Graaf, Distinctiveness

Distinctiveness or Integration?
The Future of Public History Curriculum

Author(s): Lawrence B. de Graaf
Source: The Public Historian, Vol. 9, No. 3, The Field of Public History: Planning the
Curriculum (Summer, 1987), pp. 47-66
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the National Council on Public
History
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Distinctiveness or Integration?
The Future of Public History
Curriculum
LAWRENCE B. DE GRAAF
In this far-ranging essay, Lawrence B. de Graaf of California State University at Fullerton,

a pioneer in undergraduate public history instruction, considers essential factors for design-
ing a public history curriculum. He admits the need for public history students to be trained
in the fundamentals of reading history and learning to write it; but he also defends the idea
that public history needs to retain its own distinctive curricular offerings, since it "would be
short-sighted to presume that such training can come entirely from post-education work
experiences, especially when other disciplines offer such preparation and have consequently
placed their students." In fact, de Graaf suggests that the regular history curriculum could
benefit from exposure to public history concepts and practices, to emphasize that the histori-
cal profession consists of much more than teaching.
IN THE DECADE since public history became a formal part of the curricu-
lum of history departments, this field has become one of the most remark-
able areas of growth in the teaching of history. By 1985, over one hundred
institutions in the United States had formal degree programs or options in
public history, and others offered courses in it.1 The National Council on
Public History, organized in 1979, gave direction to this movement
through its annual conferences, publications, and services such as a sylla-
bus exchange among faculty teaching public history courses.2 Much of
this curricular activity was motivated by a sense of urgency in addressing
the job crisis which fell upon history, as well as by a belated recognition of
the professional historians outside of academe. While the employment
situation has only marginally improved, the feeling that historians were
1. Public History Education in America: A Guide (National Council on Public History,

1986), 5-45, 49-52.
2. This writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Professor Barbara Howe, West
Virginia University, who originated and continues to maintain the bank of public history
course and program syllabi, for her assistance in researching this article. Some of the ideas to
be presented were initially set forth at the National Endowment for the Humanities-
sponsored Curriculum Seminar on Public History held at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, February 26-27, 1982.
47
The Public Historian, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer 1987)

C by the Regents of the University of California
48 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN
becoming an endangered species and that public history p

be their only salvation has largely passed. It is therefor
time to reflect back over a decade of curriculum in public
its strengths and weaknesses, and project how in the f
might best fulfill its own peculiar mission and serve th
whole.
Planning future curriculum of a field requires first sett
issues within it. In the case of public history, a basic issue
definition, and hence the purpose and size, of the fie
programs adopted the term "public history," some campus
name "applied history." Many practitioners outside of a
both and proposed "professional historians." Public history
fined by some in terms of its sectors of historical practice
relating public history to specific careers, this definition h
a basis for planning curriculum. It reveals no intellectual
common to the whole field. On the contrary, several secto
from each other in their modes of operation than they do
history. This definition has oriented curriculum toward t
to enter specific careers, thus presuming that a description
a career was tantamount to a curriculum. It is not. Much of the actual
training to become a public historian might best be done on the job.
Curriculum by its location within academic institutions has a broader
mission: to set forth the intellectual foundations of a career and to subject
them to critical review and possible modification. Above all, curriculum in
public history should impart a sense of how each career relates to the
discipline itself. These purposes are slighted if public history is defined
solely in terms of its constituent sectors.
The other common method of defining public history has stressed those
traits which were sharply different from academic history. Public histori-
ans were generally not independent scholars, selecting their own research
topics, working on them like craftsmen regardless of time, and ultimately
presenting the results in forms oriented primarily toward fellow scholars.
Rather, public historians commonly were employed to carry out a re-
search project selected by the client. They usually worked in teams,
sometimes with persons from other disciplines. The thoroughness of their
work was dictated by client deadlines, and their final product might be
aimed at any one of several audiences beyond the academic community.3
Some observers have found in this approach to defining public history a
theoretical foundation for the whole field. Henry Rousso likened the dis-
tinction between academic and public historian to the debate over the
usefulness of history between a "gratuitous approach" that pursued knowl-
edge for its own sake and "positivists" who were concerned with history as
3. Robert Kelley, "Public History: Its Origins, Nature, and Prospects," The Public
Historian 1 (Fall 1978), 16-18.
DISTINCTIVENESS OR INTEGRATION * 49
an instrument of social change.4 But more often, propon

history have noted these distinctions as a pragmatic way of d
history. The result of defining public history in terms of it
features, then, has been much the same as that of defining it
parts: an ambiguous identity which has led to charges that pu
ans have lost sight of the discipline of history in their e
special techniques and marketing their students.5
Such an uncertain definition of public history has led to
varied in content and intellectual direction that one histo
scribed them as "Heinz 57."6 Aside from an introduction to p
few institutions offer the same courses within their public h
grams. Twenty-six offerings surveyed included eighteen diff
Programs have been equally diverse in focus. A few have
prepare students for almost any sector of public history. Mo
have specialized in only one or a few fields. Similar diffe
their relationship to other history degrees. Some are sep
programs; others are elective options to the regular adv
Such variety is not per se a fault. This writer will conclude t
diversity in courses, focus, and status is the ideal for future
curriculum. But the current scene has been the result of exp
and expediency, not necessarily of careful consideration abou
ship between the practice of public history and the discipline
Therefore, the diversity of curriculum reflects an ambiv
fundamental question: is public history primarily a part of t
history and as such best offered within the regular history d
primarily a set of specific careers, so different that preparati
best done in a specialized program? It is essential that th
confronted in order to project the future of public history cu
The question of whether public history is primarily a part
pline or a set of careers is essentially a question of its the
particularly its sense of a mission distinct from that of acad
One early definition of this mission was that public historian
wider audiences than did academics, that they related thei
practices to the public. The importance of this mission ha
scored by the ironical situation since the early 1970s of acade
drawing a shrinking portion of college students while pop
forms of history, such as museums, media presentations,
and genealogy, were enjoying ever-widening audiences.' H
4. Henry Rousso, "Applied History, or the Historian as Miracle Work

Historian 6 (Fall 1984), 66.
5. This criticism was especially voiced at the 1985 NCPH Annual Conf
nix. See especially papers by Karen Smith, "Neither Fish nor Fowl nor Go
The Making of a Public Historian," April 27, 1985; and Phyllis Leffler, "An
for Public and Academic History," April 26, 1985.
6. Smith, "Neither Fish nor Fowl."
7. Rousso, "Applied History," 68.
idea of public historians addressing the public is often

simplified. Historians have long addressed various publics,
have different ideas about what historical products and serv
First put forth as a critique of public historians tending to
structure as client,8 this observation forces us to ask h
history courses and programs can or should prepare histori
various audiences.
The group that a historian is addressing will invariably i
nature of the presentation, and this, in turn, may affect r
and contents. Academic historians writing largely for the
interpretive synthesis and methodology. Those in governm
writing under contract are working for a less scholarly (th
often even more limited) audience and hence will use a
more narrative presentation. Local historians address au
more varied intellectual quality which often view history
wishing to emphasize pleasant memories and suppress cont
the local past. Both methodology and depth of analysis are
general readership. Museum historians endeavor to reac
audience of any. Hence, their medium is primarily the
artifacts and visuals, with writing occupying a subordinate
This sample of the diverse forms of historical writin
illustrates the variety of publics and their effect on the hi
Given such variety, many questions should be asked in dev
curriculum. Can a formal education in history prepare stu
these forms of writing, or are some better taught on
public history courses prepare historians to present work
publics as each might wish to have it, or should course
modify public perceptions of history and modes of presen
regular academic graduate program an appropriate basis
students to serve diverse publics, or are separate, more un
tuted programs needed? Many insights for curricular p
drawn by examining this mission of public history.
An equally insightful definition of the mission of public histo
lum planning is that public history training programs prepa
historians"-those engaged in careers other than teaching. S
this definition that it has seldom been questioned. Yet it i
First, the public history movement began as a source of add
historians; yet ten years later, the job crisis, though lessene
real. Despite a nearly 50 percent decline in the number of
ing Ph. D.s in history between the early 1970s and early 198
more numerous than the jobs available. As students becom
employment glut, the percentage pursuing undergraduate
8. Ronald Grele, "Whose Public? Whose History? What is the Goal of

rian?" The Public Historian 3 (Winter 1981), 40-42.
tory declined by over half; in the case of graduate degrees,

Public history has offered only limited assistance to those se
of 1981, 60 percent of new Ph.D.s were still finding their em
academe, and some sectors of public history suffered more s
cuts than did teaching.9 In light of these conditions, if publ
fines its curricular mission to the training of professional h
discipline may continue to experience a shrinking share of c
ments and a correspondingly lesser role in the public mentalit
Proponents of public history have considered various st
pand employment outlets for historians. Some have rec
majority of future jobs would be of a back door variety
expressly involve research or writing history or carry the tit
Uses of history in corporations, urban planning, and poli
cases in point. Other positions lie clearly in historical work,
not necessarily professional. Preservation work on site
much local history work, and the work of museum and a
cians come to mind. Finally, some professionals who are plac
umbrella of public history, such as museum curators and arc
sider their fields as distinct professions in their own right
training outside of history. All of these extensions of the m
ing professional historians raise curricular questions. Sho
tory programs endeavor to train students for anything
professional historians? If so, does that require special types
programs? Where would such an expanded mission fit in an
of public history curriculum?
One effort to address those questions has been a third defi
mission of public history: developing intellectual skills and r
to many careers. Written and oral communication, resear
thinking, problem solving and information management
competencies inherent in history which are desirable in
government positions." But this definition has serious
These skills are not unique to history. Much of the com
curriculum proposed in the 1970s covered all liberal arts, and
plines have made similar claims for their utility. An emphas
also runs the risk of subordinating the content value of hist
are the events of the past and their interpretation the heart
knowledge, they are also its most lasting appeal, the qua
continued to attract many students despite the meager pros
9. Kathleen Neils Conzen and Irene D. Neu, "The State of the Jo

