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Full-Text Articles in Public History

Homer Rosenberger: Learning Beyond The Classroom, Theodore J. Szpakowski Oct 2022

Homer Rosenberger: Learning Beyond The Classroom, Theodore J. Szpakowski

Student Publications

Homer Rosenberger, a Pennsylvania historian, cared deeply about sharing information. He collected books and articles on the history of PA, as well as meeting minutes for the many societies he participated in. All of this material is now stored in boxes available at Musselman Library in Gettysburg, PA. This paper is a combination of research and reflection on the experience of working with the Rosenberger collection, specifically a box that deals primarily with correspondence learning and public history.


Accessing History In Gettysburg: A Study Of Accessibility Of Public History Institutions, Theodore J. Szpakowski Jul 2022

Accessing History In Gettysburg: A Study Of Accessibility Of Public History Institutions, Theodore J. Szpakowski

Student Publications

Based on field observation and interviews with staff, this paper evaluates the state of accessibility in five Gettysburg public history institutions in the summer of 2022. Evaluation criteria for field observations were determined based on a critical disability studies approach, focusing on disabled people’s accounts of these and similar institutions. The research revealed areas of success and failure in current accessibility measures, as well as ongoing projects to increase accessibility in most institutions. The rubric developed here could be refined and used as a research tool or an institutional planning tool.


Commemorating The Past: Nebraska Museum Practices In Interpreting, Memorializing, And Mythologizing History, Carissa Dowden Jun 2022

Commemorating The Past: Nebraska Museum Practices In Interpreting, Memorializing, And Mythologizing History, Carissa Dowden

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Commemorative landscapes are spaces that have a symbolic meaning to a group of people and are often identified by a government or by a local community. These landscapes act as “symbolic conduits” to both express and legitimize interpretations of the past, though geographic interpretations are largely limited to the American South and Europe (Alderman and Dywer 2012). This research seeks to better understand landscapes of commemoration and memorialization in Nebraska, specifically how memories of the West and pioneers are constructed and represented within heritage and history institutions. Applying methods in geography, public history and digital humanities, this research considers both …


Public History Service Learning In National Parks Campus-Community Partnerships For The Preservation Of Minidoka National Historic Site, Mia Russell Oct 2019

Public History Service Learning In National Parks Campus-Community Partnerships For The Preservation Of Minidoka National Historic Site, Mia Russell

History Graduate Projects and Theses

This Master of Applied Historical Research project entailed the development and launch of an iOS-platform mobile application that provides an interpretive walking tour of Minidoka National Historic Site (Minidoka NHS). Established in 2001, Minidoka is a remotely located National Park Service unit which preserves one of the ten mainland United States WWII Japanese American concentration camps. With the Visitor Contact Station slated to open in 2019, the site has lacked in-depth interpretation of the history and landscape in a meaningful way, detracting from the typical visitor experience. The accompanying analytical essay situates the process of creating the Minidoka NHS mobile …


The Aldrich House Project, Alison J. Darby Jan 2019

The Aldrich House Project, Alison J. Darby

Graduate Publications

Built in 1886, the Aldrich House is one of the few buildings from the nineteenth century still standing in Bulloch County, Georgia. Mrs. R. E. Aldrich donated the house to the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro in 1975. The club moved the building from its original location on Harville Road to the Ogeechee Fairgrounds to be part of the Heritage Village. The Aldrich House only opens during the annual Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair in October; therefore, few members of the public know about the site. In addition, the house did not have an online resource for people to access. I developed a …


Special Collections And Student Curators: Public History Through Primary Sources, Carolyn Sautter Mar 2018

Special Collections And Student Curators: Public History Through Primary Sources, Carolyn Sautter

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Musselman Library's Special Collections and College Archives at Gettysburg College has worked with over 70 student curators on art gallery exhibitions and public history exhibits. These curatorial experiences provide hands-on interactions with artifacts and artworks and high-impact collaborations among students, interns, archivists, librarians, historians, digital projects specialists, gallery directors, conservators, and preparators. The final result is often breathtaking and always informative. This presentation discusses practical recommendations and workflows for well timed, well researched, and effectively installed student curated exhibits.


