Comments on: Public history round-up: Museum Studies edition

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:14:22 +0000

Chris–thanks for stopping by and commenting. Your recommendation looks great–I only wish I had known of it when I lived near the Southern OH-IN border! I’ll post again if I hear any more news about the Dearfield colony site, which sounds similar to Lyles Station, although not nearly as old.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:27:15 +0000

i would suggest the lyles consolidated school at lyles station, indiana–see http://www.lylesstation.org

this is the last remaining african-american settlement in indiana that pre-dates the civil war…there were 20 or more rural communities like this one that eventually vanished, thanks in part to industrialization and the anti-negro sentiment of 1920’s indiana

this is a rare jewel of american history, located in southwest indiana between princeton and east mount carmel (gibson county)

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:15:53 +0000

Rad–thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out one of these years. ABQ would have been a natural place to start–let me know if you will you be there!

By: Rad readr

Rad readr — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:10:34 +0000

Re: ASA. I was on the program committee last year, and we had numerous good early history/lit/culture panels. The president, the historian Vicki Ruiz, and I put together panels from earlier centuries, and the committee was very supportive. This year I will be presenting on an early 19th cent panel. Also, the John Hope Franklin Prize for best book has gone to historians regularly the last few years. (e.g. Rebecca Scott). So, you should have joined us in Albq. What has happened at ASA is that there is no dominant group, and the conf tends to draw people working in and moving into many different areas.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:13:14 +0000

Historiann,

I live (part time) about four blocks down the street from the Rosenbach, and hadn’t been in there for twenty years until a colleague visited on Spring Break and we took the tour on a rainy Saturday. (And I STILL haven’t gotten back to actually see the one or two items they apparently have that are relevant to things that I do!) It’s one of those locational paradoxes of using or not using close-by resources; always another time.

I spent a couple of weeks, not months, in Hartford, doing research for what became my diss., and I very fondly recall the productive archival situation up there, the CSL and the CHS, and walking repeatedly past the Twain House on the way between the two, and NOT going in! If you go to Hartford this summer, swing by Philly on the way out or back. Practically just down the street from there!

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:51:59 +0000

You’re welcome. If you do come to CT this summer, please let me know. I live about 30-35 minutes from Hartford.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:23:40 +0000

And KC–thanks for the intel on the Mark Twain House. I may be in that neighborhood this summer, and so may get there finally. (I spent months in Hartford researching my dissertation, but being a pretty broke grad student, didn’t feel like I could spend the time or the money touring his house or the Harriet Beecher Stowe house, which is right next-door. False economies! How much more memorable would have been an afternoon in the Twain and Stowe houses, than the 6 or 7 crummy seventeenth-century wills and inventories I copied down instead at the Connecticut State Library!)

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:13:56 +0000

Rachel–good questions. I wonder if this tension for public historians is related to the fact that women dominate the field (at least from what I’ve seen.) On the one hand, public historians are put down by other historians for not being intellectual enough, while on the other they’re warned away from pretending to have expertise or an understanding of a topic that’s better than “the public” has. Sounds like a classic double-bind to me!

And Leslie, KC, and Indyanna–great suggestions. I’ve actually posted on the Mutter Museum and the AFIP (just click here.) I like the disgusting artifacts–but for those who have tastes superior to mine, Indyanna’s recommendations should please any art lover and/or bibliophile. (I have to get back to Philadelphia one of these days to hit the Rosenbach–I managed never to get there, in all of my 7 years in the Philadelphia area!)

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:07:06 +0000

The Mutter in Philly is, um, interesting, if you like anatomical curiosities, etc. Philadelphia has its share of mainstream and big museums, but… Art lovers might want to check out the idiosyncratic Barnes Foundation in its original suburban location, where under the will of the offbeat Dr. Barnes, it insists that it’s an art school rather than a museum. It’s about to be hijacked into town where it will become a big tourist draw. Bibliophiles and scholars of African-Americana should head to the Library Company of Philadelphia. It insists, rightly, that it’s a library, and in fact it was one of Benjamin Franklin’s major projects. But it also has 2-3 small but exquisite exhibitions a year from its own print and pictorial collections in its tiny exhibit space that are great to see. It is also starting a new “Program in African American History,” and they give great fellowship, too. Free to all scholars and visitors. Finally, there’s the Rosenbach Museum, on 2000 block of DeLancey Street, which commemorates two quirky book dealers and brothers whose townhouse holds the residue of their life’s work. Anyone working at the Huntington Library in San Marino should seek out Henry E. Huntington’s angry letter to Philip Rosenbach, berating him for robbing him blind on a carload of books that Rosenbach acquired for HEH. They used to have a copy of it displayed in their vestibule. A riot…

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:11:09 +0000

Along the same lines as Leslie, I’d recommend the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia: http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter_hist.htm
“Disturbingly informative” is their motto — an understatement if you’ve visited seen their late curator on the Letterman show.

In the Nutmeg state, I recommend the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Hillstead Museum, and the Mark Twain House. The latter is in serious financial trouble, so do support it if you can.

As to the question about public history vs. academic history — our public history M.A. is going gang-busters. It’s really raised our profile both in the state and out of state — we’re now getting out of state students which was very rare in the past.