Historical Profession," OAH Newsletter 12 (February 1984), 10-13.
10. Kelley, "Public History," 21.
11. Robert Pomeroy, "Historians' Skills and Business Needs," The Pu
(Winter 1979), 8-14; George Smith and Laurence Steadman, "Present V
History," Harvard Business Review 59 (November/December 1981), 16
Graaf, "Business Careers and the Undergraduate History Curriculum," Th
3 (Summer 1981), 121-28.
ployment.12 Therefore, while developing skills, addressing

lics, and training professional historians all remain viable
public history curriculum, the shapers of such courses mu
take them as a priori assumptions, but must analyze the iss
tives that lie within them and endeavor to develop that
more intellectually coherent body of curriculum than tha
today.
These considerations have suggested to some historians a significantly
different theoretical basis for public history curriculum, a departure from
the presumptions of distinctiveness from academic history which have
generally prevailed. They have emphasized instead that public history be
viewed as a part of the discipline of history and that its curriculum maxi-
mize the commonalities rather than the differences between history in
academe and in professional practice. Several recent papers and writings
have noted that wherever used, history rests on a foundation of integrat-
ing the general with the particular and arranging it over time. Historians
employ a multi-dimensional perspective and both a methodology for rea-
soning and a process of working with information from research to presen-
tation.13 Others have underscored this value of the basic discipline by
noting that many current public historians had no special training as such
and often work in content areas remote from their fields of study. 14
These observations suggest a curriculum in which the core is identical
to that taken by students planning an academic career, with an emphasis
on the basic concepts of explaining the past and fundamental techniques
of research and analysis.15 Public history students should do research
papers fully as rigorous as those expected of other history students. Some
add the corollary that professors of public history ought to be expected to
meet the same research and publication criteria as academic colleagues in
order to remain "engaged with the internal intellectual life of the disci-
pline."16 This approach would retain in public history courses the empha-
sis on content typical of academic programs lest public historians become
like schools of education in divorcing methods from subject matter. In
sum, this approach sees sound public history as resting on sound his-
tory.17 It finds little need for making public history programs distinct
from others and only limited need for specialized courses.
Planners of future curriculum need to consider carefully the conclusion
12. Jack Holl, 'The New Washington Monument: History in the Federal Government,"
The Public Historian 7 (Fall 1985), 11-12.
13. Leffler, "Integrated Model"; Rousso, "Applied History," 74-75.
14. Paul Soifer, "You Goin' to Open a History Store?-The Making of a Public Histo-
rian," paper presented at NCPH Annual Conference, Phoenix, April 27, 1985.
15. Leffler, "Integrated Model."
16. David A. Johnson, "Commentary on 'Promotion and Tenure Criteria for Faculty in
Applied History,' " The Public Historian 6 (Spring 1984), 61-63.
17. Ibid., 61; Kendrick Clements, "Promotion and Tenure Criteria for Faculty in Ap-
plied History," The Public Historian 6 (Spring 1984), 53.
from the academic integration model that there will be li

special public history curriculum in the future. In some se
historians' offices in public agencies, this approach to curricu
the best. But for most areas, it would constitute a serious ign
conditions which brought about public history programs. M
historical practice outside of academe are still rarely noted in
courses. Seminars teach little about the expanded uses and
the discipline. Several fields of public history deal with m
than written documents or with specialized techniques or
search and presentation. It would be short-sighted to presu
training can come entirely from post-education work expe
cially when other disciplines offer such preparation and
quently placed their students in most of the jobs, as is partic
in cultural resource management. Finally, specialized public
riculum may offer the best vehicle for critical dialogue betw
and practicing historians aimed at improving the quality o
work.
This approach of integrating public history and the regular academic
curriculum would make a more compelling model if it were coupled with
a logical corollary: put public history into more regular academic courses,
assignments, and criteria. Holding students and professors of public his-
tory to the same courses and criteria as academic ones will not necessarily
answer the criticism that public history lacks an intellectual foundation or
is a second-class calling. All students of history need to be exposed to
public history outlets, to have readings on fields of professional practice in
basic seminars, and to study the history of the profession so as to dispel
the idea that academic history has always been the primary outlet for
historians. Undergraduate courses might both orient students to public
history and be enlivened by museum tours and site interpretations. Cur-
riculum in the "new" history fields could utilize such familiar public his-
tory techniques as oral history and artifact analysis, or concepts of commu-
nity development and structure.
Such two-way integration of public and academic history would consti-
tute the ideal theoretical foundation for future public history curriculum.
Until it is realized, however, current public history courses, disparate
though they are, should not be discarded lightly. They represent an exten-
sive effort at building bibliographies, teaching units, field experiences,
and linkages between the academic and other communities which should
not be abandoned as we reflect on the need to re-inculcate into some of
those courses and programs a greater sense of the common discipline.
The soundest approach for planning future public history curriculum

lies neither in returning to traditional academic programs nor in continu-
ing to proliferate courses to prepare students for careers. Instead, public
historians need to subject current curriculum and proposals

