Public Historians at Work
Welcome to “Public Historians at Work,” a podcast series from the Center for Public History at the University of Houston, Texas. Our vision at CPH is to ignite an understanding of our diverse pasts by collaborating with and training historically minded students, practitioners, and the public through community-driven programming and scholarship. In this podcast series, we speak with academics, writers, artists, and community members about what it means to do history and humanities work for and with the public. Check us out at www.uh.edu/CLASS/cph or find us on social media @UHCPHistory. Executive Producer: Dr. Kristina Neumann (kmneuma2@central.uh.edu)
Public Historians at Work
Celebrating a University: 100 Years of Stories
In 2027, the University of Houston in Texas will celebrate its centennial anniversary. In honor of that upcoming milestone, the Center for Public History (CPH) partnered with UH Libraries and Houston Public Media to collect, share, and preserve stories related to the university’s legacy across one hundred years. On November 30th, 2023, the three project leaders – Dr. Debbie Harwell (Instructional Assistant Professor of History and Editor of Houston History magazine), Mary Manning (University Archivist in Special Collections, M.D. Anderson Library), and Fujio Watanabe (Manager of Media Production, Houston Public Media) – came together to discuss the collaborative process of training students how to transform archival material and oral histories into magazine articles, television and radio spots, pop-up displays, and ultimately, a public exhibit, "100 Years of Stories: Documenting a Century at the University of Houston." This kind of public history work requires deep research, advanced planning, and flexibility, but the outcome is indispensable in helping a wider community understand the importance and influence of a local institution and its dynamic people.
To learn more about the "100 Years of Stories" project: https://uh.edu/class/ctr-public-history/projects/100-years-of-stories/100-years-home.php
On Houston Public Media's "100 Years of Houston, 1927-2027": https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/100-years-of-houston/
On Houston History magazine: https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/
To support the Center for Public History: https://uh.edu/class/cph
The Center for Public History at the University of Houston. https://uh.edu/class/cph