As a longtime museum worker who has observed many children within a museum setting over the years and the parent of 3 adult children who all show an interest in various aspects of history and love visiting museums, I have a few insights about how to cultivate an interest in history in children. For your convenience (and to play nicely with Google’s algorithms), I present these insights in list form, however none of them is…
I recently watched the PBS NOVA documentary “Dawn of Humanity” on Netflix. This almost 2-hour exploration of anthropologists excavating a cache of bones deep in a South African cave was riveting. The bones turned out to be from a previously-unknown species of hominid. Because the cache held the bones of so many individuals, the paleoanthropologists studying the cave surmised it was an intentional burial site. The documentary features Dr. Lee Berger, the lead paleoanthropologist for the…
As we move to the middle of History’s Hierarchy of Purpose, we come to Connection & Empathy. History can be used to create a connection to other people, to our past, and to ourselves. By developing these connections, history can help us develop empathy for others. Empathy is the ability to put oneself in the experiences of another, to feel what they feel. This is especially important when it comes to people who seem to…
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…