Category: history

history museums pragmatic historian

MALHM Conference 2019

By Mary | by Mary

‘Tis conference season in the Minnesota museum world. It starts in early spring and runs through the fall, with all sorts of fascinating conferences available for further education and networking. I’m not terribly keen on the term “networking” in the context of conferences, partially because networking has such a glad-handy, inauthentic reputation, partially because conferences often don’t give people time to network, and partially because folks in the Minnesota museum field tend to be toiling…

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history pragmatic historian

Weaponizing History

By Mary | by Mary

Here at The Pragmatic Historian, my main purpose is to show people how to use history in everyday life. Actually, most of us already use history on a daily basis, so my true purpose is to point out what is so obvious that no one sees it anymore. Much of the time, history is used in positive ways. It is used to build understanding and empathy between people,  provide inspiration, teach us critical thinking, help…

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history pragmatic historian

The Covert Power of Fiber Arts

By Mary | by Mary

In this week’s post, I continue my discussion of Margaret Renkl’s article “Waking Up to History” in the New York Times. To see where this began, read last Monday’s post. Are Fiber Arts a Way to Subjugate Women? Along with being a public historian, I am a fiber artist and have been since I was a child. I learned some from my mom, who crochets extraordinary afghans, but I was also encouraged in my self-taught…

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history pragmatic historian

Raise Your Voice x 2 – National Register & Explore Minnesota

By Mary | by Mary

The rules get written by those who show up. Two opportunities to show up and raise your voice are upon us and deadlines for input are imminent. National Register of Historic Places Proposed Rule Changes The Department of the Interior is proposing rule changes for nominating properties to the National Register of Historic Places. One proposed new rule would allow those who own more land to have more say in whether their properties are placed…

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history museums pragmatic historian

Inclusive History Is Hiding in Plain Sight

By Mary | by Mary

Waking Up to History An opinion piece by Margaret Renkl in the New York Times caught my attention recently. Called “Waking Up to History,” the piece explores Renkl’s experiences with learning fiber arts from her grandmothers and how she cast those experiences aside by the time she was in college because she “had internalized the message that work traditionally done by men is inherently more valuable than work traditionally done by women.” As a feminist,…

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