How does this industry sustain itself economically? Is it a per-client industry? A commission business? A non-profit? A sales industry? A grant or government-funded business? How does knowing how a business generates revenue affect your perspective of that industry?
On this page, I will detail the weekly prompts regarding the industry of history.
Industry prompt #3
4/2/15
HOW DOES THIS INDUSTRY SUSTAIN ITSELF ECONOMICALLY? IS IT A PER-CLIENT INDUSTRY? A COMMISSION BUSINESS? A NON-PROFIT? A SALES INDUSTRY? A GRANT OR GOVERNMENT-FUNDED BUSINESS? HOW DOES KNOWING HOW A BUSINESS GENERATES REVENUE AFFECT YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF THAT INDUSTRY?
The industry of history is not one that ever requires immediate and generous funding. At the MHS, we have a membership program that allows people to subscribe to our newsletter and gain access to all of our programs for an annual fee, but this does not entirely cover the economic needs of the institution. We do not have a product to offer other than knowledge and further exploration, and we do not charge researchers for a day with some documents in the library. The MHS is, however, a private institution, meaning that it is not run by the government, and therefore not funded by the government.
The MHS receives a large number of donations from families whose papers and archives are housed in our facilities. It is a common belief that those who are wealthy write history books, and this has a grain of truth to it, because these are the people supporting historical institutions, and these are the people hoping to honor themselves and their families by looking to the past.
While the MHS relies largely on private monetary donations, we are also sustained by another type of charity. The manner in which our archives continue to thrive is through donations of materials, specifically the papers and libraries of prominent families and people. As we move forward in time, we receive donations of materials that usually date from around a century ago, i.e. we are currently receiving a flood of documents relating to the First World War (1914-1918). This is a unique sustenance off of which the MHS survives, and it is perhaps much more vital to the survival of historical institutions than money is. As long as time continues to move forward and history is created as a result, the Massachusetts Historical Society will have material to study, interpret, process, and exhibit. Even our methods of recording history will soon undergo a dramatic alteration as we move into the electronic and digital age.
Industry prompt #11
3/20/15
SOMETIMES THERE CAN BE A RATHER FINE LINE BETWEEN WORK AND PLAY. HOW DOES YOUR INDUSTRY ATTEMPT TO PLAY? IS IT PRODUCTIVE? SHOULD IT (DOES IT HAVE TO) BE?
Most people don’t view historical institutions as exciting and fun places. My perception of the MHS when I first started was certainly not that of a playful place, but as I continue my work here, that concept has molded into something much friendlier. One thing that strikes me about the MHS is how much community outreach is involved in this industry. The building is home to an enormous library of artifacts and documents, but we are constantly engaged in the pursuit of an audience to appreciate and benefit from the massive and sometimes overwhelming amount of resources. In finding an audience and an active community, we play. I have been witness to countless conversations about making history in Boston and in Massachusetts more personal and accessible to adults and children alike.
Playing with and modifying the way we look at history is an essential aspect of the study of history (usually referring to revisionist interpretations of historical events) and the MHS achieves this in many ways. Currently, we have an exhibit in our public wing that details the events leading up to the American Revolution, and is open all the time. People are encouraged to come in off of the street and explore this common American history. We also have paper bag lunch events, in which professors and graduate students from around the country are invited to present their research and thesis work to an audience of fellow history nerds, professionals, and students. A particularly compelling program is our upcoming colonial cartoon program. Later in April, we are teaming up with local comic book artists and opening our doors to parents and children to present colonial America in a creative and new way. The hope is that children will learn their colonial history and then be inspired to create art, both factual and fictional, based on it.
In America, most people don’t share American colonial and revolutionary history; many of us only having family who have been in the nation since the 20th century. The only way to make American history truly a shared history is to make it accessible and familiar-- to make it something that we can all feel a part of, regardless of our ethnic background. For these reasons, the MHS finds it necessary to play with the foundations of history, encouraging discussion of new topics, learning, and the introduction of history to the coming generations.
