HIST 705 Syllabus

Syllabus

SYLLABUS

Introduction to Public History

History 705 Section 0101
Fall, 2000
Monday 7:00-9:30 P.M.
Administration Building # 729
UMBC University of Maryland Baltimore County

Dr. Joseph N. Tatarewicz
Associate Professor
Director, Public History Track
Department of History
Phone: (410) 455-2312 (Messages)
(410) 455-2306 (Direct)
e-mail: TATAREWICZ@UMBC.EDU

Catalog Description: Survey of the practice of history in public venues, including government agencies, historical societies, archives, museums, businesses, and various professional organizations. Intended to provide students with a broad survey of such historical practice and the tools to explore chosen specialties in depth, the course addresses intellectual as well as practical issues.

Extended Description: This course looks at history outside the university, including history in government agencies, historical societies, businesses, and professional organizations. As the official course description suggests, we shall look at the broad range of historical activities that take place outside academe. The course is intended to provide students with a broad survey of such historical practice, and the tools to explore chosen specialties in depth. In addition, the course is equally concerned with intellectual as well as practical issues.

Public history employs the standard historiographic techniques, and embraces the traditional values of historical scholarship and communication. But because the audiences and contexts of public history are so diverse, special research and communication techniques are often required. We shall explore the challenges and quandaries that often arise when traditional historical practice is stretched to operate in the public context. As public history has sought to create its own separate identity in the past decade or so, thoughtful commentators from a wide range of positions have grappled with serious intellectual and professional issues. We shall read and discuss some of this literature.

On the practical side, public historians often discover that they need to develop special research and communication skills in order to practice in their particular specialty. There are many specialized bibliographies, manuals, groups and associations, newsletters and journals, catalogs, etc. oriented toward one or another of the public history specialties. One aim of the course is that the students, at the end, will have a good feel for what a practitioner does in each of the specialties and how to continue education in those areas. All students will be expected to work through the entire menu to sample the many varieties; each student will be encouraged to investigate a particular area that interests him or her in some depth. All students will be expected to report to the group during class on what they have learned in their chosen special area.

Texts:

The following books and other materials are required for the course and are on sale at the University Bookstore:

James B. Gardner and Peter S. LaPaglia, Eds. Public History: Essays from the Field. Public history series. Malabar, Fla.: Krieger, 1999.
Mike Wallace, Mickey Mouse History: And Other Essays in American Memory. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
Leffler, Phyllis K. Public History Readings. Public history series. Malabar, Fla.: Krieger, 1991. (Recommended)

Reserve Readings:

A variety of materials will be on reserve in the Department of History Lounge. Please see the individual dates on the schedule for assignments. Journal articles are available in the UMBC Library Serials department, or if unavailable there will be distributed in class ahead of time. In addition, a loose-leaf "History 705 White Binder" will be in the History Department Lounge, containing a variety of ephemera.

Electronic Mail, Internet:

You will find an electronic version of this syllabus with additional resources at http://gl.umbc.edu/~tatarewi/h705. This History 705 Home Page can also be found on the main UMBC World Wide Web site, under "Student & Faculty Resources," "UMBC Course Materials online via WWW," "History."

Preparing for Class:

Class sessions will consist of a mixture of instructor's lecture, class discussion, and presentations by various students in the class. Everyone should read the assigned readings with sufficient care to participate in a serious discussion during class. Each week instructions will be given concerning areas of emphasis for the following week's discussion to aid you in approaching the reading assignments. Some of the reading assignments might seem lengthy, but they sometimes include rather light reading and bibliography in the page ranges. You should use your judgment and interests to decide what to skim and what to read carefully. The aim is to bring substantial and relevant issues to the discussions and to your own work. Information and reading overload is a fact of our professional lives, and developing coping skills and strategic approaches is one of the instructional objectives of this course.

Office Hours: MWF 11:00-1:00 and M 6:00 - 7:00 pm in Administration Building # 702, and by appointment. You can call me during office hours at 455-2036.

Grades: Grades will be based on a combination of class participation, written work, and class presentations on special topics. There will be no traditional "exams", as such. All students in the class will be required to: (a) write short papers on specific topics; (b) prepare an assigned set of readings for oral presentation in class; (c) prepare some public history product typically required in an area in which she or he is particularly interested--this could be a proposal for funding, an exhibit planning document, an archival collection assessment, etc. Specifics will be discussed in class, and are detailed below.

Assignments and Grading Details:

Short Paper #1

Read Peter Novick, That Noble Dream, pp. 512-21, and the rejoinders to Novick by public historians in The Public Historian [Otis L. Graham, et al., "'The Ideal of Objectivity' and the Profession of History," vol. 13 No. 2 (Spring 1991): 9-23]. Using these citations, as well as others on the subject, Identify the chief issues and analyze the rhetoric. Your paper should answer the following questions: (a) What is the most desirable relationship of public to academic history? (b) How do various partisans view the relationship as it actually exists? (c) What is being said sotto voce in all this--i.e., comment on the rhetorical code-words and make the issues of prestige and value explicit. Length 5-6 pp. + notes.

Short Paper #2

Read Karamanski, Ed., Ethics and Public History. Identify the most pressing ethical issues in one particular public history context. Your paper should include the following sub-parts: (a) chief ethical issues; (b) way in which these issues are addressed via practices, mechanisms, or codes; (c) find an extant case in which such codes had to operate (review the literature for one that has been discussed or locate a practitioner and interview them on how the codes apply in the "real world"). Length 5-6 pp + notes.

Class Presentation

One session (approx. 30-min) presenting and leading discussion of one selection of Public History Readings, as explained in class.

Term Project

Creation of one public history product in chosen area, as explained below and in class.

Grading Basis

Short Paper #1	15
Short Paper #2	15
Class Presentation	20
Class Participation General	15
Term Project	35
TOTAL	100