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Blog Housekeeping @ The Pragmatic Historian

Having blogged my way through numerous blogs since 2006, I have seen many changes in the blogging landscape. Blogs began as a way for individuals to share their thoughts on the web. They were often personal journals, which some people loved and others thought were TMI. And then organizations, advertisers, entrepreneurs, and news sources got hold of blogging technology and turned it into a money-making content factory. Social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat,…

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history pragmatic historian

Historians Are Explorers

Historians are explorers. Their terrain is the past, Vast, deep, complicated. Their tools: Archival materials, Three-dimensional artifacts, Places and structures. Their discoveries are wondrous, Though-provoking, Potentially dangerous, Life-changing. They collect the past, Analyze it, And bring it into the present, So that it remains useful Now And into the future. Historians reanimate the dead. >>> Want adventure? Become a historian!

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Should Museums Charge a Tipping Fee?

This post is likely to ruffle a few feathers. Let’s ruffle away, shall we? (If you are a donor to museum collections and you’d like to avoid the ruffling, see the caveat at the end of this post.) “If You Don’t Take It, It Will End Up in a Landfill” I can’t tell you how many times people who’ve donated items for museum collections have said, “If you don’t take it, it will end up…

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