Curating America (Hardcover)

Richard Rabinowitz

ISBN 10: 146962950X / ISBN 13: 9781469629506

Published by The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2016

About this Item

Hardcover. How do history museums and historic sites tell the richly diverse stories of the American people? What fascinates us most about American history?To help answer these questions, noted public historian Richard Rabinowitz examines the evolution of public history over the last half-century and highlights the new ways we have come to engage with our past. At the heart of this endeavor is what Rabinowitz calls storyscapeslandscapes of engagement where individuals actively encounter stories of past lives. As storyscapes, museums become processes of narrative interplay rather than moribundstorage bins of strange relics. Storyscapes bring to life even the most obscure peoplemaking their skills of hands and minds touchable, making their voices heard despite their absence from traditional archives, and making the dilemmas and triumphs of their lives accessible to us today.Rabinowitzs wealth of professional experiencecreating over 500 history museums, exhibitions, and educational programs across the nationshapes and informs the narrative. By weaving insights from learning theory, anthropology and geography, politics and finance, collections and preservation policy, and interpretive media, Rabinowitz reveals how the nations best museums and historic sites allow visitors to confront their sense of time and place, memories of family and community, and definitions of self and the world while expanding their idea of where they stand in the flow of history. How do history museums and historic sites tell the richly diverse stories of the American people? What fascinates us most about American history? To help answer these questions, noted public historian Richard Rabinowitz examines the evolution of public history over the last half-century and highlights the new ways we have come to engage with our past. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781469629506

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Curating America (Hardcover)
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 146962950X
• ISBN 13: 9781469629506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Hoyen, Richard T.
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

How do history museums and historic sites tell the richly diverse stories of the American people? What fascinates us most about American history? To help answer these questions, noted public historian Richard Rabinowitz examines the evolution of public history over the last half-century and highlights the new ways we have come to engage with our past. At the heart of this endeavor is what Rabinowitz calls “storyscapes” — landscapes of engagement where individuals actively encounter stories of past lives. As storyscapes, museums become processes of narrative interplay rather than moribund storage bins of strange relics. Storyscapes bring to life even the most obscure people — making their skills of hands and minds “touchable,” making their voices heard despite their absence from traditional archives, and making the dilemmas and triumphs of their lives accessible to us today.

Rabinowitz’s wealth of professional experience — creating over 500 history museums, exhibitions, and educational programs across the nation — shapes and informs the narrative. By weaving insights from learning theory, anthropology and geography, politics and finance, collections and preservation policy, and interpretive media, Rabinowitz reveals how the nation’s best museums and historic sites allow visitors to confront their sense of time and place, memories of family and community, and definitions of self and the world while expanding their idea of where they stand in the flow of history.

About the Author

Richard Rabinowitz is founder and president of the American History Workshop and author of The Spiritual Self in Everyday Life: The Transformation of Personal Religious Experience in Nineteenth-Century New England.