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Archives
Within the archives field, our alumni are employed at
such institutions as the Virginia State Library, the archives of the
United States Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, the Missouri State
Archives, and local non-profit heritage organizations across the
country.
Special Opportunities in Public
History. There are a number of unique opportunities for Public
History training at the University of South Carolina.
Curricular Opportunities. Public
History students here at USC are able to draw on the curricular breadth
of a major research university. Within the Department of History are
courses on archival administration, book and paper conservation,
documentary editing, the theory and practice of historic preservation,
historic site interpretation, material culture, and the history of
housing, as well as seminars in American, African-American, and
southern history. Outside the history department archives students take
courses in the College of Library
and Information Science . Of particular interest is the joint
60-hour M.A./M.L.I.S. program that we offer with the library school.
Some students, including those in the archival track, choose to
complete the Certificate in Museum Management offered through the
university's McKissick Museum. The core curriculum for the Certificate
provides training in professional museum standards and practice, and
periodic special offerings introduce students to topics such as museum
education and exhibition development. Because participating in
professional meetings is an important component of graduate training,
students are encouraged to attend local and national conferences, and
the Department of History helps support attendance through a designated
travel endowment.
Field Courses. Public History students
may take several innovative field courses. An international perspective
is offered by our Comparative
Public History course in England in England. This five-week course
introduces students to practicing professionals and heritage issues at
archives, museums, and historic sites in London and the North of
England. The Charleston
Preservation Field School is an intensive course in historic
preservation and museum studies that is based in the historic city of
Charleston. Charleston provides an intriguing laboratory for exploring
issues such as African-American heritage conservation, preservation
without gentrification, and the linkages between historic preservation
and environmental conservation. Students may also participate in the
annual Summer Institute of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
(MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and receive graduate credit at
USC; this course provides an opportunity to study the material life of
the southeastern United States prior to 1820.
The Local Public History Community. The
Public History Program enjoys strong working relationships with our
region's diverse and dynamic public history community. Agencies based
in Columbia include the South Carolina Department of Archives and
History; the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and
Tourism; the South Carolina State Museum; the South Carolina State
Historic Preservation Office; the Columbia Museum of Art; the
university's McKissick Museum and its South Caroliniana Library; the
preservation office of the City of Columbia; and Historic Columbia
Foundation, which operates four historic house museums. Two hours away
in Charleston are the South Carolina Historical Society, the Charleston
Museum, and the southern regional office of the National Trust for
Historic Preservation and the Trust's museum property, Drayton Hall, as
well as nationally recognized local organizations such as the Historic
Charleston Foundation and the Preservation Society of Charleston. Close
by in North Carolina are the Biltmore House and Estate in Asheville and
Old Salem in Winston-Salem. In addition, there are a number of units of
the national park system in the Carolinas and Georgia. Institutions and
sites like these provide numerous opportunities for student
internships, and many of these agencies have also provided
assistantship support for Public History students in recent years.
Public History Research Projects. The
built environment, historic landscapes, and artifacts of the
southeastern United States offer a wide and exciting range of subjects
for historical research, internship projects, and thesis topics. In
recent years archives students have worked on African-American oral
histories, collection descriptions for historical photographs and
editorial cartoons, and a history of the regional system of the
National Archives.
Students interested in the joint M.A./M.L.I.S program
should check or write that option clearly on the Graduate School
application form; in addition they should contact the library school
separately. The College of Library and Information Science has its own
admissions calendar and requirements, and students must be admitted
independently by both programs to be enrolled for the joint program.
For more information on the library school, visit its website at www.libsci.sc.edu.
If you have other questions, please contact the
Graduate Secretary, Melissa Kupfer
, at 803-777-4492 or kupferm@gwm.sc.edu
. Questions for the
Graduate School should be directed to 803-777-4243.
Constance B. Schulz
Professor and
Co-Director, Public History Program
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