Public History & Memory

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OVERVIEW: In general, Americans encounter history more often from visiting to historic sites or watching the History Channel than from reading scholarly monographs and textbooks. Th course asks students to look critically at what happens when the "doing" of professional history moves outside of the traditional (and often narrow) college/university setting and into the public sphere. In the process, we will move beyond traditionally narrow conceptions of what is means to be an historian and to do history. We will work from the premise that public history is not value neutral. The following questions will guide our investigations: What is the nature of historical memory? How are different visions of the past shaped and by whom? Whose interpretations win out? What is our intellectual relationship to material culture, that is history made tangible? How is public history shaped by market forces? What is at stake politically, socially and economically, in doing public history? This course will examine these central questions of cultural authority, nationalism, identity-formation and "Collective" memory as it focuses on the methods, ethics and controversies that surround bringing representations of the past to a variety of public forums.
This course has two main goals: first, to explore how historical memory (or recollections of the past) works; and second, to examine ways in which these memories are given material expression outside of traditional academic venues. Because of the dual nature of this investigation, we too shall be dual in our approach to class this semester. On the one hand, we shall meet in the classroom to analyze and question scholarship pertaining to the topics of historical memory and public history, in particular their methodologies and controversies. On the other hand, we shall enter the public sphere with hands-on experience as public history-makers and consumers, visiting local museums and historic sites, and conducting research in area archives and through oral interviews with elderly Worcester residents. Together we will contemplate how the past is understood, who gives voice to its interpretations, via public history, and what shape that public manifestation takes and why.

While the questions we will be asking can and should be applied across cultural and geographical boundaries, the topical focus of this course reflects the historical expertise of the professor, the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century United States. For their final project, which will reflect an entire semester's work, students will work collaboratively to research, write and bring into being their own public history web page concerning the Worcester Homefront during World War II. Each student will be required to arrange, conduct and transcribe 5 hours of interviews with Worcester residents (a minimum of three different individuals). We will discuss this kind of Community-Based Learning and "how to do" oral history in greater detail in class.

Format: This course is reading- and research-intensive, so be prepared to work hard. As a seminar, it is vital that everyone attends each weekly session ready to discuss critically the issues that arise out of our assigned readings and our excursions into the public history landscape. Enthusiastic and consistent class participation is vital to the life of this course. You cannot be a passive spectator here, but must be an active, working public historian. Creative and analytical thinking and writing are also vital to our success. Over the next 14 weeks, our collective goal is to create a classroom environment that is engaged with historical and contemporary ideas and energized by each other's presence. I hope that the issues we examine together will resonate with your lives beyond the classroom.

NOTE WELL: EASTER BREAK begins AFTER your last class on WEDNESDAY. KNOW THIS NOW and arrange your travel/vacation plans accordingly. No exceptions made. DO NOT TEST THIS POLICY. Penalties are so grave I don't even want to write them down here!

E-mail Discussion:
To encourage close reading and meaty discussion, each student must email substantial discussion questions/reflections drawn from the week's readings to me by 12 p.m. the Wednesday we meet. Please be thoughtful here and do not send me questions that can be answered readily. Questions that attempt to make connections between the texts and that illuminate problems for discussion are particularly welcome. This is also an opportunity for those of you who are quieter in class to show me your stuff!