Quarter's End

The Wednesday will be the close to my quarter as a graduate student in the public history department with Wright State University. I am thrilled with my decision to go back to school and am generally loving every minute of it. While I have struggled writing papers, I know that next quarter will be easier since I am back in the swing of things.
I wanted to say I have learned so much about the public history field this quarter and I am excited to learn more about it in the following quarters. Introduction to Archives and Introduction to Public History has given me a beginners knowledge that I will continue to use as I finish school and pursue my career. Before taking Intro to Archives, I would have never thought about being a corporate archivist but it sound interested. I believe I will end up going to the museum route but never say never.
And as for you dear readers, if you have any questions, ask them. Has my blog gotten you interested in the Public History program? If so, do you know where to look? I am more than willing to give information if anybody would like to know more. Until next time.

Work

I work at a surgeons office and can't help but notice how working in the file room is a lot like working in an archives.  While I have not worked in an archives, from what I've learned, we do many of the same things as archivists. For instance, a records manager has to keep track of all the laws for records. We have to follow laws about charts. We know that we are allowed to shred charts after ten years. Like archives, we have to go through documents and put them in an order. As I've been taking my archives class, I can't help but think of things we do and can do for our records. Public History is around everyone every day. You just have to know where to look.

Corporate Archives

When you see the word corporate, what does it make you think of? It makes me think of a stuffy office and an organization focused only on a business and not the people. Would you be surprised to know there are corporate archivists? Today in my class, we had a speaker talk about working as a corporate archivists. When working as a corporate archivist, the archivist will focus on the corporate office they work for. For example, our speaker works for Nationwide Insurance so all of her work focuses on Nationwide. Through the archives, she is able to keep track of records from the beginning of the company. These records can include documents from company picnics to personal files to records. Because of all the archives, the archivists is able to create exhibits for the company. She set up an exhibit based off a facebook profile and used records from the 50s and 60s to set up the exhibit. This got her coworkers interested in the history of Nationwide and of Columbus, Ohio where headquarters is located. Along with creating exhibits, she has created an intra-office blog where she finds items from the archives that relate to events going on in the office. After listening to the speaker, it makes corporate archives sound interesting. Just another thing to consider as I work my way into a career.

Appraisal

A few weeks ago in my Introduction to Archives class, we learned about appraisal. Appraisal is when an archivist will get a collection from a perspective donor and determine whether the collection is valuable. By determining value, it means whether the collection would be beneficial to the archives. Appraisal can also be done for museums.
While we were learning about this, I couldn't help but think of the TV show Pawn Stars. The show takes place at a Las Vegas pawn shop. Throughout the show, people bring items that they think are valuable and the workers then appraise the items to determine if they are worth anything. While archivists are not allowed to determine if an item is worth a monetary value, they still can determine the item's worth.
From learning about appraisal, I have realized that public history is everywhere. Not just archivists can appraise things but anybody can appraise things. In your life you can appraise your own items.
That's it for now. Until next time.

What is Public History?

Since starting my program, everybody has asked the same question. What is public history? There is not a clear and easy answer because it encompasses so many different things. Generally when people ask me, I tell them that it involves museums and archives along with public history events such as the Renaissance Festival.
To go in more depth, a public historian can do many things with their degree. For starters, there is the archives section. With archives, you can work with old documents and 3D objects. These items will be divided into collection. While many people think archives are related to just historical events, such as the Civil War, they can relate to many different events or groups. Many big companies will have a collection of archives that they keep about their company. There are special corporate archivists who work with these specific archives. Also, there are collections from average people. Many ways we learn about the past are through diaries that have been donated. Along with working on collections, archivists are also there to answer any research questions people may have regarding specific collections.
With museums there are also numerous opportunities. For starters, at the basic level is a volunteer. Museums and archives would not survive without volunteers. Volunteers can help with anything from giving tours to answer questions. There are also people who are interpreters and help with tours. Some museums have museum educators who work with teachers to create lessons to make the students think. There is also somebody who designs the exhibit and a curator who runs the overall area.
This is just a small portion of things people can do with public history. By being a public historian, you are able to interact with the public and hopefully both entertain and education them. Both archives and museums are great options. Some archives, such as Wright State's Archives and Special Collections, get phone call all over the world for help with research. Some museums are small where it is run by only volunteers. While archives and museums may be different, they have the same goal of getting their knowledge out to the public.
I am very excited to share all my knowledge and I look forward to class each week. More to come. Until next time.