Public History Concentration:
Representations of the Past, Museums, Digital Humanities
Summary:
Public History includes those practices and activities that put the methods, theory and content of the History discipline to use in public settings. In this sense, it is History that is applied to real-world issues. Such work can range from public-facing digital work in such mediums as websites and film to live exhibitions, performances and public meetings and events. The focus on narrative that is core to professional History and the concrete skills that public History training provides together prepare public History experts to work as historical consultants, museum professionals, government historians, archivists, oral historians, cultural resource managers, curators, tour guides, film and media producers, historical interpreters, historic preservationists, policy advisers, local historians, and community activists, among many other career options. All share an interest and commitment to making History relevant and useful in the public sphere. Students trained in Public History methodologies also work in fields such as journalism, law and advocacy, computer programming, cartography and story-based mapping, narrative medicine, and many others. Undergirding all study in Public History is training in historical thinking and methodologies, memory and remembrance, and community engagement with the past. Emphasis is also placed on new media and historical digitization; exhibition and museum studies; non-profit management; library and archive studies; community-based History; History and preservation; and New York/Long Island heritage as our local case study. This concentration aims to build connections between students, faculty, community groups, and residents in the New York/Long Island region.
Need and Value Proposition:
As the liberal arts and their affiliated programs and activities have come increasingly under attack during budget cutbacks or by narrowly-focused politicians, and as enrollments and declared majors in our courses and programs have decreased, the need to expand the reach, variety, possible applications, and public understanding of this work is more important than ever. At this moment and in an increasingly digital world, concrete skillsets and professional relevance are in high demand. Public History programs offer one way that History departments can expand their offerings, collaborate with other departments including Computer Science, GIS/Geography, Archeology, and Radio and Television, and attract majors and enrolled students while retaining their core commitment to research, methods, and the best practices of their disciplines.
Public History also provides a powerful avenue for engagement with communities and community-based programming. Recent breakdowns in public discourse and cross-cultural understanding as well as the increasingly urgent needs of under-resourced communities have highlighted both the obligations and opportunities that universities have to engage more thoughtfully, seriously and extensively in service-learning and community outreach. Public-facing programming in History departments is crucial both to provide tools and training to students for nurturing well-informed citizens and as way for university to meet their social equity-building obligations.
To be competitive with other colleges, public programming has become a necessity. On many campuses, current and potential students have come to expect such programming. For faculty and their careers, some understanding of and even skill in various aspects of public History are becoming requirements for professional success given recent developments in publishing, media, and social media as well as in digital platforms for teaching, classrooms, and public presentations.
We are delighted to be in partnership with Dr. Bradley Phillippi’s Center for Public Archeology at Hofstra.
Courses: 21 credits
Required:
One Introductory courses - Semester Hours: 3 -- Chosen from the following:
HIST 014F - First-Year Seminar
HIST 014S - First-Year Seminar
HIST 020 - (HP) Why History Matters
History 104: Stories from the Street: History, Memory, and the Public (new course)
HIST 199 - Internship in History or ANTH 033 - Archaeological Field Methods (Field School, 6 hours)
ANTH 005 – (BH) Archeology: Recovering our Material Past
GEOG 060 - (NS) Introduction to Digital Mapping
6 credits from the following History Courses:
American History:
History 115 and 116 (African-American History); 144, 146-148, 165 – American History Colonial to the Present
Non US History:
HIST 036 - (HP) The Holocaust: Memory and Representation
HIST 067 - (CC) Asian and Asian American History
HIST 105 - (HP) Ancient Egypt and the Middle East
HIST 106A - (HP) Ancient Greece and Rome I
HIST 114 - Manufacturing Modernity: The Industrial Revolution and the Social Transformation of Europe, 1848-1914
HIST 142 – Latin America
HIST 160 - Screening History
HIST 163 - Popular and Material Culture
HIST 166 – Vietnam Stories
HIST 170 - (HP) The Middle East and the West
Non-History Courses:
ANTH 113 - (CC) Archaeology of Ancient American Civilizations
ANTH 142 - (CC) Archaeology of the African Diaspora
GEOG 007 - Fun with Maps and GIS
GEOG 159 – Creating Digital Maps
Under the supervision of a History department faculty member mentor, students will complete the remaining 9 semester hours to complete the History major requirements.
Appendix:
Possible Community Partners: Cultural Organizations
*Erase Racism. https://www.eraseracismny.org/
*Joysetta and Julius Pearse African American Museum of Nassau County. https://www.facebook.com/Africanamericanmuseumofnassaucounty/
*Long Island Historical Societies (consortium of hist societies in the region). https://lihsocieties.org/
*The Long Island Museum. https://longislandmuseum.org/
*Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. https://www.hmtcli.org/
*Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum. http://www.shinnecockmuseum.com/
*Southold Indian Museum. http://www.southoldindianmuseum.com/
Community Services (potential partnerships with youth programming, outreach to neighborhoods, oral History/public archiving)
*Long Beach Latino Civic Association. https://www.lblatinocivic.org/
*Hicksville Teenage Council and Boys and Girls Clubs. https://www.hycbgc.com/
*Peconic Land Trust. https://peconiclandtrust.org/