history pragmatic historian

Our Polluted History

A block from my house is one of the oldest industrial areas of the city. The first railroad depot was along this stretch and there used to be a granite works in the strip, which was many blocks long and ran along the railroad line. Most of the track has been abandoned and a feed mill, which operated there for years and years, has pretty much vacated a two-block stretch of property. On one block…

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history museums pragmatic historian

Saving a Country’s Cuisine with History

A visitor to my museum suggested I watch “Chef’s Table,” a beautifully filmed Netflix documentary series that follows world-renowned chefs. It’s the sort of series where you can jump in anywhere because each episode focuses on a single chef and is a self-contained story. When I started the series, I seem to have jumped in on *Volume 4, the pastry chefs, but have been making my way back to earlier episodes. (*Netflix calls the seasons…

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challenge history museums pragmatic historian

Who Is Your Audience? (It’s Not Everyone)

In nonprofit organizations that create cultural events, particularly museums and historic sites, we like to think that everyone in the general public is our audience. That’s the great potential — that every soul who lives on earth will wander through our doors and be enamored with what we have to offer. That’s not true, of course. Challenges in Reaching an Audience People have to know we exist, be able to find us, have time to…

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