courses and programs to two broad intellectual tests. The fir
ask, what can a public history course do to further public hist
of intellectual inquiry? This test is a recognition that public
suffers from the stigma of vocational education, implying th
challenge or cultivate the mind in the manner that other his
do. Primarily, however, this test presumes that the prim
public history in the future will be less informing students
areas as they exist than subjecting those career practices to t
rigorous analysis and constructive criticism that any body o
knowledge would undergo.
The second test would ask, what can a public history course
to the advancement of the discipline, the practice, and the p
history? This test would accept the criticism that public hist
recognize that ultimately it is a part of the seamless web. But
be a passive recognition; rather, this test would suggest that p
ans probe their missions for the discipline beyond the conce
markets and publics. This test envisions teachers of public his
ing the audiences, presentations, and methods of professiona
into curriculum for all students of history and thus eventually
marriage of historical work within and outside the universit
current semantic dichotomy might become unnecessary.
In what ways might a newly forged curriculum enhance the
practice of public history? Courses on archival administratio
on the issues raised by the recent Report of the Committee on
of Government, seeking modifications in records managemen
val practice which preserve "totally valueless records" wh
create or retain records" vital to public business and history
tion to electronically stored data poses problems for archival
historians alike; public history courses would be prime vehic
ing this change in archival practice.
Public history curriculum could also enrich the content of lo
Most local historians continue to reflect the wishes of th
audiences, and the result has been that much local history is
only to people in that locality and reflects a nostalgic view o
Some professors of public history have incorporated these tra
ects and shown their potential when dealt with in an innova
The work of Richard and Janet Lieberman on Queens County
as an example. But others have found that community reside
historical societies are often receptive to modifying the param
history and incorporating broader significances and a more c
The New York Historians-in-Residence Program has provi
of weaving academic methodology and insights into local
18. Committee on the Records of Government, Report (Washington,
ects.'9 In either approach, local history stands to be enric

history courses that will explore the historic divide between
local audiences and academic historians and develop new form
tation that combine the strengths of both perspectives.
Public history practices could also be enhanced by incor
future courses a critical view of some of its basic presumptio
preservation is one case in point. Tax incentives have co
making this one of the fastest growing and most popular are
history. While some historians have questioned the histor
the social consequences of preservation activities, few ha
whether subsidizing preservation via tax shelters is still
interest.20 Future public history courses should raise su
subjecting the presumptions behind historical policies and pr
same critical scrutiny as those of other institutions and grou
these cases, the ideal course would be one either taught by a
who could also provide the broader and more critical persp
an academic historian who would bring in professionals as gu
or commentators.
Future curriculum can also enhance public history by integrating

analysis into various areas of practice. History is the study of contin
change over time. Many projects in the fields of cultural resource m
ment and preservation have lost sight of this vital dimension. They
serve structures, sites, and artifacts as one slice of time, often
recognition of epochs before or after the period of those item
preservationists have recently sought to correct this limited notion o
by applying to preservation projects such concepts as cultural lands
which trace the evolution of land use over the entire period of
habitation and interpret physical remnants in patterns of continuit
change.21 There is no better place to encourage such broader an
the physical relics of history than in public history courses.
Similarly, museum exhibits and interpretation can be enriched by
lic history courses that provide a nexus between the professional cu
or exhibit designer and relevant areas of academic study. Material c
19. Richard Lieberman and Janet Lieberman, City Limits: A Social History o
(Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1983); Lieberman and Lieberman, "Uncovering
History of Queens," The Public Historian 5 (Fall 1983), 89-96; G. David Brumb
Case for Reunion: Academic Historians, Public Historical Agencies, and the Ne
Historians-in-Residence Program," The Public Historian 4 (Spring 1982), 71-91. See
David Brumberg, Margaret John, William Zeisel, History for the Public (Itha
Cornell University, 1983).
20. A recent example of defending tax incentives strictly from a real estate pe
can be found in Preservation News (July 1985), 1, 6. Earlier criticisms of pre
include Larry Tise, "Let's Put History Back into Historic Preservation," Preservati
(October 1979), 5; and Bruce La Brack, "Historic Preservation, Community, and
Values," Pacific Historian 21 (Spring 1977), 7-18.
21. T. Alan Comp, "Comstock Lode National Historic Landmark: A Cultur
scape," paper delivered at NCPH Annual Conference, Phoenix, April 25, 1985.
has become an area of increasing interest to scholars in recen

artifacts have provided the basis for significant new interpr
Likewise, social historians have linked household items and ot
with broad themes or social roles and changing values.23The m
these interpretations and themes with the practice of museu
should be another area for new public history curriculum. Th
two of many examples, but they illustrate another basis for
new public history courses and programs.
Public history courses may not establish a lasting place in th
of history if they serve only to improve the training of profes
field. They must also contribute to the improvement of the di
and the profession in its entirety. This test of future courses a
should first build on what may be public history's most signific
tion to date-its expanded audiences. As noted above, public hi
the nature of their work have addressed much larger and mo
audiences than most academic scholars. Their forms of present
become the focus of new curriculum. Particularly needed are
narrative style writing. For years, many academic historians
narrative history with the absence of analysis and method
occasional academics have propounded the value of the narrati
public history outlets such as public agency and military hist
merits are best seen. Hence, these areas may be the most a
point from which to design courses that could critically revie
current forms of narrative history and remind future historians
as a widely read form of writing.
A closely related mission could be courses that analyzed the
derided field of popular history. Used by academics as a pejor
often than as a descriptive term, popular history is usuall
forms of writing designed for a broad audience of average re
and/or written on themes believed to have wide public intere
ans have been rightfully concerned that such work presents o
fied patterns of causation, may substitute the dramatic for th
or may obscure the need for periodic reinterpretation. But
and academic historians acknowledge that professional scholar
to be presented in forms attractive to wider audiences." S
public historians find that their work requires direct commun
22. See especially Thomas Schlereth, Artifacts and the American Past (Nas
1980); and I.M.G. Quimby, ed., Material Culture and the Study of Ameri
Norton, 1978).
23. Mary Johnson, "What's in a Butterchurn or a Sadiron: Some Thou
Artifacts in Social History," The Public Historian 5 (Winter 1983), 61-81.
24. David Trask, "Popular History and Public History: Tuchman's The Ma
The Public Historian 7 (Fall 1985), 79-80, 83-85. See also Gerda Lerner, "Th
History and the Professional Historian,"Journal of American History 69 (Ju
Carl Degler, "Remaking American History," Journal of American History
21-24.
the general public, it follows that training in both the po

