What is Public History?

Our Department offers many opportunities to do and practice Public History. However, defining public history remains one of the most difficult questions we may have to answer. Our colleague Dr. Cauvin recently shared this working definition on his personal blog: "Public History is a historical process (1) informed by a consideration for the variety of audiences. The process communicates history and historical methodology to non-academic audiences (2), encourages public participation (3), and/or applies (4) history to present-day needs and demands." For an overview of our Public History projects, have a look at our webpage. This month, we will ask two of our graduate students to give their own definitions. Make sure to follow the discussions.