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History professor Stephen Feeley and senior Josh Irvin

Public History

Public history refers to how history is shared with a wide audience. If you've ever visited a museum or stopped to read a historical sign in a national park, you've engaged with public history! McDaniel's interdisciplinary minor in Public History will develop skills that can support you in careers in museums, historical societies, the parks service, archives, and heritage tourism. 

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Degree Types
Minor
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History
Communication
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Total credits
24
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Research Opportunities
Carroll County Historical Society, Union Mills Homestead, Baltimore & Washington, D.C.

Why McDaniel for Public History?

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In Public History courses at McDaniel, you'll learn what constitutes public history, the difference between history and memory, how the public develops an understanding of history, and how history is used and perceived in popular culture. 

The Public History minor pairs with a variety of majors, so you can learn how to share history with a wide audience no matter which subject area you specialize in.

Capitalizing upon McDaniel’s location near historic sites, valuable archives, and our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., this program includes a mix of classroom and hands-on experiences.

What Can You Do With a Degree in Public History? Public History Jobs

Many McDaniel History majors go into public history graduate programs and careers. The field includes roles like:

  • Museum Educator
  • Digital Records Preservation Specialist
  • Historic Site/Landmark Interpreter
  • Corporate Historian
  • Historic Preservationist
  • Museum Curator
  • Researcher
  • Archivist
  • Filmmaker
  • Librarian
  • Historic Site Manager
  • Professor/Educator
  • Heritage Partnership Planner
  • Communications or Administrative Specialist

Distinctive Courses

HIS 1115 - Introduction to Public History

From monuments and battlefields, to museums and historic houses, from commemorations and celebrations, to archives and websites, this course blends theory and experience to offer an overview of the practical aspects and professional opportunities of public history. Students will learn to think critically about the public presentation of history while being introduced to the theories and practices of public history. Course includes trips to area public history sites, which may include Gettysburg, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.

AHY 2210 - A History of Exhibitions

This course explores the practice of collecting and modes of displaying images and objects across time and world cultures. We will examine how the museum has served to shape racial and national narratives and identity through various case studies including ekphrastic writings from late antiquity, medieval hoarding, and 17th century Curiosity Cabinets and to the formulation of the idea of the encyclopedic museum, World's Fairs, museums of ethnography and natural history, and art exhibitions. Students will discuss and debate a variety of primary and theoretical texts on the power of exhibition planning, as well as topics related to "othering," subjugating and/or objectifying marginalized communities and cultures. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of repatriation of art that has been stolen from original cultures through role-playing scenarios. 

HIS 2271 - Hands-On History

This course is offered in cooperation with the Union Mills Homestead Foundation and offers students an opportunity to work with the historical collections at the Homestead to develop their skills in researching and writing of public history. Students will be given special access to the collections, visit the Homestead for special tours, and help tell the stories of the site. The collections include documents and artifacts from the era of the American Revolution into the early 20th Century.

HIS 3303 - Monuments and Memory

How do we remember significant events, people, and places? Who decides what should be remembered? This course will examine these ideas and explore various monuments across the United States. The course will require students to plan and design a way to remember a significant person or place as a final project.

Special Opportunities

Two students sit with Professor Qin Fang in front of a computer that shows a map.

Student-Faculty Collaborative Summer Research Program Bringing the Past to Life

McDaniel History majors receive close faculty mentorship while conducting research in a broad array of subjects through cutting-edge techniques. Recently, two History majors worked with Associate Professor Qin Fang to create digital versions of ancient Chinese maps as part of their collaborative summer research. 

Students promoting club activities on campus.

The McDaniel History Club

The McDaniel History Club gives students the opportunity outside the classroom to share their interests and promote history studies through films, lectures, and other extracurricular activities. Annually, senior history majors give their best advice to juniors on how best to plan and carry out a successful capstone research project and everyone gets invited to the annual History Picnic.

Zach Paugh History Academic Symposium 2024

Present at a Conference

McDaniel represents at the annual Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference - and often takes home a win. 

In 2024, senior Zach Paugh, History major from Easton, Maryland, won second prize in the American history division for his paper titled "John F. Kennedy’s Leadership: A Diplomatic Prevention of Nuclear War," which marked the 12th time since 2007 that a McDaniel student has won a prize at the conference. 

Public History Program Requirements

Public History requirements coming fall 2025.
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The McDaniel Commitment in Action

The McDaniel Commitment — a series of opportunities guaranteed to all students — provides enhanced mentoring and coaching, and ensures every undergraduate student completes at least two meaningful experiential learning opportunities.

McDaniel’s women’s basketball team in France.

Study Abroad

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Internships

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Research

Meet McDaniel History Students Student Perspectives

Raquel Sobczak posing with a "Be Kind" sign.

Meet a Green Terror Class of 2022: Raquel Sobczak History and Religious Studies

"Dr. Brad Stoddard in the Religious Studies department helped me view the world in a different lens," says Raquel. "Religion and Critical Thought was hands down the best class I have taken on campus. It provided me with a different lens to analyze religious groups, which I quickly learned can be refocused to learn about a group or individual. Things are rarely as they appear!"

 

 

Read about Raquel's McDaniel experience.
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Meet a Green Terror Class of 2024: Sydney Lewis English and History

With a dual History and English major, Sydney Lewis was well-equipped to contribute to McDaniel’s Westminster Detective Library through student-faculty research. 

"In the summer of 2022, I had the privilege of being an editorial assistant for Dr. Mary Bendel-Simso’s Westminster Detective Library, where I spent six weeks exploring online databases and archives to discover and recover detective stories that were written before the syndication of the Sherlock Holmes stories. In addition to actual research and work with the databases and archives, I curated, transcribed, edited, and uploaded these nearly forgotten detective stories to the Westminster Detective Library website."

Read about Sydney's McDaniel experience.
A male student holds a video game controller and smiles at the camera next to a large TV screen with a video game playing on it.

Students explore history through video games

In The Middle Ages though Video Games, Lecturer in History Jillian Bjerke is guiding first-year students through a journey into the past with video game play. A First Year Seminar, the course pairs an academic subject with an introduction to McDaniel and the college experience.

Read the full story.
Abbi Wicklein-Bayne folding the American flag while wearing her ranger uniform.

Impressive Outcomes Abbi Wicklein-Bayne ’94 Living History

Abbi Wicklein-Bayne's ’94 passion for history was firmly established during her time as a History major at McDaniel. Post-graduation, she remained in Maryland for graduate school, immersing herself in local history, and found her ideal career as a ranger in the National Park Service at Fort McHenry.

Read more about Abbi Wicklein-Bayne ’94

News for History

Related Programs

Cinema Communication Arabic & Middle Eastern Studies American Sign Language (ASL) Studies Asian Studies Environmental Studies
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Keep in Touch

Tell us a little about yourself and we'll share updates & information. (We'll also make sure you don't miss any important deadlines.)

Request More Info
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See Yourself Here

Take your first steps on the Hill! Visiting campus is one of the best ways to determine if McDaniel is right for you.

Visit McDaniel
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