pitfalls of popular history might initially be woven into
courses. Such curriculum could explore the questions raised e
limitations of historians adapting their discipline to audienc
They might also explore forms of writing not commonly us
history, such as pictorial works, as well as the legitimate par
forms of fiction and history.25
An equally urgent area in which public history might enri
pline is that of visual history. Films, television presenta
tures, and exhibits are all forms of communication which
who may not read historical books or articles. To date, h
largely surrendered film-making to persons who have little
the canons of historical scholarship. While faculty use f
extensively in class, few have actually become involved
them. Fewer still can meet Daniel Walkowitz's criterion of u
the historical implications of every step of filmmaking.2
public history programs have components on media, such co
rare. The thirty-seven course syllabi used in this study cont
in media. Public history programs must use the numerous fi
in other academic departments and make this sector a mo
one in future curriculum.
Some may object that public history is intruding into a curr
which historians overall have limited expertise and in wh
plines have already established extensive programs. The
should be utilized when pertinent, but historians will often
perspectives and concerns are quite different from those of
specialists in visual arts. Filmmakers tend to emphasize th
minimize complexities and causal factors which historians wo
Exhibit design as taught by art departments emphasizes the
art against extensive blank space and usually has minimal tex
is poorly suited to historical exhibits with a wide array o
pictures synthesized into a theme requiring considerable
tion. If concern for historical accuracy and depth of an
married to popular modes of presentation, historians will ha
familiar with the making of these art forms. Public history
museum and media studies represents one of the best startin
such training.
The discipline of history would also be enriched by deve
in some of the wholly new fields of study which are evolvin
25. See James Michener, "Historical Fiction," American Heritage 33 (

44-48; Carol Hoffecker, "The Emergence of a Genre: The Urban Picto
Public Historian 5 (Fall 1983), 37-48.
26. Daniel J. Walkowitz, "Visual History: The Craft of the Historian-
Public Historian 7 (Winter 1985), 53-56. A recent work on this field is Ro
Douglas Gomery, Film History: Theory and Practice (New York: Alfred
27. Walkowitz, "Visual History," 57-59.
history. Information management is regarded by some arch

potential clients in business and government as an umbrella
ing archives, records management, and all computerized inf
age and retrieval.2 It could ultimately encompass the e
information creation, retention and organization. Such an
should be of vital interest to historians. Information man
the content and presentation of written records, and their
much of these records are saved and in what manner they
could be crucial to historical research. Nonetheless, there
dent for such a field in conventional history curriculum.
public history which is most likely to initiate not only
organization and retention of information but also in the
tion of information in various forms and the thinking and
governed its treatment in different regions and eras.
A second emerging field with considerable potential for c
opment is historical administration. Several public history
ready offer courses in this field, but they should be muc
and comprehensive. Administration may include fundraisi
management, and long-range program development among
What historian, academic or practitioners in the field, coul
course? The potential of this curricular area is heightened
the many parallels between administering a historical
other organization. This area could become a key to organ
around one of the largest but conceptually most elusive
history: the uses of history in business.29 Other curricular
history which would enhance the entire discipline and
already been noted, such as material culture studies. Comb
lum in these sectors of public history should substanti
scope and significance of both the discipline and the profes
Some of the weightiest intellectual issues confronting b
pline and the profession are most clearly addressed when
the context of public history. Herein lies a third area
history curriculum can enhance the discipline. What is th
tory to society at large? This question is usually framed i
presented earlier by Henry Rousso of knowlege for its ow
history as a science applied to current problems. Public hi
28. See Lawrence J. McCrank, "Public Historians in the Information

lems in Education and Credentials," The Public Historian 7 (Summer 1
Kessner, "Historians in the Information Age: Putting Technology to
Historian 4 (Summer 1982), 31-48; Edward Weldon, "Archives an
Change," The American Archivist 46 (Spring 1983), 125-34.
29. For expanded thoughts on parallels between history and corp
Smith and Steadman, "Present Value of Corporate History." Historical
tion courses are currently being offered by Northeastern University and
souri, Kansas City, among others. A leading program on business and h
Arizona State University.
an excellent position to suggest answers, for they have

