Public History at JMU

    Historians today practice their discipline in a variety of careers as well as in more traditional academic settings. Those historians who work in museums, archives, government agencies, libraries, historic preservation organizations, businesses, contract history firms, cultural resource management firms, and historic sites are known as public historians because they use their skills as historians to serve a public audience.

    The concentration in Public History trains students in the broad range of skills and issues associated with public history while providing them with a solid general background in history. The concentration provides a foundation for history majors seeking employment as public historians and also prepares students for graduate study in public history. Students pursuing the concentration augment their foundation of traditional history courses by taking introductory and specialized public history courses and completing a semester-long internship.

Above: Historic Preservation students inspecting the attic of an early Rockingham county springhouse (left) and posing outside of an outbuilding researched as a class project (right).

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