Public history

Public history

Public history is the practice of conveying history to an audience that is not specialized in the field of history being presented - generally this means a non-academic audience. Public history is history that both engages the public and invites the public to participate in the writing of history.

Institutions that practice Public History

Public History is practiced in a wide variety of institutions. Some of the most common places one might witness public history is in museums, historic homes, sites, parks, battlefields, and archives.

Public Historians

A public historian is anyone who practices public history. This could be a museum curator, a historic interpreter at a battlefield, an educational consultant, a person researching genealogy or a website designer.

Media Used by Public Historians

To think of public history only in terms of Museum exhibits is far too limiting. While museum displays are a form of public history, so are historical books - both fiction and non-fiction, historical documentaries and movies, historical websites as well as historical artwork. This is not an exhaustive list.


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