guard of promoting the utility of history. Several courses
have been established applying history to policy analysis a
by such techniques as retrospective analysis. Scholars
have noted the need for a critical assessment of the use of historical
analogies.30 In short, public history has already developed the compo-
nents for a curriculum that would probe various uses of history in resolv-
ing public issues and contemporary problems. A promising area of future
public history will be to work these into courses that will at once explore
the potential of history as a tool for problem-solving and policymaking yet
test that potential against the limitations of historical techniques as predic-
tors of future events. From such an empirical evaluation of the utility of
history should come the soundest answer to that perennial question: what
is the use of history?
Considerable discussion has also surrounded the question of whether
historians should become specialists in a few areas, with the discipline
assigning status and rewards largely on the basis of such specialized exper-
tise, or whether the historian should be more broadly trained and the
profession accord more recognition to generalists. Since the late nine-
teenth century, academic historians have defined themselves less by com-
mon disciplinary practices than by their subject specialties. First geogra-
phy, and more recently topic and methodology, have fragmented the
historical profession. This fragmentation has been institutionalized in posi-
tion descriptions, professional organizations, and curriculum. Numerous
academic scholars and professional historians have decried the loss of the
central tenets of the discipline, of a common bond among historians, or
the passing of unifying themes or interpretations of history.3' But they
have generally been unable to refute the nexus between specialization
and expertise nor devise a convincing rationale for why a more broadly
trained historian might function more effectively.
Public history offers the possibility of both. Many practitioners were
educated in academic fields far removed from their areas of employment.
They attribute their success outside of academe to their mastery of the basic
methodology of historical thinking, research, and writing, and their experi-
ences suggest that a reform of history curriculum to focus on thought pro-
cesses and techniques common to many fields might prepare better histori-
ans.32 In their efforts to expand the employment opportunities for students
of history, public historians have emphasized the skills common to all
trained in the discipline rather than any specific field of knowledge. These
30. See Peter Stearns, "History and Policy Analysis: Toward Maturity," The Public Histo-
rian 4 (Summer 1982), 5-29; Ernest May, "Lessons of the Past": The Use and Misuse of
History in American Foreign Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973).
31. See, for example, Philip Curtin, "Depth, Span and Relevance," American Historical
Review 89 (February 1984), 1-9; Holl, "New Washington Monument," 10-11.
32. Soifer, "Making of a Public Historian."
experiences do not necessarily refute the value of speci

they are woven into core seminars or become a basis for es
they could lead to a healthy re-examination of the relative m
ization versus broad common disciplinary training.
Public history has raised and remains the main arena for
third question of considerable interest among professional
history a profession in the same sense that law and medic
should historians have a code of ethics or professional pra
leading to a system of certifying and monitoring practition
has aroused considerable discussion at public history confe
NCPH, some regional history groups, and several professio
tions have devised ethical codes or criteria for certification.3 As with
previous questions, public history curriculum should not be expected to
provide a specific answer as much as to illuminate the options and what
they mean for the profession of history.
The case against defining history as a profession in the full sense of that
term is not only that most efforts to impose a code of ethics or a system of
credentialing and monitoring have met with considerable debate and resis-
tance, but that the perspective from which they stem may be erroneous.
Instead of comparing historians to credentialed rivals such as historical
archaeologists, they might more broadly be compared to artists. An artist
may have earned an advanced degree, yet in the competitive arena find
that a person of less formal training has superior talent or experience.
How much is skill in the pursuit of research and writing history the result
of academic training, and how much is it a reflection of innate ability or
field experience? How much of the preparation of professional historians
can academic institutions assume responsibility for, and how much should
be left to other agents?34 By raising these questions in connection with
the previous one on specialization, public history courses, either those
expressly on professionalism or those of a more general nature, might
offer the whole discipline a sounder sense of its nature and of the mission
and direction of its future curriculum.
What does the preceding analysis mean in terms of actual courses and
programs in the future? Should they become more integrated into the
discipline of history, or is there need for more distinctive public history
33. See especially Theodore J. Karamanski, ed. "Roundtable: Ethics and Public His-
tory," The Public Historian 8 (Winter 1986), 5-68; American Association of Museums,
Professional Standards for Museum Accreditation . ., ed. by H. G. Swinney (Washington,
D. C.: AAM, 1978); "The Archivists' Code," The American Archivist 18 (October 1955), 307-
308.
34. For an analysis of the role of formal education versus field experience, see Lee
Pendergrass, '"Taking History to the Public: The Kansas Historian-in-Residence Program,"
The Public Historian 4 (Winter 1982), 85-86.
curriculum? Based on the preceding analysis, the answer

be: both. On one hand, reconsideration of the foundation
tory indicates that they rest on a common set of metho
with academic history, and all historical training should
discipline. But this article has also suggested several areas of
lum which are unlikely to be developed in any field except
Ideally, the future of public history curriculum would
developing a two-way relationship with the rest of the disc
would culminate in a new definition of the whole profession
Henry Rousso says, "we are all public historians."35 My
marks will suggest some concrete steps by which historians
work toward that end.
The most immediately realizable change would be to m
components of public history programs standard features o
major or graduate degree program. One course that belongs
department is an introduction to public history. Usually
undergraduate level, this course is already the most comm
tory offering. Eleven of thirty-seven syllabi surveyed were
tory courses. An introduction to public history is first a
orientation, a vehicle for making students of history aware
well-established aspects of public history: the array of caree
different types of working conditions, various publics with
might work, and those skills which tie the study of hist
remote from the discipline itself. As Glenda Riley has noted
to the success of graduate public history programs that stud
aware of non-teaching careers and shown other role models
than the academic professor.-6
Beyond orientation, an introductory course can be molded
curricular missions. It serves as a bridge between the underg
riculum and professional history. Some introductory cou
field experiences to acquaint students with working profess
premises. Other courses endeavor to synthesize the work of
historians into broad functional categories. An introductory
direct the baccalaureate student toward pre-professional jobs
encourage research into a graduate program to prepare for a
in public history.37 Whatever the direction, the importance
the survey course for the profession of history cannot be u
35. Rousso, "Applied History," 85.

