The Potential of Public History Projects

As you can probably imagine, public history projects are often controversial and cause conflict amongst those involved. Cathy Stanton studied one specific example in The Lowell Experiment: Public History in a Postindustrial City. Stanton examined the transformation of Lowell, Massachusetts from an industrial mill town to a heritage site. Through interviews, Stanton discovered the opinions of different involved parties, including both academic and public historians, community leaders, preservationists, former mill workers, real estate developers, and visitors to the site, among others. The Lowell Experiment is an extremely detailed case study and displays many themes concerning the issues that arise during the process of completing a public history project. One issue Stanton highlights is that of authority. Whose interpretation of history is the one displayed to the public? Academic historians, public historians, the townspeople? Another issue is that of present-day Lowell. How can historians address current politics through their interpretation of the past? Stanton suggests that public historians have the ability—and maybe even responsibility—to comment on present day political issues through work.

 The idea of public historians addressing current politics remained in the back of my mind as I began Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory, a collection of essays edited by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton. Several of the authors who contributed to Slavery and Public History connect the teaching, interpretation, and presentation of  slavery through American history to present day issues of race, inequality, and misunderstanding of the topic. Most Americans today are aware of issues of racial inequality still rampant in our nation, but are unaware of the affect slavery had on creating those issues. Slavery is one of, if not the toughest topic to both interpret and present to the public. Many individuals are uncomfortable with the topic, some prefer to ignore it completely, while others attempt to search for the good that came of it-- such as culture, cuisine, language, and religion. But just like other tough topics in history, slavery cannot be ignored at historic sites or, importantly, in public education.

Several authors agreed with Stanton that public historians can use their work to comment, and affect, present-day political issues. Ira Berlin, the author of the first chapter of Slavery and Public History, entitled “Coming to Terms with Slavery in Twenty-First Century America,” asserts that if race can be created in the past, it can be remade in the future. This conclusion agrees with Stanton’s idea that public historians are responsible for addressing political issues today through their interpretations of the past. Other authors suggest broader public education on the matter, commenting on our nation’s lacking public education system. After reading both The Lowell Experiment and Slavery and Public History, I am more familiar with both the process of a public history project and more aware of the potential—and consequences—of  the work of public historians.