Introduction To Focus Issue: Collections In A Digital Age, Lauren Tilton, Brent M. Rogers Oct 2016

Introduction To Focus Issue: Collections In A Digital Age, Lauren Tilton, Brent M. Rogers

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In Spring 2015, a working group engaged in questions at the intersection of digital and public history at the annual National Council on Public History (NCPH) meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee. The vibrant discussion focused on the exciting and important ways by which public historians make digital, public history. Because a significant amount of work has centered on digitizing and augmenting historical archives, this special issue explores digital approaches to physical collections. Inflected by the contributors’ positioning in public history, the issue highlights how digital approaches are shaped by questions of access, audience, collaboration, interpretation, and materiality. From that discussion …


The Future Of Civil War History, James J. Broomall, Peter S. Carmichael, Jill Ogline Titus Jun 2016

The Future Of Civil War History, James J. Broomall, Peter S. Carmichael, Jill Ogline Titus

Civil War Institute Faculty Publications

In March 2013, hundreds of academics, preservationists, consultants, historical interpreters, museum professionals, living historians, students, K-12 teachers, and new media specialists gathered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to assess the state and potential future of the study of the American Civil War. The essays in this special issue build on the themes of that conference: embracing the democratic and civic potential of historical thinking; reaffirming the power of place and the importance of specific, focused stories; integrating military, political, social, cultural, and gender history; and encouraging collaboration among historians working in different settings. Our three guest editors offer their own thoughts about …


Oscar Carleton Mcculloch, Jason Lantzer Jan 2016

Oscar Carleton Mcculloch, Jason Lantzer

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Jason Lantzer's essay on Oscar Carleton McCulloch, a Contribution to The Indiana Historical Society's publication: Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State.


Ada Estelle Schweitzer, Jason Lantzer Jan 2016

Ada Estelle Schweitzer, Jason Lantzer

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Jason Lantzer's essay on Ada Estelle Schweitzer, a Contribution to The Indiana Historical Society's publication: Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State.


What A Day With A Park Volunteer Can Do, Keith Muchowski Jan 2016

What A Day With A Park Volunteer Can Do, Keith Muchowski

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.


The Good, The Great, And The Ugly Of Public History, Jeffrey L. Lauck Nov 2015

The Good, The Great, And The Ugly Of Public History, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

My last post recounted some of my favorite takeaways from my Civil War road trip this summer. But this trip was about more than just mosquito bites and cheap donuts; it was the first time I ever visited a historical site as a student of public history. My first tour was with Elizabeth Smith ’17 at the Sunken Road at Fredericksburg. Elizabeth’s tour was unique in that she was able to connect the events that transpired along Marye’s Heights, a moderately nuanced subject, to President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a very well-known subject. I was delighted to see this connection that …


What's New In Preservation At Musselman Library: Student Workers And The Beauty Of The Book, Carolyn Sautter, Mary Wootton Oct 2015

What's New In Preservation At Musselman Library: Student Workers And The Beauty Of The Book, Carolyn Sautter, Mary Wootton

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Musselman Library's Special Collections and College Archives at Gettysburg College involves student workers and interns in our preservation and conservation efforts. The recent addition to the staff of a half-time conservator position has opened up new avenues for training. This has also resulted in additional access points for our students, faculty and other researchers to interact with our collections. This presentation discusses our preservation activities and our new digital collection The Beauty of the Book. It also illustrates how we have engaged student workers in conservation and enhanced cataloging description projects giving them a deeper appreciation for and understanding …


The Intersection Of Art And Public History: Schmucker Art Gallery’S Newest Exhibit, Jeffrey L. Lauck Oct 2015

The Intersection Of Art And Public History: Schmucker Art Gallery’S Newest Exhibit, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

“‘Pray For the People Who Feed You’: Voices of Pauper Children in the Industrial Age” is the newest exhibit to be featured in the Schmucker Art Gallery at Gettysburg College. The exhibit was curated by Gettysburg College senior Rebecca Duffy ’16, and is the culmination of her three semester International Bridge Course (IBC) program. At its opening on Friday, October 2, Duffy discussed her experiences with the IBC program and the process she went through in putting together this unique project [excerpt].


Once More Unto The Breach: 2015 Pohanka Interns Engage Public History, Kevin P. Lavery Jul 2015

Once More Unto The Breach: 2015 Pohanka Interns Engage Public History, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Every summer, we feature posts on the blog that provide a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to practice history on the frontlines at some of the nation’s leading Civil War sites. Our contributors – Gettysburg College students doing summer internships under the auspices of CWI’s Brian C. Pohanka Internship Program – share their experiences giving tours, talking with visitors, and working with historical artifacts, educational programs, and archival collections. This summer, we’ve asked our Pohanka interns to reflect on an assortment of questions dealing with Civil War monuments and historical memory, broadening interpretation at Civil War battlefield sites, social …