Defining public history

If you find history interesting and subscribe to or follow historical accounts online, you might have come across the term “public history”.

The term seems self-explanatory but it is a Pandora’s Box, can of worms opening kind of phrase.

So what is public history?

Public history is engagement with the past that unfolds beyond the walls of universities or academic study.

Think of the times when you visit museums, watch a historical documentary, listen to a history podcast, attend a heritage event or glimpse a plaque on an old building telling its story in only a handful of sentences.

These interactions can be brief, sparking ‘ah-ha!’ moments, or they can engross people and send them down the rabbit hole of curiosity.

That is public history.

How is it related to 'regular' history?

What sets public history aside from more traditional academic history is that it is crafted and delivered differently.

Thorough research and professional standards that define history still underpin public history.

But the way it is written and delivered is more direct and accessible with a public audience in mind.

It might involve collaboration with local community groups or embrace an interdisciplinary approach by bringing in education specialists and technical developers to build a new app.

What does it look like?

Take a museum exhibit for instance.

Curators spend months or even years researching the topic and are often already experts in that field.

They then must take an enormous volume of potential material – objects, images, stories and more – and condense them into exhibit panels that might be a few hundred words each.

But the physical exhibit itself isn’t the only place the curator shares their work or people engage with the stories.

The curator might develop a virtual version of the exhibit hosted on the museum’s website.

They could host a series of public talks at nearby libraries or schools to promote the exhibit or give an interview to a history podcast or local news outlet.

There is an art and a beauty to this type of history because it puts communities and members of the public first, empowering them to engage with the past in rich and meaningful ways.

The National Council on Public History (NCPH), the leading membership association dedicated to the field, expand on it over at their website:

Public history describes the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world. In this sense, it is history that is applied to real-world issues. In fact, applied history was a term used synonymously and interchangeably with public history for a number of years. Although public history has gained ascendance in recent years as the preferred nomenclature especially in the academic world, applied history probably remains the more intuitive and self-defining term.

Even that last sentence, cloaked in high-brow language, nods to how public history still struggles with its ties to academia.

To be fair, this definition appears on a website ultimately dedicated to academics or professionals working in the public history field – so it is fit for the audience.

But underneath the jargon it implies that public history is fluid, and can be great or small – basically, you know it when you see it.

Part of my motivation for creating this website was to raise awareness of public history with more people and celebrate its endeavours, in accessible and authentic ways, that learn from and maybe improve on the status quo.

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