What is Public History? Many in the field would describe it as the practical and real-world applications of historical knowledge. Where academic historians are more concerned about research and contributing to the historical record, Public Historians are concerned about making that historical knowledge accessible to everyone.
Who are Public Historians? For a long time, Public Historians could have been anyone with an interest in history that wanted to share that interest with the public. This group consisted of historians and non-historians. As a field and a profession, however, Public History did not exist until recently. Until the 1970s, trained historians had primarily found themselves in academic roles, rather than serving at “historical societies, museums, archives, and government offices.”[i] This shifted in the 1970s when the academic job market dried up and historians needed to find work elsewhere, leading many to return to public facing roles. During this period, these trained historians began to look within the field and create expectations, guidelines, and best practices for museums and archives to follow. This process, in the end, created the field that became Public History.
Public History came into its own during the 1970s as college programs, institutions, and organizations formed to establish common practices and training. This included the creation of the United States’ first Public History college program located at University of California, Santa Barbara (1976), the incorporation of the National Council on Public History (1980), and the development of a professional journal, The Public Historian (1978). By 2008, the United States had 110 colleges offering programs in Public History! [ii]
Throughout these later decades of the twentieth century, major efforts were made in the field of history as a whole to ensure the public was receiving the most accurate information from museums, monuments, and archives. In the United States, these efforts stemmed from the museum world realizing they were only catering to one group, the middle class, white majority. For example, in 1983 the American Association of Museums challenged its constituents to “critically engage the issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and class.”[iii] With goals like this in mind, Public History developed expectations to ensure inclusivity in historic interpretation. Allowing the public, from any background, to see themselves represented in the nation’s history.
Prior to this field developing, in many cases museums were managed, and monuments were created by non-historians. These may have been history-minded individuals; however, they were not trained in the best practices of historic interpretation and preservation. These non-historians laid an excellent groundwork, but they didn’t always present history accurately. In many of these instances, history was interpreted through one lens, rather than many. This left out numerous stories and viewpoints that deserved and needed to be included.
Today, Public Historians are those who receive an education in history, and later specialize in practices such as museum studies, archival processes, preservation, and interpretation. These individuals receive training on how to interpret the past and present that information in an accurate, fair and understandable fashion.
Now where can you find Public History in your everyday life?
As you wander around the Folsom Historic District, you will find many plaques telling the story of Folsom’s history. These plaques were created by Public Historians to allow the public to learn about history without the need for human interaction. As you explore the world, keep an eye out for interpretative plaques and panels, they are everywhere!
When you walk down Sutter Street, you will encounter the Folsom History Museum. That institution is a physical embodiment of Public History. It's a site where you can learn about the city’s history in a way that is easily understandable and in a comfortable environment. You can learn on your own by reading the interpretive exhibits, or you can ask the staff and volunteers for extra insights.
Let’s say you made an appointment to go upstairs to conduct research in the Folsom History Archives. This is once again a physical embodiment of Public History. Archives are locations where the public can access photos, records, documents, and items from the past. They are sites for research, exploration, and sleuthing. It is in archives that historians often find the materials they need to write the histories we all read and learn from.
After you left the Folsom History Museum you felt inspired and wanted to look into your own family's history. You go home and log onto Ancestry.com to connect to your personal past. On Ancestry.com, you might end up using a tool called Newspapers.com, a database of digitized newspapers. These websites are embodiments of Public History. They are tools that allow the everyday person to access primary sources that would have otherwise been difficult if not impossible to reach.
Folsom is covered in Public History. The Powerhouse, Folsom Prison Museum and the monuments, plaques and panels are all excellent examples. Folsom History has three major sites of Public History. First, of course, is the Folsom History Museum. Then there is the outdoor makerspace, The Square, where people can explore Folsom’s past through interactive activities. Finally, the Chinese Heritage Museum that is in development, which will examine the history of Folsom’s Chinese community.
Each of these physical and technological sites are representations of Public History at work. Public Historians curate and design the museums we visit. They digitize the photos, newspapers and documents we use to connect to the past. They organize these materials into databases or archives so we can better access them. The goal of Public Historians is to make history available and understandable to everyone.
One of our goals at Folsom History is to uncover the stories that have remained hidden to us. The stories that have been kept away in newspapers, diaries and journals from a distant past. The stories that were neglected by the lack of technology that we now have access to. Including the stories that weren’t told because they didn’t have a happy ending. History is complicated, but in order to have a complete understanding, we must uncover every side of the story.
This article was written by Tyler Tocci, Visitor Services and Volunteer Manager at Folsom History. In 2023, Tyler earned his Bachelor of Arts in History, in which he focused on the significance of fur trappers and their role in opening the American West. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Public History at California State University - Sacramento, focusing on Museum Studies.
Bibliography
[i] National Council on Public History. "Where Did Public History Come From?” Accessed June 21, 2024, https://ncph.org/what-is-public-history/about-the-field/.
[ii] Meringolo, Denise D. Museums, Monuments, and National Parks: Toward a New Genealogy of Public History. University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. Page xiv.
[iii] Lewis, Catherine M. The Changing Face of Public History: The Chicago Historical Society and the Transformation of an American Museum. Northern Illinois University Press, 2005. Page 6.
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