Introduction: Public History in West Virginia

Irecently asked graduate students in the public history program at WVU if they thought public history was a field, a method, or a medium, and not surprisingly, the class was equally divided. It really is all three, and as a field, public historians have had difficulty defining exactly what it is. In general, most will agree that public historians are historians first and foremost, but must also be skilled in working collaboratively and with clients who often decide the scope of the research and define the historical questions to be answered. In developing a research plan, a public historian will always ask “who is the audience” and must understand the intended outcome. It is the emphasis on the latter that leads many to define public history as a medium, or by a sampling of its outcomes. I myself am guilty of simply stating that we train historians who work in museums, archives, historic preservation, for the federal government, or as consultants who conduct research for corporate histories and commemorative events, for example. This can be problematic when the skills needed for the medium trump the skills a historian brings to a project. There are graduate programs specific to the unique skills needed for historic preservations, archivists, and museum professionals that may or may not include training in history. In other cases, the field is defined by what it is not. For example, public historians do not necessarily want to teach or work in the academy and are generally more professionally satisfied making historical narratives accessible to wider audiences than a small cadre of scholars.

By emphasizing how it’s different from more traditional approaches to historical scholarship, public history oftentimes becomes a repository for anything that falls outside of traditional historical scholarship. Documentary editing projects, oral history, digital history, and almost any job outside of the academy are often classified as public history. However, is 1143-page volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States covering 1969-1976 really accessible to public audiences? Yes and no. The historians in the Office of the Department of State are mandated to record and make accessible the history of U.S. Foreign relations and painstakingly sift through classified documents and select those that need to be included to convey a fairly comprehensive narrative. In essence, these documents are made publicly accessible. On the other hand, I would like to know who, other than full-time scholars working on monographs, could or would actually read such a lengthy work. However, since it is not a traditional monograph, documentary editing projects often fall under the rubric of public history without much thought to audience or accessibility, two essential characteristics of public history as method. In actuality, I do not see much value in categorizing historical programs or products as public history or not, but only present this example to illustrate the difficulty of defining what exactly it is. The articles included in this issue illustrate several commonalities of public history, whether it is considered as field, method, or medium. Case studies may be the best means of showcasing the breadth of public history, its ability to positively impact communities, and the complexity that results from an approach to the study of the past that engages diverse viewpoints, needs, and interests.

A common theme throughout the three articles is an emphasis on place and local history. Public history often centers on place as the core of its analysis because most people experience the past through a connection to the local geography or places they visit. Consider the state’s historical marker program. Like most states, West Virginia’s historic marker program began during the New Deal, when local governments focused on each state’s unique features, often documenting the stories and lives of its residents. Local groups sought to preserve their histories on the landscape and either placed markers at sites of significance, or chose sites to commemorate what they thought were important aspects of their heritage. The West Virginia GeoExplorer Project (WVGP) described by William Theriault embeds geography as a core feature in its goal to make historical resources accessible. Much of the...