Introduction to Public History

Now that we’re into registration I’d like to plug History 206: Introduction to Public History. Public History is a smorgasbord of the types of history that exists outside the academy. One of the goals of the course is to introduce students to their career options in history and fields related to history. We look at a range of things from the how and why of museum work, historic preservation, history tourism, grant writing and more. What role does the historian play? How does it differ from traditional history? What skills are needed? A second goal is for students to do hands-on projects that will be available for public viewing. We work closely with Dennis Frank in the university archives. Past projects have included oral histories, exhibits on SBU’s history and other stuff. The point is we want to move beyond the paper with an audience of one, the professor, into projects that the university community will enjoy.