March 2018

I have lived in the Wheeling, WV area for about five years. It is an old city that has continued to see its population decline. In the 1930s, Wheeling had a population of more than 60,000 people. Today, its population stand below 28,000. They have been efforts to revitalize the city but things have been […]

Oral history remains one of the most important methods of doing African history. A substantial number of societies in Africa have no written history. Their history is communicated orally from generation to generation. Despite the growing literacy rates in Africa today, it is still difficult to find local historical societies that attempt to collect and

There are thousands of historical societies throughout the United States. These societies primary mission is to preserve and share the local history of the area or affinity groups associated with the society.. Such retelling of local history is often done in the form of public presentations or community exhibits. Such exhibitions are an attempt by

In their article, “Digital Storytelling in Museums: Observations and Best Practices” Bruce Wyman, Scott Smith, et.al. ask, “But how can museums design an experience that will not only capture attention and convey complex information, but also use modes of interaction that will not seem outmoded next Thursday?”[i] I found myself asking the same question as

There are a variety of public history projects that having a basic digitization can enable. The temptation sometimes is to think that one can only do public history when they have vast resources like the Smithsonian. This perception is fueled by the kinds of large projects that are often sponsored by the National Endowment for the

Public historical projects by their very nature demand collaboration. Collaboration here is not simply between experts or professional historians but with the public who will primarily be the consumers of the project. I see public history as history by, with and for the public. Carl Becker, the former President of the American Historical Association said

The Heinz museum is located on the fourth floor of the Senator John Heinz History Center. The center which is located in the historic Strip District of Pittsburgh has been in continuous existence since 1879. The center chronicles 250 years history of Western Pennsylvania with particular interest in the wars (The British, French, and Indian

Digital public history has come a long way since its early years in the late 1990s. Web technology itself was gradually evolving and websites were not as interactive as they are today. The advent of mobile operating systems such as iOS from apple and android from google have pushed web development technology and have fundamentally

In his article, “Whose Public? Whose History? What is the Goal of Public History?,” Ron Grele writes that public history “promises us a society in which a broad public participates in the construction of its own history.”[1] This challenges us to look at the art of doing history from a broader perspective. There has been