Week 1 Readings and Discussion

Our first week's readings focus, surprisingly enough, on the definitions and some of the practices of Public History. The assignments are:

• Carl Becker, "Everyman his Own Historian" (1935) [online]
• Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, "Introduction," and "Visiting the Past: History Museums in the United States." (read from the start to page 54)
• Gardner and LaPaglia, Public History, "Introduction" through page 40.
• Loewen, Lies Across America, pp 15-50
  

Some questions we might kick around here (and in your reaction papers) include: Is Public History more democratic than academic history? Is Public History just for historians who can't get "real" jobs at research universities? What public purposes have museums and historic sites served? How have museums and historic sites changed in their focuses over time? How are historic sites "always a tale of two eras" and do you have any examples of your own to share?

But don't let me define the conversation--feel free to begin your own topics!