AC0265 Introduction to Public Humanities Fall Semester 2005 Monday 3:00-5:20 Steven Lubar John Nicholas Brown Center

Nightingale-Brown House 401-863-1177 lubar@brown.edu Office Hours: Wednesday 2-4 This class addresses the theoretical bases of the public humanities, providing a background that will help students understand the choices made in presenting history and culture to the public. While it is not a practical course in how to present history and culture to the public, I hope that this background will serve as first step in the creation of thoughtful practitioners. How the class works: The class is a seminar, with a book to read each week. At the first class, students will choose two sessions at which they will make a ten-minute presentation and help lead the discussion. The discussion leaders should meet with me to discuss their presentation before the class. They should also email their thoughts on key issues for discussion to the rest of the class. Three papers, due as noted. Each student will also make a presentation to the final class based on his or her final research paper. Grading will be based 30 percent on class discussions, 10 percent on the final presentation, and 60 percent on the writings.

Books at the bookstore:

Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life David Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History Ivan Karp, et al., Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture Dolores Hayden, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History B. Kirshenblatt-Gimblatt, Destination Culture Andrea Witcomb, Re-imagining the Museum: Beyond the Mausoleum

Introduction
Week 1 (September 12): First class. Introductions, expectations, etc.

I: History and Memory

What is the relationship between history, heritage, and memory, and between individual memories, history, and way a society remembers? How do we as a society decide what's worth remembering? These theoretical overviews will be useful to us as we consider specific examples later in the course.
Week 2 (September 19): Shaping history? Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History Week 3 (September 26): The publics history? Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life Week 4 (October 3): Producing history? David Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History

Week 5 (October 10) Columbus Day. No class.

Paper due October 17: 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]. Write a 2-4 page paper as a contribution to this debate, drawing on the past months readings.

II: Culture and Community

What is the relationship between culture and community? How do institutions shape, reflect, and change culture? What is the responsibility of institutions to the communities they study and display?
Week 6: October 17: What is community?
Karp, et al., Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, Section 3: Defining Communities

Week 7: October 24: Who speaks for community?

Karp, et al., Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, Section 2: Audience, Ownership and Authority Edward T. Linenthal, Struggling with History and Memory, Journal of American History, Dec 2

1995. Week 8: October 31: Community and place Dolores Hayden, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History Week 9: November 7: Community and creativity Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development Paper due November 14: A 3- 5 page essay on a community and its culture as expressed in a museum, historic site or landscape, or memorial or public art project. Consider using this paper to explore the topic of your final paper.

III: Preservation and Representation

Public humanists preserve, present, interpret and represent. Each of these aspects of the work is informed by ideas about history, culture, and community, and each has its own theoretical and practical problems.
Week 10: November 14: Collecting and Preserving Steven Lubar and Kathleen Kendrick, Legacies: Collecting Americas History at the Smithsonian Week 11: November 21: Curating Andrea Witcomb, Re-imagining the Museum: Beyond the Mausoleum, sections 1-4

Week 12: November 28: Interpreting

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblatt, Destination Culture, selected chapters. Also: a few presentations on student papers.

Week 13: December 5: Presenting!

Student presentations! Come to class prepared to do a 10 minute presentation of the topic of your research paper. Artifacts, exhibition, PowerPoints, and other presentation techniques encouraged. Paper due December 16 Write a research paper, a 20-30 page essay on a public humanities project. This should be more than simply a case study: it should include historical background, analyze the issues, and conclude with suggestions for future directions. Choose a project for which archival data is available or for which youll be able to interview participants. Analyze the projects in light of the readings: How does the project define culture and community? Whos making choices? How does it fit into the historiographic traditions weve discussed? What advice would you give the project?