What is Public History Now? Exploring engagement, impact, collaboration and coproduction in History Higher Education
Lead Research Organisation:
Birkbeck, University of London
Department Name: History Classics and Archaeology
Abstract
Public History, that is history that is made and/or communicated outside of the academy and the study of this kind of history within the academy, is rapidly becoming an established subdiscipline of history in the UK. However, compared to intellectual and academic projects in places like Australia, Canada and the United States, UK public history has developed relatively late. In the United States, the first public history programme was founded in 1975. By contrast, the first MA in Public History in the UK was not founded until 1996, and almost two decades passed before another one was established.
The surge in interest in Public History in United Kingdom Higher Education over the past half decade is remarkable, and underwritten by a rich intellectual tradition (Samuel, 1991) that has begun to translate into an explosion of exciting research projects, programmes and collaborations. Since around 2013, over 15 new Public History MA programmes have been founded, and the majority of UK history undergraduate and graduate programmes offer modules and pathways in public history and heritage. Several new Public History Centres and Institutes have been founded, while other Centres have expanded their remit to explicitly include public history. Thanks to the strong push for 'impact and engagement' and collaboration with external partners from the UKRI (and other) funding bodies, all historians are thinking about 'public history' to an unprecedented degree, and many research projects increasingly take public history as their central focus.
Meanwhile, interest in public history outside the academy has never been greater. Thanks in part to the enormous growth in digitized records; more accessible archives, libraries and heritage institutions; and renewed interest in different kinds of popular history books, television, and media, more people are making history in public than ever before, and finding new ways to communicate, disseminate, and connect their history work with others and inside and outside the academy. At the same time, history has never been more controversial, debated, and fought-over as it is in the present day: from falling statues to the national curriculum, from the use of 'history' by state institutions and by the radical right, it is clear that the past is alive-and often enflamed-in the present.
It seems therefore a very good time to bring together academic historians who work in the field of public history, teach on public history programmes and run public history centres, in order to examine and develop our ideas, our programmes, and our collaborations with each other, and with non-academic historians widely defined. This research network will consist of a series of agenda-setting, best-practise sharing, and resource-creating workshops, including the creation of a 'hub' website. It will culminate in a major conference bringing together academic public historians and non-academic public historians to examine the state of the field in all its forms, and develop exciting partnerships between higher education and the vibrant, thriving world of non-academic public history.
The surge in interest in Public History in United Kingdom Higher Education over the past half decade is remarkable, and underwritten by a rich intellectual tradition (Samuel, 1991) that has begun to translate into an explosion of exciting research projects, programmes and collaborations. Since around 2013, over 15 new Public History MA programmes have been founded, and the majority of UK history undergraduate and graduate programmes offer modules and pathways in public history and heritage. Several new Public History Centres and Institutes have been founded, while other Centres have expanded their remit to explicitly include public history. Thanks to the strong push for 'impact and engagement' and collaboration with external partners from the UKRI (and other) funding bodies, all historians are thinking about 'public history' to an unprecedented degree, and many research projects increasingly take public history as their central focus.
Meanwhile, interest in public history outside the academy has never been greater. Thanks in part to the enormous growth in digitized records; more accessible archives, libraries and heritage institutions; and renewed interest in different kinds of popular history books, television, and media, more people are making history in public than ever before, and finding new ways to communicate, disseminate, and connect their history work with others and inside and outside the academy. At the same time, history has never been more controversial, debated, and fought-over as it is in the present day: from falling statues to the national curriculum, from the use of 'history' by state institutions and by the radical right, it is clear that the past is alive-and often enflamed-in the present.
It seems therefore a very good time to bring together academic historians who work in the field of public history, teach on public history programmes and run public history centres, in order to examine and develop our ideas, our programmes, and our collaborations with each other, and with non-academic historians widely defined. This research network will consist of a series of agenda-setting, best-practise sharing, and resource-creating workshops, including the creation of a 'hub' website. It will culminate in a major conference bringing together academic public historians and non-academic public historians to examine the state of the field in all its forms, and develop exciting partnerships between higher education and the vibrant, thriving world of non-academic public history.
Organisations
- Birkbeck, University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of York (Project Partner)
- University of London (Project Partner)
- Manchester Ctr for Public History & Heri (Project Partner)
- Raphael Samuel History Centre (Project Partner)
- University of Luxembourg (Project Partner)
- Queen's University Belfast (Project Partner)
- Goldsmiths University of London (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Julia Laite (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | We collectively discovered that Public History in the UK, far from being a sudden or new development, comes out of very old intellectual traditions within historical culture in the British Isles. We discovered interesting region and subcultural variations. We also developed models for best practice for collaboration between universities and public history practitioners outside the academy. We developed a critique of institutional support for public history projects, especially in the way that institutions and funders expect strategic 'impact' activities from traditional research projects, but do not support more holistic, slow-burning, and radical links between community historians and academic historians. No one in the meetings felt well-supported by their institutions to make public history. Most significantly, the work funded through this award identified and then brought together a wide range of public historians inside and outside the university for the first time since the explosion in public history degree programmes in the UK. This network will be long-lasting, and we will be meeting again in May to discuss the founding of the UK's very first Public History Society. Three early career academics who all started in public history posts this year are also preparing an extended conference report and reflection, with the hope of publishing it in a major academic journal. |
| Exploitation Route | This award helped to fund the very first network of public historians in the UK, and we will soon move on to found a national public history society. The resources and network created by this award will go on to spearhead more organized and vibrant public history work in the UK, which will in turn feed in to the UK's education, culture, heritage, and tourism sectors and support small history-based businesses. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | About 50% of the participants were non-academic public historians, and we received a great deal of feedback saying the network was welcoming to them and extremely helpful. As we go on to found a national Public History Society, we will endeavour to create a space that supports all historians working outside of the academy, including those who run businesses associated with history (i.e. walking tours, private museums, genealogical research, etc); community/local historians and volunteers; and finally those working in the GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums). |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic |
| Description | Conference for public historians |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We held a two-day long conference 'What is Public History Now?' at Birkbeck, which was open to the public. We had about 200 participants over two days of the conference, with about 50% drawn from the academic community (university teachers and students) and 50% drawn from the public/professional sector (museums, archives, self-employed public historians, artists, film makers and podcasters). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Workshop 1: The history of public history in the UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an online workshop for public historians of all descriptions--academic and practitioner--where we discussed the history of UK public history, the intellectual traditions that it grew out of, and considered what its defining characteristics were in the present. It was a lively full day event with plenaries and breakouts, and it was attended by around 30 people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Workshop 2: Best practice in collaboration |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In this second workshop, public historians both inside and outside the academy came together online to discuss best (and worst) practice in collaboration between universities and community historians, the GLAM sector, etc. We dealt with some sticky issues related to problems that often arise, and workshopped how to improve our practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |