Wouldn’t it be fun to have a personal historian assigned to you, someone to capture the significant details of your life? As it turns out, we each have several personal historians hitching a ride within our bodies. One of these personal historians is memory, the neurological mechanism that allows us to remember what has happened over time. The constancy of memory helps to shape our personalities, keeps us from entering dangerous situations, and encourages us…
A good friend of mine, fellow historian, and colleague in the museum field, David Grabitske, uses a term that encompasses the entire history field: History Enterprise. David is currently the Site Manager for the Texas Historical Commission, but he previously served for almost a decade as the State History Services Manager for the Minnesota Historical Society. As the History Services Manager (we in Minnesota knew his department better as Field Services), David traveled all over…
When discussing any topic, it’s useful to start with definitions so that everyone involved is on the same page. I sincerely believe this is one of the reasons for the political polarization we see in the United States today, a lack of common, agreed-upon definitions. Instead, terms like “family values” or “immigration” are tossed around and people nod or shake their heads at whoever is using the term, depending upon the definition they are operating…