PUBLIC HISTORY ---- 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.
The Program in Brief. A brief summary of our requirements for both admission and graduation may be helpful. Admission decisions are made once a year in the winter. All applicants for graduate training in the Department of History are expected to have completed either a history major or 18 hours of undergraduate courses in history beyond the survey level. If you do not have this coursework, you must show evidence of equivalent competency (for example, by successful completion of one or more graduate courses in history at another university). You must also meet the general grade-point and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score requirements of the department. The course of study in Public History requires that students complete a minimum of 36 credit hours, 21 in their major field (archives, preservation, or museums). The remaining 15 hours consist of courses in American history, including training in research and writing; these represent the student's minor field. Comprehensive written examinations in the major and minor fields are required. In addition you must successfully pass a reading and translation examination in a foreign language. Students also complete an internship and a thesis, both of which contribute to the portfolios they bring to the job market.
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.
Applying to the Graduate School of the University of South Carolina. Your completed application, transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and the Graduate Record Examination General Test scores must be received at the Graduate School by JANUARY 5. By this date, you should also send a writing sample and your one-page Statement of Purpose directly to the Department of History. 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.
Financial Assistance. We recognize that access to financial aid often makes the difference in the decision to attend graduate school. Both the library school and the history department offer graduate assistantships. While we cannot make promises, students who are accepted by and choose to enroll in the Public History Program almost always receive financial assistance. Usually this aid is in the form of a teaching assistantship in the Department of History or a professional assistantship in a public history agency. Both of these assistantships also provide a significant reduction in graduate tuition. Many other part-time employment opportunities are also available at local museums and libraries.
If you have other questions, please contact the Graduate Secretary, Mary Alice Spoone, at 803-777-4492 or spoone@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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