This question came from the last class meeting of the semester in our readings seminar. The source of the question was a guest speaker that currently teaches courses in Virginia. His question was based in the framework that this course is a requirement for MA students of all focuses, it was taught by a Public History professor, and that its focus was on Urban History. The speaker was an Urban Historian & Public Historian, that also worked to teach courses in American HIstory as well. So the question was seeking to understand the people that chose to take that class, were we Americanists, Public Historians, Urban Historians, or another kind of historian. Most often I would classify myself as a Public Historian, as much by my career choices as anything else. My career has been in the practice of public history. I have worked at state historic sites, and the National Park Service. When not practing my craft in areas consisdered public history I have worked as a classroom educator. Which in my mind is still a form of public history. I worked with students at the primary and secondary level, far from the gates of academia. My interest primarily lies in the United States, but I am far from an Americanist. And I have a love for the history of my home city, Chicago. And the topics that most often draw my interests are located in the urban environment. This is primarily due to my love of the built environment. I'm facinated by historic preservation, and the infrastructure that allows a city to operate. So then the question becomes where do these interests intersect, and what kind of historian am I? When I come back to it, my methodologies, and my beliefs about what the role of historian are end up as the formative basis for my decision. I place myself as a Public Historian, one that has a significant interest in the urban and built environments. Which makes me a Public Historian of the Urban world I guess. Maybe that works and maybe it doesn't, but as I work towards finishing the MA and planning what comes next that's what I'l go with.
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The Ranger SteveThough I'm no longer found underneath the Flat Hat of the NPS I still find myself identifying as Ranger Steve more often than not. Archives
January 2017
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