HIS 200 - Public Memory and Public History (SYS) (1)

This course will examine the often contentious, but vitally important discussions over popular presentations of America’s past for the general public. Americans have an insatiable appetite for representations of the nation’s past, as demonstrated by the popularity of historic sites, historical re-enactments, museums, memorials and monuments, documentaries, Hollywood films, and online exhibits. We will investigate the rich potential of public history sites and memory “work” and examine them for what they reveal about the past as well as the present. Who owns the past? What is a site’s cultural message? Whose history is memorialized and what stories are left out? What is at stake in the process of remembering and the process of forgetting? Through readings, discussions, films, guest speakers, and field trips to museums and historic sites (in-person and virtual), we will critically examine and discover the meanings that sites, narratives, artifacts, and monuments hold for those who construct them and visitors who experience them. Course activities will include opportunities for students to contribute to public history projects. Only open to sophomores.
(Sophomore Year Seminar (SYS)) (Humanities)