Exploring a Common Past: Researching and Interpreting Women's History for Historic Sites
Derousie AM, Evans SM, Cowley J, Eyring S, Sharp LN. 2003. Exploring a Common Past: Researching and Interpreting Women's History for Historic Sites
Over the past four decades there have been major transformations in the study of American history. The concern for a more accurate and comprehensive view of women’s experiences is an aspect of scholarship which has dramatically changed the ways we look at the past. Social history research, from the 1960s and 1970s, has made it clear that long-dominant patterns of historical inquiry were inadequate, as historians expanded the boundaries of their work to pose new questions and take advantage of forms of evidence previously overlooked or hard to analyze. Among their concerns were understanding culture and society as the work of “ordinary” people, not just political and economic elites. This evolution in historical thinking resulted in broader conceptualizations of American history and revitalized frameworks for examining the past that questioned old categories, acknowledged varieties of significance and evidence, and embraced the multiplicity and complexity of the human experience. This booklet is the first in a series designed to assist historic site managers, historians and interpreters in the ongoing process of reviewing and evaluating interpretive programs and media and adjusting them in light of recent scholarship.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Derousie, Anne; Evans, Sara; Cowley, Jill; Eyring, Shaun; Sharp, Leslie
- Date of Issue
- 2003
- Units
- HIST
- Keywords
- Built Environment, Cultural Landscapes, ehistory, Historic, History, Interpretation, partnership, Research, scholarship, Site, Siting, Women