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Public History at NC State

PH students at National Museum of the American Indian


The M.A. in Public History

At some graduate programs, you will find that public history is just another track to study, like Southern history, Gender & Women's history, or Medieval history.  At NC State, we understand public history differently--as an approach not only to scholarship but to the practice of history and engagement with the world.  We believe public history is the way in which we make history relevant to our communities, states, and nation.  We promote the collaborative nature of public history, the importance of relevance over objectivity, and the civic role of the public historian.  We are a faculty that acts upon our philosophy of public history, and we encourage the same in our students.  

Our program ranks among the premier programs in the nation, preparing students to work in a variety of public and applied history settings.  Even in economically difficult times, we continue to sustain a 80 percent employment rate among our graduates.  Our alumni represent our program well

History for the Public

Annual Public History Newsletter

Public History Conferences:

2010: Many Voices--One Story?

2011: Public History of the Civil War (podcast)

2012: The History of History at NCSU

"The State of History" digital project

History of the NC Farm Bureau

NC LGBT Digital Museum and Archives


 

through employment at the North Carolina Museum of History, the New York Public Library, the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Death Valley National Monument, the Kentucky Derby Museum, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, the Scheile Museum of Natural History, the Jewish Historical Society, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives, the Virginia Air and Space Museum, the North Carolina Historical Review, the Maryland Historical Society, the Museum of African American History of Boston, the Woodstock (N.Y.) Historical Society, and the National Storytelling Association, among hundreds of other institutions.

We offer training in three fields:

Museum Studies

Heritage Studies

Archival Studies (dual-degree w/ UNC SILS)

What Students
Are Saying

To study history at NCSU is to join a community of scholars.  My MA studies in the department provided me with a solid foundation for further work at the doctoral level, and I have the highest regard for my mentors and advisors. I am proud to be an alumnus of the history program, and encourage prospective students to consider all that the department and the university has to offer."

Dean Bruno
MA History ’08, MA Public History ‘09, NCSU
PhD candidate, History, Vanderbilt

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350 Withers Hall, Campus Box 8108, Raleigh, NC 27695-8108
Phone: 919.515.2483 Fax: 919.515.3886
Email:

College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History