Public history

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Public history is the practice of conveying history to an audience that is not specialized in the field of history being presented - generally this means a non-academic audience. Public history is history that both engages the public and invites the public to participate in the writing of history.

[edit] Institutions that practice Public History

Public History is practiced in a wide variety of institutions. Some of the most common places one might witness public history is in museums, historic homes, sites, parks, battlefields, and archives.

[edit] Public Historians

A public historian is anyone who practices public history. This could be a museum curator, a historic interpreter at a battlefield, an educational consultant, a person researching genealogy or a website designer.

[edit] Media Used by Public Historians

To think of public history only in terms of Museum exhibits is far too limiting. While museum displays are a form of public history, so are historical books - both fiction and non-fiction, historical documentaries and movies, historical websites as well as historical artwork. This is not an exhaustive list.