HIS-305 The Presence of the Past: Intro to Public Hist
In recent years, people across the United States have removed monuments to Confederate generals and other once-revered figures. Some observers have argued that this unprecedented and anti-historical, but Americans have always disagreed about how to interpret and represent the past in public. In the process, they have argued not only about specific figures or events but about a larger set of questions: who owns history? Who is empowered to tell stories about the past, and where does this power come from? To answer these questions, this course explores the key theoretical and practical issues concerning the management, preservation, and presentation of history in public contexts. We will consider both the professional function of the public historian—in museums and historic sites—as well as the ways we encounter the public presence of the past each day. The course will include multiple site visits as well as written assignments culminating in a research project of the student’s choosing.