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mulligan
Electronic Resources and the Education of History Professionals*
William H. Mulligan, Jr.
Murray State University
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THE TRANSFORMING EFFECTS of the tremendous advances in technology
that have reshaped the economy and many other elements of American
society have had an equally profound impact on historical agencies.
The personal computer, the Internet, and associated electronic communications
developments have already transformed the museum and historical
agency world in a variety of ways almost too numerous to enumerate.
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These changes have taken place in a remarkably short period of time,
during the professional lives of still relatively young people.
These changes demand the thoughtful attention of those of us who
direct programs in public history, museum studies, and related fields
if we are to train graduate students for successful careers in the
field. Those who direct the work in these organizations must also
become aware of these changes. |
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Looking back, I recall learning FORTRAN
and how to punch data cards as part of computer science and statistics
as a history graduate student in the early 1970s. Once data was
punched into the cards it meant staying up into the early morning
hours countless nights in the windowless, underground computer center
while the lab-coated computer center staff ran the deck-of-cards
programs as "batch jobs." Of course there were the minuscule errors
that, if not corrected, would lead to "fatal errors"; and then there
was waiting for another batch run, and so forth until finally the
program "ran" successfully. Much of the data for my doctoral dissertation
was punched onto cards and "run" in this way. Recalling this for
our students is, of course, equivalent to the classic "I walked
barefoot ten miles to school in the snow every day, uphill both
ways" stories. They simply smile and allow us to wax nostalgic.
Their world has included computers for nearly as long as they can
remember. |
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As early as the mid-1980s, however, I was privileged to implement both computerized book and manuscript cataloging (using OCLC) and the administrative use of computers (at the time this meant word processing and accounting) while director of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University. Such uses are now commonplace in all but the smallest historical agencies, at least those with paid staff. The computer is a part of the day-to-day work routine of nearly everyone in the field. Computers are now used in a wide variety of historical agency applications, from collections management to maintaining membership lists and fund raising appeals, and have become increasingly "user friendly." It is now even possible to put together a reasonably attractive and effective web page without knowing a line of HTML code. The days when "the" computer lived in a special room attended by lab-coated acolytes have given way to the ubiquitous desktop, more powerful that those white coated operators ever dreamed computers might become. What this now means is that no one can go forth claiming to be a public historian of any type without being thoroughly computer literate. |
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Listserves and e-mail mean that solitary public historians or a small professional staff at a small institution now have ready access to a large pool of colleagues on a daily basis with whom they can discuss professional issues and from whom they can seek advice almost instantaneously. The isolation of the staff at small organizations is rapidly disappearing in part because of the ability to discuss professional issues through listserves and keep current with the profession through the websites of professional organizations and government agencies.2 Nearly every professional organization in the field of public history, broadly defined, has a website. These sites offer far more than bare bones information about the organization, they contain a variety of useful professional information as well as links to graduate programs offering professional training. The site for the National Council for Public History (NCPH) is a good example.3 The same is true of government agencies at the federal, state, and even local level.4 |
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In addition, researchers can search on-line catalogues and web-based finding aides which have largely replaced traditional paper finding aids. They can do this from their offices and they can carefully plan necessary visits to repositories, potentially increasing the successful use of collections. They can also discuss their work with colleagues anywhere in the world without leaving their offices. Museums and other cultural organizations can publicize their programs and activities in powerful new ways and virtual exhibits can reach people who are far from the museum that mounted the exhibit.5 Virtual exhibits can also serve as relatively permanent records of temporary exhibits and thus continue to highlight segments of a collection. Consequently, the virtual exhibit has become a powerful new way for museums to fulfill their mission and reach a larger audience than they could with traditional methods. These are only a few of the powerful new tools that computers and the Internet offer historical agencies. |
