Public History: Advanced Techniques
HIST 4050
Spring term, 2009
Dr. Phil Roberts Meeting Place: History 356
Office: 356 History Bldg., 766-5311 M, 3-5 p.m.
Office Hours: Mon., 10-Noon; Wed., 10-11:30 a.m., and by appointment.
OBJECTIVE: This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to put into practice aspects of public history they have learned in other courses and to learn advanced techniques in the practice of public history. This is NOT a readings course, but an applied course containing elements of a laboratory class and a research seminar. Because public history is not “content-specific,” it cuts across all chronological and geographical divisions of the field of history. Nonetheless, the practice of public history requires thorough grounding in the history of the period or place being studied and interpreted. For this course, the concentration will be on area history because of the ease with which source materials can be obtained although students should understand that this is NOT a class in Western history or the history of Wyoming. This semester, the primary readings will involve operations and management of museums. A class project will involve dealing with actual curatorial issues faced by an actual contemporary museum of history.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students are expected to complete the readings, be able to discuss the issues and complete all phases of the assigned project. There will be no exams. Beyond the common readings, additional readings may be assigned in the context of the projects.
GRADING: Grades will be assessed on discussion participation (25 percent), one individual project (35 percent), completion of the final project (40%) through its various phases.
COMMON READINGS: Students will be reading selections from five different books and a series of articles. All books will be available on reserve in Coe Library. The articles will be available via the web.
OUTLINE OF TOPICS, MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Jan. 19: No class (Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day)
Week of Jan. 26: Introduction
Week of Feb. 2: Theories of Museum Display: What story can be told? Who should be telling the story?
Reading: "Exhibition Reviews," Journal of American History, Dec. 2008, pp. 782-807. (Primary focus on exhibits in Presidential Libraries)
Week of Feb. 9: Developing a Theme or Storyline
Week of Feb. 16: Researching the Archival Record
Reading: "Interchange: The Promise of Digital History," Journal of American History, Sept. 2008, pp. 452-491. (How might digital exhibits enhance the museum experience for visitors?)
Week of Feb. 23: Ownership Issues
Reading: "Collecting Antiquities," New Yorker, April 9, 2007.
Series of recent news articles concerning repatriation of artifacts.
Week of March 2: Working with Artifacts: The Case for Interactivity
Week of March 9: Artifact Cataloging
Week of March 23: Museum Exhibit Design
Week of March 30: Interpretation through Signs and Labels
Week of April 6: Effective Use of Photographs in Exhibit Displays
Week of April 13: Museum Law and Ethics
Week of April 20: Staffing and Personnel Issues
Week of April 27: Oral History as an Exhibit Research Vehicle
Course Procedures:
Individual Project. This project will be determined by each student, in consultation with the professor. It need not be a project specifically on museums. It may be an oral history interview or series of interviews, a well-crafted exhibit display, or a paper on curatorial practices, among many possibilities. The exact scope of the individual project will be determined in consultation with the professor during the first few meetings of the class.
Group Project: During the last month of the semester, students will assemble actual proposals for establishment and development of a museum. Through reading and practice, we will examine various interpretation features, including content and placement of interpretive signs, location of museum structures (if desirable), access and parking, public convenience facilities, and content and style of interpretive brochures. Budgetary constraints will be suggested, but they should not be the determining factor in establishing the interpretive features. Team work is often essential in developing such projects. The team approach will be taken in this class and, consequently, the students involved should understand that the grade on the final project will be assigned to all members of the “team,” barring extraordinary circumstances.