Their History, My History, and the History in Between

(So am I the only one who thinks reading the intro to the text over half-way through class is odd? No? Just me? Ok, then.)


     So this week's readings covered both challenges of the field and becoming a professional historian.

First is the intro to Gardener and LaPaglia's Public History: Essays from the Field. I actually already read this when I first got the book at the beginning of classes... But I read it again for a refresher. It summarizes the organization of the book and their overall hopes for its influence in the field. I feel their hopes were well achieved.

Second is Patricia Mooney-Melvin's essay Professional Historians and the Challenge of Redefinition. This article was both interesting and helpful in giving a cursory background of the development of the field and also where the field was going at the time it was written. Furthermore, she clarifies what was coming to be expected of historians in engaging the public. She champions a way to strictly define historian in the belief that it will better help with the public image and involvement. However, her summary is based upon information that has quickly become outdated. While helpful and interesting, it may not be as valid or accurate as it once was.

Third and final was Constance B. Schulz's Becoming a Public Historian. Schulz gives a short history of the development of historical organizations such as the AHA, AASLH, NTHP, etc. She also reviews the requirements for professionals entering the field and the expectations of them. Training, education, and experience are all main focal points for her "How to" on becoming a historian. My concerns with reading it at this point are that it is again quite outdated. One of Schulz's closing concerns is how technology is going to influence the "modern" historian and their field. While the concern of a lack of educated interpretation of primary sources copied and presented to the masses is valid, at this point, I think we need to address how we handle it. For Schulz it was a future concern to start getting ready for. This generation of professionals must face it as an active problem. The internet and technology are here. Now what are we going to do with them?

Public History: Essays from the Field, edited by James B. Gardner and Peter S. LaPaglia-     “Introduction.”

 

--“Professional Historians and the Challenge of Redefinition,” by Patricia Monney-                 Melvin,pp. 5-21.

 

--“Becoming A Public Historian,” by Constance B. Schulz, pp. 23-40.