Among the course’s introductory readings, the issue of direction was an interesting aspect of defining public history, especially regarding its intersection with digital history and all that it entails. In addition to needing a broad definition, the question of what public historians do, or what they are responsible for, has been thoroughly discussed – and from the reading, answers tend to be just as varied as the places wherein public historians work. Richard Grele posits that by its very name, public history redefines prior historical thought through fostering “a society in which a broad public participates in the construction of its own history” (Grele 48). The common image of a public historian from these definitions is of people amongst the broader public, in a sort of ‘democratization’ of history in contrast with previous notions of history within academia; museums and similar organizations are the obvious example, but public history can take on numerous forms in various fields and industries.

Regardless of their exact form, public history works on connections between academic institutions, the public, and the history that they share and feel should be focused on. As Robert Weible puts it, “in the historic preservation and museum fields, in community history projects, in government agencies, even in private businesses,” public historians “have raised professional standards and enhanced the way people understand the past” through preservation and interpretation (Weible). Having lived in several regions rich in public history initiatives, I have seen how important public historians can be in not just preserving history, but enhancing understanding of the community being preserved. Weible expounds that his ideal vision of public historians is of those who “help sanction and limit social and political power by ensuring that the understanding of the past on which the public shapes its future is factual, accurate, comprehensible, meaningful, useful, and resistant to cynical manipulators,” imbuing the field with an important societal purpose. Regardless of whether all public history initiatives are able to perfectly achieve this ideal, the image of the public historian who preserves history in order to share it with the public is part of what drew me into this path. Sam Wineburg’s description of a historian as one who argues “about the past’s meaning and what it has to tell us in the present” provides a succinct baseline for what a public historian should endeavor to do within their community, field, industry, or organization, one that I resonate with from my past experiences (Wineburg 1). Overall, it is clear that public history will continue to be an important field as it broadens its connection with society, and as digital history likewise expands, there will be more opportunities for public history in both number and form, making it both a challenging and exciting time to be a public historian.

Sources:

https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/defining-public-history-is-it-possible-is-it-necessary-march-2008/

https://www.debbiewaggoner.com/uploads/1/2/9/9/12998469/thinking_like_a_historian_article.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3377160.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A6300580f525bd2d4f33d4793c3cffd25&ab_segments=&initiator=&acceptTC=1