Category: history

history pragmatic historian

44 Pages & a Long-Standing Mission

By Mary | by Mary

Remember when PBS was THE domain of documentaries? No longer. Aside from cable, which we cut years ago, Netflix has a fabulous rotation of documentaries on all sorts of topics, even arcane, who-would-ever-think-to-make-a-movie-about-that? documentaries. A few nights ago, my husband and I watched 44 Pages, a documentary about Highlights magazine. Remember Highlights? If you have visited any doctor’s or dentist’s office in the past 6 or 7 decades, you have likely flipped through Highlights, especially…

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challenge history pragmatic historian

Challenge – Try Your Hand at Forecasting Climate Change Effects

By Mary | by Mary

Forecasting the future by looking at trends, both past and present, takes a bit of imagination. Today’s challenge is meant to stretch your imagination. Because the effects of climate change are in our faces, let’s use this as an opportunity to forecast what might happen where you are by looking at climate change in other areas of the world. Read the following articles for inspiration and then make note of what has happened to the…

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history pragmatic historian

Forecasting the Future with History

By Mary | by Mary

Between 2013 and 2014, the Center for the Future of Museums of the American Alliance of Museums offered an online program to teach willing museum staff how to think like futurists. Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums, put out the call for students and led us through this course by providing us with assignments digitally. Obviously, I was one of those willing students and I delighted in the course,…

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challenge history pragmatic historian

What’s in Your History Bin?

By Mary | by Mary

History is everywhere. I’ve always kind of known that, but since starting The Pragmatic Historian and purposely looking for it, I want to shout it from the rooftops: “HISTORY IS EVERYWHERE!!” Where the Past Begins Within the past week, I finished reading Amy Tan’s memoir, “Where the Past Begins.” If the title isn’t enough to convince you that she used history to write the book (the word “Past” is a dead giveaway), she opens the…

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history pragmatic historian time

The Importance of Dating

By Mary | by Mary

The Importance of Dating Today on The Pragmatic Historian, we’re going to discuss dating advice. Lest you think this has suddenly become a venue along the lines of Emily Post, Miss Manners or Tinder, let me put your mind at ease. Dating in the context of history is more mundane than building a relationship with a potential romantic partner but, I’d argue, no less important. In my post History in Numbers, where I discuss the…

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