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Preparing people to maximize the opportunities these resources offer must begin during their professional training. The Murray State Public History Program which began in the fall of 1993 when I joined the faculty now attempts to integrate electronic resources thoroughly into its public history graduate program.6 Students in the program become familiar with the Internet and computers both as users and as contributors. Initially, this largely involved their participation in professional listserves and reviewing web pages. As the university has made access to computers and the Internet almost universal on campus and their use in classrooms much easier, however, our use of computers has been steadily expanded. Interactive web pages have been developed for the basic syllabus for all six of our basic public history courses. These pages have links to bibliographies, both those I have generated and those others have posted. Each has links to appropriate federal, state, and private agencies and professional organizations. There are also links for students, or others who access the syllabus, to contact the instructor via email. As each course is offered, the interactive nature of the basic syllabus has been enhanced in a number of ways.7 |
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At the most elementary level email is used, via a link on the syllabus, for students to ask me questions about assignments, arrange appointments, or otherwise communicate with me about the course. For each course I set up a course list, as a nickname in Eudora, that allows me to contact all of the students in the course whenever necessary.8 This type of email is used for announcements of on- and off-campus lectures and programs I want students to know about and attend if possible as well as exhibits at nearby museums and programs on the array of history-content cable channels. Students can also communicate questions about the course and its assignments. In addition to the value of communication and exchange of information within the course, I also want students to become accustomed to using email for routine professional communication and to develop facility with it. Integrating it into the course accomplishes this implicitly and, I think, more effectively than targeted assignments. |
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I am also concerned that students
learn about the value of participation in professional lists. While
I recommend full, appropriate participation in the list, I only
require my students to "lurk" because I think there is already too
much clutter on lists without adding more "I'm a student in..."
messages. They also write an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses
of listserve participation for the area of the profession we are
dealing with in a particular course, referring to the specific list
they have monitored. I do require them to submit a copy of the acknowledgment
of their sign on and sign off messages. There are a number of purposes
for this assignment. I want them to know more than that the listserve
exists. I want them to be familiar with its character and personality—and
each list I've ever been on for any time has a personality—so
that when they graduate they will have realistic expectations of
what listserve participation can provide. I also think that simply
observing the various lists is educational. It allows students to
see the professional issues that are of current concern and the
types of questions and answers that exist. A large part of graduate
education in public history, if not the largest part, is developing
the student's identity as a member of the profession, not just as
a student, but as a participant in the enterprise of public history.
They also get a sense for the nature of professional discourse—although
the level of civility on some listserves is somewhat below what
we would all hope for. |
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Course syllabi also provide links
to national and state professional organizations, government agencies
and offices, and other agencies that students draw on for course
assignments and general professional development, as mentioned above.
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I try to include every organization I think students who will work
in public history generally, or the specific area covered by the
course, will need to be familiar with whether there is a specific
assignment using the link or not. I tell students that there is
information on the syllabus they may not need during the semester,
but might need later in their careers and urge them to familiarize
themselves with the agencies and organizations involved. I avoid
a "familiarization" assignment, because I want them to approach
it as professionals—developing knowledge banks they will draw
on in their careers, not just a checklist to work through to please
a professor. My clear sense, based on conversations and class discussions,
is that the majority do in fact explore the links, whereas in the
past when I would pass this information out as brochures they would
file them away or leave them for me to retrieve after class. We
have more discussion, both in and out of class, about these organizations
and their niche in the profession now than earlier in the program's
development when we relied on brochures for the same information.