Industry Prompt #14
3/10/15
HISTORY AND THE STUDY OF THE PAST AS A STATIC VS. CHANGING ENTITY
In this industry prompt, I was asked to reflect on whether or not there is an endpoint to learning at my internship. I found this prompt particularly fascinating because one thing about the study of history that captivates me is how the general public perceives it versus the actual process of academic research and study. One of the most common reasons that my peers give when expressing their disinterest in history is that it's all in the past so it isn't subject to change, and is therefore boring. My reasons for loving history come in direct conflict with this assumption. I have seen history change before my eyes throughout my career as a student: In elementary school, we were taught that the Native Americans and the Pilgrims befriended each other. We were taught that Christopher Columbus was a great man. We were taught about various points in American history from a very biased standpoint, only to have these beliefs contradicted as my peers and I continued our history education in middle and high school. This is a rudimentary example of how the interpretation of history never stays static, or reaches an "endpoint."
Applying this idea in a broader context, history has been studied through the lens of wealthy white men since its very beginning, something that has changed only in the last century or so. As a larger group has the opportunity to study and interpret history, new facts and ideas come to light. In the context of my internship, this historical revisitation of old material can be seen in several recent exhibits and projects at the MHS. We recently did an exhibit on women in World War I, based on the photography of Margaret Hall, an early female photographer and a nurse in the field. We can also revisit the letters of Abigail Adams and find an actual portrayal of daily life during the American Revolution; from John Adams' letters, we only get a political understanding of the time.
The various new interpretations of old events has shown the history world that there are limitless ways to view and write about the past. And because the past keeps happening, there are always new things to interpret: As we move into the 21st century, the MHS is beginning to receive family collections and materials from the early 20th century, giving historians tons of new material to study. In the same way that original art continues to be made, original processes for research and writing in academia continue to surface. As we encounter these new ways of viewing the past, we must adapt how we study history and make adjustments within the industry, for ourselves and for the coming generations.
Industry Prompt #1
3/1/15
WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOUR INITIAL/PRECONCEIVED IDEA OF THE INDUSTRY IS/WAS BEFORE YOU STARTED WORKING FOR YOUR PARTICULAR COMPANY/ORGANIZATION.
Previous to my internship at the Massachusetts Historical Society, I knew that I loved the study of the past, but I never thought I could have a successful and fulfilling career in the field. I believed that to major in history meant that one would most likely end up a teacher, or, if they wrote some good books, a college professor and a scholar. I also had no idea how academia works; I thought the process of getting a paper published was extremely long and difficult. Additionally, I had not realized how many different subsections there are within a historical institution. I was mostly in the dark at the beginning of my internship, and already I feel that many of this misconceptions have been corrected and I am more prepared to be a history major.
4/2/15
HOW DOES THIS INDUSTRY SUSTAIN ITSELF ECONOMICALLY? IS IT A PER-CLIENT INDUSTRY? A COMMISSION BUSINESS? A NON-PROFIT? A SALES INDUSTRY? A GRANT OR GOVERNMENT-FUNDED BUSINESS? HOW DOES KNOWING HOW A BUSINESS GENERATES REVENUE AFFECT YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF THAT INDUSTRY?
The industry of history is not one that ever requires immediate and generous funding. At the MHS, we have a membership program that allows people to subscribe to our newsletter and gain access to all of our programs for an annual fee, but this does not entirely cover the economic needs of the institution. We do not have a product to offer other than knowledge and further exploration, and we do not charge researchers for a day with some documents in the library. The MHS is, however, a private institution, meaning that it is not run by the government, and therefore not funded by the government.
The MHS receives a large number of donations from families whose papers and archives are housed in our facilities. It is a common belief that those who are wealthy write history books, and this has a grain of truth to it, because these are the people supporting historical institutions, and these are the people hoping to honor themselves and their families by looking to the past.
While the MHS relies largely on private monetary donations, we are also sustained by another type of charity. The manner in which our archives continue to thrive is through donations of materials, specifically the papers and libraries of prominent families and people. As we move forward in time, we receive donations of materials that usually date from around a century ago, i.e. we are currently receiving a flood of documents relating to the First World War (1914-1918). This is a unique sustenance off of which the MHS survives, and it is perhaps much more vital to the survival of historical institutions than money is. As long as time continues to move forward and history is created as a result, the Massachusetts Historical Society will have material to study, interpret, process, and exhibit. Even our methods of recording history will soon undergo a dramatic alteration as we move into the electronic and digital age.
Industry prompt #11
3/20/15
SOMETIMES THERE CAN BE A RATHER FINE LINE BETWEEN WORK AND PLAY. HOW DOES YOUR INDUSTRY ATTEMPT TO PLAY? IS IT PRODUCTIVE? SHOULD IT (DOES IT HAVE TO) BE?
