Urban Humanist

Today’s NYTimes has a great article about preservation, noting that landmarks designation is a slow and sometimes capricious process. It reveals the degree to which things like historical preservation and public history more broadly are not merely academic exercises, but professional activities fraught with practical and procedural complexity.

It is my contention that academic public historians and preservationists should do more than rail against such obstructions but should take them on as part of their professional and theoretical work. We often view such details as mere matters of implementation, and that we should focus on the so-called big picture of what needs to be preserved and why.

I would contend that this reflects historians’ engagement in other areas, too, such as teaching. In the instance of K-12 teaching, for example, historians abrogated their responsibilities and engagement in kids’ education in favor of a higher-order professional community focused around university education almost exclusively. The view from the ivory tower removed us from an important audience and also undermined our ability to shape the broader teaching of history in the schools.

I fear that public historians have too often taken this view, and need to re-engage. This article reveals why we should care about the most practical details, not merely the broad historical stories and architecture that we want to preserve.

Preserving the City - Preservationists Seek Accountability from New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission - Series - NYTimes.com.

We face a really interesting public history issue, which is: How does a university history department work with the community in an effective mutually beneficial fashion? The Cultural Gardens site is our attempt a this…

Can Sarah Palin be serious. The election is over and she is still talking about non-issues like William Ayers. Please get a clue, go on talk radio, but stop the catterwalling. For the excerpt, see Real Clear Politics - News - Elections 2008 - Opinion - Commentary - TIME.

I am not a fan of Christopher Hitchens and I hate the tone here. But, he has a point. The Civil Rights Act, after all, was not welcomed unanimously 40 years ago. Yes, we have come a long way, but let’s be clear about how ingrained race and racism are in the American past and in Americans’ lives.

Barack Obama’s victory didn’t magically eliminate America’s problems and enemies. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine.

The progress for our project, through October 24th, posted a bit late–long story that. Over the next couple days, I will post more, as the cedar shake siding is complete, the windows are finished, and the porch roofs are also finished. We even have a first coat of primer. But, this is the view after about three weeks. I will do the last couple weeks in posts over the next few days.