engaged historical projects.
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