36. "Reaching Undergraduates with the Public History Message," The P
(Fall 1981), 45-46. See also the orientation film "History Goes Public" ava
Virginia University Communications Office, and Teaching Public History
ates: A Guide for Departments of History (Organization of American Hist
37. Models of these three uses, respectively, are "Introduction to
courses at Northern Iowa State University; West Virginia University; Un
sas, Little Rock; and California State University, Fullerton. Syllabi are ava
sor Howe, WVU.
Therefore, promoting it as a part, ideally a requirement,

major should be one of the first goals of those planning p
curriculum. 8
History departments should also afford students the
doing history beyond the usual assignments of library rese
arly writing. Field experiences such as setting up exhibits
editing, and oral interviewing could be worked into r
courses. Whole classes have been built around communit
history projects, and preservation work. Independent stud
vidual students to a still wider variety of historical work.
both taught and practiced public history have often found
rience to be the best if not the only way potential public
acquire many of their needed skills.39 Forms of historical
the academy need to be worked into undergraduate and gr
curricula to the point that students will feel that such fu
legitimate a form of historical work as scholarly research an
Internships are a third component of public history that
part of every history curriculum. Properly set up and adm
are the ideal institutional arrangement for training studen
tors of public history. They are also the most logical mediu
historians in academe into contact with professionals in ot
providing both students and faculty with an affinity for pr
tions of work and ways of thinking.4 Internships also pla
role in promoting history to the general public. Professor
businesses, public agencies, and historical organizations
offer an important reminder of history's utility. Internsh
used at the graduate level in public history programs and ar
tory in career-oriented majors such as business and comm
they should be extended as an available elective into all dep
graduate programs of history.
The last structural component that the public history ex
gests should become a feature of all departments is counse
curriculum facilitating the transition from education to em
ticularly career counselling and orientation to grants and
are the connection between public history as an intellectual
an actual position. Students, who often see employment as
of public history, have complained of the lack of such ser
history programs. Career counselling, both undergraduate
38. An expanded role for public history at the undergraduate level h

some institutions. See, for example, the B.A. in public policy history a
the B.S. in history at Arizona State University; and the B.A. option in fam
history at University of Akron.
39. Pendergrass, "Taking History to Public," 75-85.
40. An NCPH committee has formed professional affinity groups to
mon ground shared by various professionals. See Michael Scardaville, "R
Range Planning Committee," April, 1985, 12-13.
is an avenue for showing students the variety of careers

Coupled with curricular counselling, it is a prime mean
history degree to preparation for a specific career. Its
tion by history departments might reduce the flight of st
in history into majors they believe will make them m
Grants have become the life blood of many history sc
contracts are indispensible to several sectors of public
sence of formal instruction or structured experience i
been a peculiar oversight of history curriculum. The expe
offering public history courses including such a unit sugg
incorporating them as part of all graduate degree program
Graduate-level courses in public history are much m
plan. Until the above suggested courses and services ar
graduate curriculum will have to continue its role of orie
the whole field of public history in addition to offering
professional work and field experience. Graduate cou
logical ones for implementing most of the suggestions fo
set forth above. These programs must therefore continue
ized by experimentation and diversity. However, from a d
ence, some thoughts can be set forth concerning the f
graduate public history training.
The structure of graduate programs is one key to curric
Most advanced degree programs have three basic compone
seminars teaching advanced methods and thinking of the
cialized courses in specific subject areas, and the term
signers of public history curriculum have long recognized
first component. Some programs require that student
core of the regular history M.A. or Ph.D. program. O
structed parallel core courses, emphasizing the forms of w
and source materials that fit their sectors of public histo
each approach depend on the sectors being taught. Pro
and business, for example, have adopted most of the r
gram on the presumption that the historical skills needed
essentially identical with those of an academic degree. Oth
areas like preservation, cultural resource management,
found that their unique sources and methods could not
tively by a generic skills approach, or that the mixing of
demic history students in common seminars was unwieldy
of the continuing diversity in program formats, there is
the first component of any public history program shoul
often multi-course, core in techniques of research, writin
thinking.
41. The above observations were drawn from NEH Curriculum Seminar on Public His-
tory, UC Santa Barbara, February 1982.
Institutions that decide to employ a common core for pub

regular degree candidates should consider modifying t
provide students with some of the experiences and thin
history. Why should the reading list for a seminar in histo
ans, designed to present the intellectual foundations of hi
only classical writers and modern academic scholars? W
samples of Ernst Posner or Theodore Schellenberg on ar
Hume on historical archaeology, for example? Traditional
also be studied from different perspectives. Thucydides co
the father of the modem historical method but a mod
narrative and popular military history that are still meanin
historical writing.
Seminars in historical method provide further opportuniti
ing public history into the conventional core seminar. Inst
ing students with the occasional scholarly problem of inte
criticism, why not introduce them to professional counterp
riences of expert witnesses reviewing conflicting interpre
ments, of museum curators distinguishing genuine artifact
writers on public issues seeking the access to classified doc
teed by the Freedom of Information Act, and of corpo
weighing the presenting of controversial material against
client-such cases should both make the practice of critical
professional issues very real and introduce students to the
thinking of public historians." Units on reference works an
rials could similarly be infused with public history.
The burden of implementing this first component of grad
lic history must fall largely on faculty within academic ins
signing the second component, specialized courses and sem
tioners from the various sectors of public history will play a m
role. Before any institution establishes a program, there s
sive consultation with such professionals-as has often been
existing programs. Their advice will most likely point to one
ple for curriculum development: flexibility. In some secto
historians may suggest little in the way of specialized course
lar emphases within existing conventional courses.43 In
much of the desired curriculum may already be offered b
42. There is already a considerable body of periodical literature on

