Category: News

Crowd-sourcing: Does the Public Deserve a Vote?

So if you have been on the museum conference circuit in the past two years, the term “crowd-sourcing” is not new to you. Conference sessions aplenty have been conducted about this concept, discussing it from every angle – Is it good? Is it bad? How do we get more? How do we get less? How do we convince people who think it is bad that it is good? How do we convince people who think it is good that it is bad? Round and round and round. No decisions made. Which is good. This is not a topic the museum community should decide on its own. (more…)

Lack of history in schools gets some mainstream coverage

It isn’t really news to those of us in the history field that schools today are cutting back on history lessons in favor of the math and reading skills that appear on standardized tests. But I was happy to see this issue get some national mainstream exposure on CNN’s “Perry’s Principles” in an article called “Subject Matters: Why students fall behind on history“. (more…)

What lessons can we learn from the NPS’s President’s House?

With the start of 2011 comes the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War – the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War of Northern Aggression, the War for Southern Independence, the Freedom War. All of these names have appeared in history text books. The version of the war I studied in school is different than the version you studied. What you learned about the causes of the Civil War depends on the decade and the state in which you were educated. (more…)

Very few Americans can pass a test on the American Revolution – can you?

Scary numbers of people know very little about the events surrounding the American Revolution. For those of us in the history world, this probably does not come as a huge shock. But in light of the cuts being made to history and social studies programs across the nation in favor of subjects on the standardized tests, this information is starling and worth discussing. (more…)

Texas pols debate history curriculum – but should they be making the decisions?

So I admit that I am not the most qualified person to voice an opinion on this, which is why I’d love to hear your opinions. This New York Times article from last month talks about the Texas Board of Education and their vote to make their history curriculum standards much more conservative. This affects not just the children of Texas, but the children of the nation, as Texas is a large state and a large purchaser of textbooks. This means that textbook companies will tailor their book content to Texas’s standards. (more…)

Two historic homes suffering

Here is an article about the Twain House, which Darrin Dickey remarked on in one of his comments on this site’s “Keep your eyes on your mission” post, and Edith Wharton’s House, both of whom need to raise funds or be forced to close their doors. (more…)

Alexander Hamilton’s house moved

This is an interesting story that caught my eye…Alexander Hamilton’s 206-year-old home was moved about 2 blocks to a new location in Harlem over the weekend. (more…)

The future of military history

An article by Justin Ewers appearing in the U.S. News and World Report paints a good-news/bad-news portrait of the state of military history amongst the public and within the educational system in America. (more…)