Public History
History 394-01
Fall 2001
Instructor: Edwin Lyon Tulane University
Phone: 862-2038 edwinlyon@earthlink.net
Course homepage: http://home.earthlink.net/~edwinlyon/index.html
The objective of this course is to provide an overview of public history— the practical use of historical research, analysis, and writing in non-academic settings. Emphasis will be placed on developing a critical understanding of the presentation of history in museums, documentaries, popular books, the World Wide Web, and other media.
James B. Gardner and Peter S. LaPaglia (eds). Public History: Essays from the Field. Malabar, Fl.: Krieger Publishing Company, 1999.
Mike Wallace. Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
David Glassberg. Sense of History: The Place of the Past in American Life. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001.
Your paper should be based on your visit to a museum or historic site. The review should be approximately 10 double-spaced, typewritten pages in length. The paper is due on November 28. In addition, you will make a brief 5-10 minute oral presentation to the class on your paper.
The paper should integrate your site visit and reading about the site into a well-written paper. Please remember that simply visiting a museum or historic site is not enough. You must show in the paper that you consulted such sources as books, articles, newspapers, or the World Wide Web.
Submit your site selection to me on September 26. Your submission should be a single sheet of paper including the site to be visited and web site (if available). Please discuss any major changes in your topic with me before making them. See the course home page for examples of sites to visit. Feel free to discuss your visit and projected paper topic with me before you make your selection. Examples of sites to visit.
The site review should describe the site and evaluate it. Your personal reaction could be a part of the evaluation but only a small part of your investigation of the site. Include your appraisal of the site's procedures to communicate with the public including interpreters, guides, and written material.
You should relate the site to some of the major themes we are developing in this course. That is, how does your museum or historic site compare to others you have read about or heard about in the course?
Examinations
A midterm exam and a comprehensive final exam. The exams will be primarily essays. Some short-answer definitions and identifications may be included.
Class Participation
Students should be prepared to participate in class discussions of the readings, videos, and lectures.
In addition, students should be prepared to discuss their encounters with history during the semester. An Historical Encounter is simply some experience with history in your everyday life. In 1931 Carl Becker delivered a famous presidential address to the American Historical Association describing how "Everyman" constructs history out of many sources: "from things learned at home and in school, from knowledge gained in business or profession, from newspapers glanced at, from books (yes, even history books) read or heard of, from remembered scraps of newsreels or educational firms or ex-cathedra utterances of presidents and kings, from fifteen-minute discourses on the history of civilization broadcast by courtesy ... of Pepsodent, the Bulova Watch Company, or the Shepherd Stores in Boston." Today Everyperson builds his or her impressions of history from different but still diverse sources.
During this semester you should seek out examples of uses of history in your everyday life. These can be found in personal conversations, newspapers, magazines, fiction and nonfiction books, news broadcasts, radio and television talk shows, local museums, the world wide web, and other sources.
Think about what messages are being transmitted and the effect of these images on the public perception of the past. Come to class prepared to discuss your most interesting observations.
This course will be conducted by lectures with discussion of the readings at appropriate points in the semester. Videos will be shown to enhance your visual experience of public history. PowerPoint presentations will be used to illustrate selected elements of the course. Guest speakers will discuss some major topics of public history.
Attendance. I will take attendance regularly. Your presence in class will be beneficial to your performance in this course. Material from lectures (both oral and visual) will be tested in the examinations.
Late assignments. My desire to give good grades will be reduced if papers are turned in late without good reason.
Academic honesty. Students should follow the requirements of academic honesty stated in the Tulane University catalog.
A midterm exam and a comprehensive final exam.
Course grade will be based on:
Museum or historic site review 25%
Midterm exam 25%
Final exam 40%
Class participation 10%
You should complete the reading assignments by the dates specified. The topics listed in the schedule will be covered in the course but not necessarily on the date shown if we move faster or slower than I anticipate.
Gardner 5-40.
Gardner 117-128.
Wallace vii-xiv, 133-174, 249-268
Glassberg 3-108.
Gardner 129-139.
Wallace 177-221, 223-246.
Reading assignment:
- Glassberg 109-211.
Class will meet with Leon Miller in the Tulane University Special Collections
Reading Room. Second floor,
Jones Hall.
Gardner 57-74, 87-115, 157-185.
Wallace 3-85, 115-129
.Gardner 307-324.
Wallace 87-114.
Gardner 141-155, 187-201, 233-356.
Gardner 217-228, 357-395.
Gardner 303-316.
Reading Assignment
Gardner 45-56, 75-86.