See, for example, J. Morgan Kousser, "Are Expert Witnesses Whores? R
tivity in Scholarship and Expert Witnessing," The Public Historian 6 (
Paul Soifer, 'The Litigation Historian: Objectivity, Responsibility, and S
Historian 5 (Spring 1983), 47-62; Joan Hoff-Wilson, "Access to Restric
Responsibility of Professional Historical Organizations," The American
1983), 441-47; Richard Forman, "History Inside Business," The Public Hi
1981), 41-61.
43. As one example of this point, Air Force historians told this writer they were less
interested in special military history seminars than in exposing their staff to the history of the
overseas area in which they might be stationed.
ments; multi-disciplinary study plans are to be expected

public history. As noted above, however, such courses
reflect the priorities of historians. Therefore, faculty in p
on areas of historical practice demanding considerable tec
field experience should expect to develop several specialize
involve outside practitioners in designing and/or offering
ing new specialized courses, consideration should be given
suggestions set forth above: new topics arising from pub
study of existing practices and policies, training in various
tation, and treatment of questions of professionalism and
public history. Similar flexibility should prevail in using a
field professionals as instructors.
The integration of public and academic history curricul
to the final component of graduate instruction: the t
Traditional theses and dissertations remain essentially tes
potential to become an academic scholar. They should
by an option which allows the wider variety of topics, so
tation modes suggested for seminar papers. One vehicle
the project. Originally devised as a terminal exercise in
arts, where work is usually in a mode other than writing
ated by professionals in the field, the project has bee
master's level by many departments in the social scie
history. This writer has supervised projects involving
documentary editing, using visual slides as the major sour
analyzing public policy and presenting findings as an a
port. Other variations can be adapted to different sectors o
A companion reform, already well established in public h
is the linkage of the terminal exercise with a graduate
brings into the master's or doctoral work professional
assures that students who elect to concentrate on careers outside of aca-
deme will have contact with persons proficient in that aspect of history.
In concluding this canvas of future public history curriculum, one ques-
tion remains to be addressed: how realistic is it to presume that these
changes can be made? Rethinking the presumptions of public history cur-
riculum, devising innovative curriculum in public history, and integrating
it into regular history offerings represent a formidable package of reforms.
Formidable, but not impossible. A rethinking of the mission of public
history is already underway. The National Council on Public History's
Long-Range Planning Committee has suggested numerous changes, many
on the unifying theme that "the Council should be promoting the practice
of history, not merely public history."44 Several trends point toward inte-
grating public history into the general curriculum. History newsletters are
running regular columns and articles on public history, annual conferences
44. Scardaville, "Report of Planning Committee," 6.
are scheduling sessions on it, and public historians' writings

more often in scholarly journals. The logical culmination of
toward assuring public historians equal status with professors
weaving of their practices into the regular history curriculum
lishment of innovative curriculum, professors and practitione
tiate courses through the extended education class or wor
bring students, faculty, and professionals together to explor
new curricular directions arising from public history. Such sh
tual experiences would cap an evolution in which public histor
seen as an antithesis to academic curriculum, would join it in
which should make the whole discipline of history a richer an
ingful one.

Graaf, Distinctiveness

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Distinctiveness or Integration?

The Future of Public History Curriculum

In this far-ranging essay, Lawrence B. de Graaf of California State University at Fullerton,

1. Public History Education in America: A Guide (National Council on Public History,

The Public Historian, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer 1987)

becoming an endangered species and that public history p

an instrument of social change.4 But more often, propon

4. Henry Rousso, "Applied History, or the Historian as Miracle Work

idea of public historians addressing the public is often

8. Ronald Grele, "Whose Public? Whose History? What is the Goal of

tory declined by over half; in the case of graduate degrees,

9. Kathleen Neils Conzen and Irene D. Neu, "The State of the Jo

ployment.12 Therefore, while developing skills, addressing

from the academic integration model that there will be li

The soundest approach for planning future public history curriculum

historians need to subject current curriculum and proposals

18. Committee on the Records of Government, Report (Washington,

ects.'9 In either approach, local history stands to be enric

Future curriculum can also enhance public history by integrating

has become an area of increasing interest to scholars in recen

the general public, it follows that training in both the po

25. See James Michener, "Historical Fiction," American Heritage 33 (

history. Information management is regarded by some arch

28. See Lawrence J. McCrank, "Public Historians in the Information

an excellent position to suggest answers, for they have

experiences do not necessarily refute the value of speci

curriculum? Based on the preceding analysis, the answer

35. Rousso, "Applied History," 85.

Therefore, promoting it as a part, ideally a requirement,

38. An expanded role for public history at the undergraduate level h

is an avenue for showing students the variety of careers

Institutions that decide to employ a common core for pub

42. There is already a considerable body of periodical literature on

ments; multi-disciplinary study plans are to be expected

44. Scardaville, "Report of Planning Committee," 6.

are scheduling sessions on it, and public historians' writings

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