Most people don’t view historical institutions as exciting and fun places. My perception of the MHS when I first started was certainly not that of a playful place, but as I continue my work here, that concept has molded into something much friendlier. One thing that strikes me about the MHS is how much community outreach is involved in this industry. The building is home to an enormous library of artifacts and documents, but we are constantly engaged in the pursuit of an audience to appreciate and benefit from the massive and sometimes overwhelming amount of resources. In finding an audience and an active community, we play. I have been witness to countless conversations about making history in Boston and in Massachusetts more personal and accessible to adults and children alike.
Playing with and modifying the way we look at history is an essential aspect of the study of history (usually referring to revisionist interpretations of historical events) and the MHS achieves this in many ways. Currently, we have an exhibit in our public wing that details the events leading up to the American Revolution, and is open all the time. People are encouraged to come in off of the street and explore this common American history. We also have paper bag lunch events, in which professors and graduate students from around the country are invited to present their research and thesis work to an audience of fellow history nerds, professionals, and students. A particularly compelling program is our upcoming colonial cartoon program. Later in April, we are teaming up with local comic book artists and opening our doors to parents and children to present colonial America in a creative and new way. The hope is that children will learn their colonial history and then be inspired to create art, both factual and fictional, based on it.
In America, most people don’t share American colonial and revolutionary history; many of us only having family who have been in the nation since the 20th century. The only way to make American history truly a shared history is to make it accessible and familiar-- to make it something that we can all feel a part of, regardless of our ethnic background. For these reasons, the MHS finds it necessary to play with the foundations of history, encouraging discussion of new topics, learning, and the introduction of history to the coming generations.
Industry Prompt #14
3/10/15
HISTORY AND THE STUDY OF THE PAST AS A STATIC VS. CHANGING ENTITY
In this industry prompt, I was asked to reflect on whether or not there is an endpoint to learning at my internship. I found this prompt particularly fascinating because one thing about the study of history that captivates me is how the general public perceives it versus the actual process of academic research and study. One of the most common reasons that my peers give when expressing their disinterest in history is that it's all in the past so it isn't subject to change, and is therefore boring. My reasons for loving history come in direct conflict with this assumption. I have seen history change before my eyes throughout my career as a student: In elementary school, we were taught that the Native Americans and the Pilgrims befriended each other. We were taught that Christopher Columbus was a great man. We were taught about various points in American history from a very biased standpoint, only to have these beliefs contradicted as my peers and I continued our history education in middle and high school. This is a rudimentary example of how the interpretation of history never stays static, or reaches an "endpoint."
Applying this idea in a broader context, history has been studied through the lens of wealthy white men since its very beginning, something that has changed only in the last century or so. As a larger group has the opportunity to study and interpret history, new facts and ideas come to light. In the context of my internship, this historical revisitation of old material can be seen in several recent exhibits and projects at the MHS. We recently did an exhibit on women in World War I, based on the photography of Margaret Hall, an early female photographer and a nurse in the field. We can also revisit the letters of Abigail Adams and find an actual portrayal of daily life during the American Revolution; from John Adams' letters, we only get a political understanding of the time.
The various new interpretations of old events has shown the history world that there are limitless ways to view and write about the past. And because the past keeps happening, there are always new things to interpret: As we move into the 21st century, the MHS is beginning to receive family collections and materials from the early 20th century, giving historians tons of new material to study. In the same way that original art continues to be made, original processes for research and writing in academia continue to surface. As we encounter these new ways of viewing the past, we must adapt how we study history and make adjustments within the industry, for ourselves and for the coming generations.
Industry Prompt #1
3/1/15
WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOUR INITIAL/PRECONCEIVED IDEA OF THE INDUSTRY IS/WAS BEFORE YOU STARTED WORKING FOR YOUR PARTICULAR COMPANY/ORGANIZATION.
Previous to my internship at the Massachusetts Historical Society, I knew that I loved the study of the past, but I never thought I could have a successful and fulfilling career in the field. I believed that to major in history meant that one would most likely end up a teacher, or, if they wrote some good books, a college professor and a scholar. I also had no idea how academia works; I thought the process of getting a paper published was extremely long and difficult. Additionally, I had not realized how many different subsections there are within a historical institution. I was mostly in the dark at the beginning of my internship, and already I feel that many of this misconceptions have been corrected and I am more prepared to be a history major.