Public Historians at Work Center for Public History @ University of Houston

In an increasingly digitized world, public historians have new opportunities to reach wider audiences than ever before. However, translating our work online for and with public audiences requires more than simply uploading essays and images. In this conversation among the directors of SYRIOS (recorded Fall 2023), we learn how a digital exhibit devoted to ancient coins from Syria experiments with new technologies and techniques from data science and digital media. Specifically, SYRI...

Over the course of the 20th century, Houston evolved into a global city as immigrants from across the world came to call the city home. In this special supplement, undergraduate students from the University of Houston explore Houston’s undertold immigrant stories. Together, they reveal a range of experiences that uncover often overlooked textures of the city. In this episode, students recount the lives of Jewish-Latin Americans who settled in 1960s and 1970s Houston. These immigrants be...

Over the course of the 20th century, Houston evolved into a global city as immigrants from across the world came to call the city home. In this special supplement, undergraduate students from the University of Houston explore Houston’s undertold immigrant stories. Together, they reveal a range of experiences that uncover often overlooked textures of the city. In this episode, students recount the lives of Jewish-Latin Americans who settled in 1960s and 1970s Houston. These immigrants be...

Over the course of the 20th century, Houston evolved into a global city as immigrants from across the world came to call the city home. In this special supplement, undergraduate students from the University of Houston explore Houston’s undertold immigrant stories. Together, they reveal a range of experiences that uncover often overlooked textures of the city. In this episode, students recount the lives of Jewish-Latin Americans who settled in 1960s and 1970s Houston. These immigrants be...

In Spring 2022, Dr. Mark Goldberg (Associate Professor of History, University of Houston) decided to try something new with his undergraduate history course. As a way of enriching his students’ engagement with Jewish Latinx culture, Goldberg partnered with Holocaust Museum Houston to guide his class through the recording and archiving of six interviews with members of this community. A year later on November 28, 2023, Goldberg sat down with one of his undergrads, Miranda Ruzinsky, to reflect ...

In the practice of public history, how the wider community receives a project is just as important as the intentions behind its creation. As work done for and with public audiences, the exhibits, media, and spaces we cultivate form a dialogue where agency is shared, emotions are welcome, and diverse experiences are honored. As Dr. Stephen Vider comments in Season 2, “I think that we place so much emphasis on the intellectual value of our research, but I think many people engage with history i...