HIST 620 Introduction to Public History and Popular Memory

This course will introduce students to the historical origins of the public history field, the historiography and major paradigms in the field, and the debates that have emerged surrounding the public role of historians. Students will be required to engage in seminar discussions, evaluate two current public history artifacts (i.e. exhibitions, walking tours, oral history program, digital project, etc.), and complete a project proposal where students discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of public history work and locate themselves in the larger paradigms of the field. By the end of the course, students are expected to understand the following: the evolution of the public history field; historians’ engagement with various publics, and more specifically historians’ involvement in the public constructions of history; major theoretical constructs such as memory, heritage, community, commemoration; and current issues, trends, and theories that continue to change within the public history field.

3 Credit(s)