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Public History Program

Public History is a field of study that applies historical methods to the public sphere. The Public History and Preservation Program is offered as either a major or minor specialty of a master's degree. Students can choose to concentrate in museum studies or historic preservation. ?

Students with a major field in Public History must complete a thesis or project. Public History majors can minor in any subspecialty the department currently offers. Students majoring in U.S., European, or Global history can also minor in Public History. In conjunction with the College of Architecture and Planning, an 18-hour graduate certificate program in historic preservation is also available.

More about the Public History Program

Learning Outcomes

Graduate students in history develop skills in critical thinking, writing and independent research. Through history courses, students should be proficient in the following areas characteristic of critical thinking:

Textual analysis. Analyze texts of a variety of types, distinguishing the various philosophical, historical, and/or literary elements.
Interpretive skills. Engage with texts to develop supported meaningful readings.
Context awareness. Identify the cultural, historical, and intellectual influences on a text.
Ethical thinking. Recognize various ethical situations and ideas, and distinguish viable ethical positions from simple opinions or self-interest.

The department expects that students graduating with an MA in Public History will master the following general skills for their degrees:

the ability to pursue independent historical research projects
the ability to analyze historiographical arguments
the ability to analyze primary documents and develop arguments from them
the ability to create bibliographies using archival, library and Internet resources
the ability to write in a variety of formats, including historiographical essays, book reviews, and research papers
the ability to perform many tasks related to museum management or historic preservation