Students today do not need to be "sold" on the value of using computers
or the Internet, but they do need to be directed to the appropriate
sites and reminded to apply the same critical skills they apply
to traditional sources to what they find on the Internet. |
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There are specific assignments in several of the courses that potentially involve heavy use of the web. For example, in my Historic Preservation course students either prepare a National Register of Historic Places nomination or a lesson plan following the Teaching with Historic Places model as the semester project.10 Links in the syllabus allow them to obtain all the forms and manuals they need directly from the National Park Service for both assignments either by downloading them or by ordering them via email. Additional links are provided to bibliographies and other resources, either existing web resources or ones I have created for the course or another of our public history courses. In addition these links are intended to make students aware of the services available from various organizations so that when they enter the profession they know where to go with various questions when needs arise. We have links to the National Park Service as mentioned, but also to the National Trust, Main Street, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Kentucky SHPO, etc. Reviewing the links and accessing the various organizational and agency web sites have also proved to be an effective way to introduce students to the structure of historic preservation as a professional field. They learn the identity of the various agencies, offices, and organizations involved, their role and function, their publications and services, among other types of information that they will need to access on a fairly regular basis as working professionals. |
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Also, since I assume many, if not most, of our graduates will work for small organizations, I want them to know what is available through the web from the IRS, for example, about the tax code and related forms as they relate to not-for-profit educational organizations and the requirements of Section 501(c)3 of the tax code. The web can be a powerful supplement to the limited reference resources often available at smaller organizations because of budgetary limitations. Similarly, in the Administration of Historical Organizations course there are links to sites that deal with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and an array of other everyday administrative concerns. For someone in a small organization without an extensive reference collection nearby this can be very useful knowledge.11 |
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To give prospective students a clear idea of what the program involves we also use our public history program webste. Syllabi, as well as student, alumni, and faculty pages, and conference papers and presentations, give them a good idea of what the Murray State program is about. Prospective students can contact current students and alumni directly via email links to ask questions about the program and determine whether or not it is appropriate to their career goals.12 |
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The real test of the success of a
program like ours is quite simple—do our students find work,
and do they do well as history professionals? Our students must
go out and function in the real world. So far, they are finding
professional jobs and they are doing well. Several have implemented
computerized cataloging of artifacts at the museums they work in,
others have developed web pages for their institutions. They communicate
with one another and the larger profession by email and through
listserves. They have appeared on programs at regional and state
professional meetings. Our first graduate (1994) is already director
of a museum. It appears that our efforts to help them not only to
see computers as a necessary and natural part of the world of the
historical agency but also to gain experience with this media as
part of professional training needed to function in the real environment
of today's historical agencies, is working. |
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Notes
*An earlier version of this essay was presented at the H-NET/AHA
annual meeting in Washington, DC
1
An important guide to history resources on the Internet is Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott A. Merriam, The History Highway 2000: A Guide to Internet Resources, Second edition. (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2000).
2
These include Museum-L (Museum-L@HOME.LSOFT.COM) and H-Public (H-Public@HNET.msu.edu).
3
The NCPH website is at: http://www.iupui.edu/~ncph/home.html.
4
A good example of a federal agency website with a broad range of useful information for public historians is the Cultural Resources Program of the National Park Service at: http://www.cr.nps.gov.
5
Good examples of virtual exhibits developed by a county historical society are those of the Brazoria County (Texas) Historical Museum on the settlement of their area of Texas (http://www.bchm.org/Austin/colonial.html) and on the Civil War and reconstruction (http://www.bchm.org/wrr/). There are many more such exhibits than can be listed here.
6
Most of our graduates have pursued careers in museums.
7
The public history courses with web based syllabi are:
Historic Preservation: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/592syl.htm
Public History: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/595syl.htm
Museum Studies: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/HIS598.htm
Oral History: Project Development: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/665new.htm
Administration of Historical Organizations: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/666syl.htm
Archival Administration: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/HIS667.htm
8
The university now has software that will allow a listserve to set up for each course. I will switch to this as each course is offered.
9
In the United States history courses links are provided to on-line exhibits and other resources that supplement the lectures. In the research methods course there are links to web pages with source material on the topic of the seminar--usually Salem Witchcraft. All of my web-based syllabi can be accessed through: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/mull-pers.htm#courses.
10
The syllabus for HIS 592 Historic Preservation is available at: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/592syl.htm
11
The syllabus for the Administration of Historical Organizations course is available at: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/666syl.htm
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http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/Bill.Mulligan/Index.htm
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