On Doing Local History: Reflections on What Local Historians Do, Why, and What It Means - Softcover

Kammen, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0910050813 ISBN 13: 9780910050814

Publisher: Amer Assn for State & Local, 1986

Synopsis

Book by Kammen, Carol

About this title

About the Author

Carol Kammen has written and lectured about local history for many years. She has taught local history at Tompkins Cortland Community College and is now a senior lecturer at Cornell University, where she gives a course on Cornell history. In addition she has written three books about the history of her county, including What they Wrote (1978) and The Peopling of Tompkins County: A Social History (1985). The first edition of On Doing Local History (1986) was followed by Pursuit of Local History (1996) and the Encyclopedia of Local History (2000), which she co-edited with Norma Prendergast. In addition, she has written a dozen historical dramas that have been performed in Ithaca and regionally. Two, Escape to the North and The Day the Women Met, have been performed for 18,000 school children. For five years she wrote articles for New York History about doing history in New York State, and since 1995 she has written the editorials for History News, the quarterly of the American Association for State and Local History. She is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and currently lives above Cayuga's waters with her husband, also a historian, and a feline companion, Carrie Chapman Catt.

Review

This indispensable guide to 'doing' local history, first published in 1986, has been refreshed and updated, reflectiong changes in the field and insights the author has gleaned from her own experience. It is both a 'how-to' manual and a challenge for those pursuing local history in its many forms to think about what it is they do, and why. Historical society staff, teachers, students, academics, journalists, and anyone else who researches, writes, preserves, or enjoys local history can use this book. It is one of many worthwhile books, technical leaflets, and periodicals produced under the auspices of the American Association for State and Local History. (James E. Potter Nebraska History Vol. 83 Nos. 3 & 4 Fall/Winter 2002)

The confessions of local historians too often take on the air of apologias or special pleadings for why their works are important. It is more useful, perhaps, to reclaim the prominent place that local history has held in American letters since the birth of the republic and to avoid the common fallacy of speaking about local and national histories in dichotomous terms. Local history holds great value for many different audiences, each of which brings its own expectations, assumptions, and interests to thetask of doing local history. No single set of concerns or approaches defines local history as a field of historical inquiry. It would be as presumptuous as it would be incomplete to fashion a single definition that would serve all practitioners of localhistory. Local history is a big tent-the democratic province of both amateurs and professionals-and local historians are as diverse as their audiences. No one has a better appreciation or understanding of those realities than Carol Kammen, and certainlythere is no one with more authority to speak of them. . . . [H]ow often are local historians gently, engagingly, and effectively challenged to think about what they do and why and how they do it? The second and revised edition of Carol Kammen's On D (Terry A. Barnhart From The Foreword)

On Doing Local History is back and it's better than ever. While dedicated to the craft of presenting local history, On Doing is a book about the craft of history and should be required reading for all who consider themselves historians, local and otherwise. Kammen writes with sagacity, sensitivity, and perspective. From her philosophical reflections about the discipline of history to her learned advice on researching local history, Kammen is a delight and an inspiration. (Dwight T. Pitcaithley)

Carol Kammen is among the most creative, versatile, and insightful local historians practicing in the United States today. This excellent and highly readable revision of On Doing Local History adds to her reputation as a scholar and teacher of local history. It speaks easily to multiple audiences; it ranges broadly and boldly, integrating theory and historiography and method with practical, hands-on examples and advice. Kammen introduces her readers to the excitement and varieties of local history. She writes from experience about being a historian, doing history, and using history in a way that is clear, engaging, and interesting. On Doing Local History is sensitive to the interplay between memory and place in explaining and communicating local history. Like really good local history, it is accessible, highlights the specifics, and sets its subject matter in a broader context. (Philip V. Scarpino)

On Doing Local History is an indispensable resource for organizations and individuals dedicated to recording and publishing local stories. By following Kammen's advice, local chroniclers can enhance the credibility of their works and provide resources for future generations of researchers. (Kevin Britz Oregon Historical Quarterly)

The confessions of local historians too often take on the air of apologias or special pleadings for why their works are important. It is more useful, perhaps, to reclaim the prominent place that local history has held in American letters since the birth of the republic and to avoid the common fallacy of speaking about local and national histories in dichotomous terms. Local history holds great value for many different audiences, each of which brings its own expectations, assumptions, and interests to the task of "doing" local history. No single set of concerns or approaches defines local history as a field of historical inquiry. It would be as presumptuous as it would be incomplete to fashion a single definition that would serve all practitioners of local history. Local history is a big tent-the democratic province of both amateurs and professionals-and local historians are as diverse as their audiences. No one has a better appreciation or understanding of those realities than Carol Kammen, and certainly there is no one with more authority to speak of them. . . . [H]ow often are local historians gently, engagingly, and effectively challenged to think about what they do and why and how they do it? The second and revised edition of Carol Kammen's On Doing Local History, like the first edition, does that by continuing to make us think. New materials have been added without sacrificing what is timeless and true in the materials carried forward from the first edition. The author's revisions reflect changes that have occurred in the field of history since the publication of the original edition, and offer thoughtful perspectives on the themes, topics, approaches, and concerns of local historians past and present. On Doing Local History chronicles the history of local history in the United States, deconstructs the processes by which one generation revises what has been previously held true about the past, and provides concrete examples of how local history is actually done. This book is certainly pr (Terry A. Barnhart From The Foreword)

Good, solid, balanced primer on how to begin to do local history. (Richard Kastl Vernacular Architecure Newsletter)

Few books have become classics in their field, but such has been the case for Carol Kammen's On Doing Local History...[This] second edition...is a practical guide to the research and writing of history. Kammen's style is easy to read, and the content is thought provoking. The book should be a catalyst for increased study in local history...[a] necessary guide for public historians and anyone involved with local histories. (Debra A. Blake North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. Lxxx, No. 3, July '03)

Acknowledged as a classic...this revised edition is relevant to a global audience as it challenges us to think about what local history is, how we explore it and for what purpose...all local historical societies who run volunteer museums should acquire and read it. (Thomas Graham, Executive Officer Australia Magazine/Museums - Feb. 2004)

On Doing Local History validates the work local historians do, provides intellectual and historical context, and supplies a soothing balm to anyone who has been knocked back for a grant or dismissed as an 'amateur' (in the pejorative sense of the word). It will also be handy for preparing talks to classes or local history societies and, I hope, funding agencies....a lot of ground to cover, but Kammen does it quickly and skillfully, and she also manages to step beyond a parochial or even a national approach. I came away from the book feeling that I had learned not only something about her country and American historiography, but had also been exposed to a judicious sampling of British and French historiography (the Leicester School, for example, and Marc Bloch. Her parish-pump has connected with the cosmos....a fine and very useful work. (Gavin McLean The Public Historian, Spring 2004, Vol.26, Number 2)

Edition details

• Publisher: Amer Assn for State & Local
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0910050813
• ISBN 13: 9780910050814
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184