history pragmatic historian

Challenge – How Would You Preserve an Artifact?

By Mary | by Mary

One more challenge for the time being, this one related to the preservation of historical resources. In the museum field, we tend to call 3-dimensional historical resources “artifacts” and books, documents, and photos “archival materials.” The term “artifact” can also encompass archival materials, so to simplify this post, I’ll mostly use “artifact.” Artifacts and archival materials make their way to museum collections through a variety of routes, but often they come to museums from individuals…

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history pragmatic historian

Challenge – Using Archival Materials in an Institution

By Mary | by Mary

Here is my second challenge related to locating and preserving historical resources. Challenge – Using Archival Materials in an Institution Visit your local historical society or museum, one that has a research archive open to the public. Ask to see a local newspaper from the year of your birth. Spend time looking through the newspaper, noting anything interesting you find. Be sure to examine what was happening on the day of your birth, even if…

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history pragmatic historian

Challenge: Investigating an Everyday Item’s History

By Mary | by Mary

In my last post, I discussed the bottom level of History’s Hierarchy of Purpose, which was Resource Location & Preservation, the foundation for all of history’s other purposes. Today and over the next few posts, I will issue a number of challenges in order to enhance your ability to locate and preserve historic resources. Challenge – Investigating an Everyday Item’s History Find an item in your home that you are curious about. If it has…

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