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 (preservation, museums, or archives). 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, although preservation students may substitute completion of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course for the language requirement. Students also complete an internship and a thesis, both of which contribute to the portfolios you bring to the job market.

Special Opportunities in Historic Preservation. There are a number of unique opportunities for preservation training at the University of South Carolina.

            Curricular Opportunities. Students in what we call "the preservation track" here at USC are able to draw on the curricular breadth of a major research university. Within the Department of History are courses on the theory and practice of historic preservation, historic site interpretation, the history of housing, and material culture, as well as seminars in American, African-American, and southern history. Outside the history department preservation students may take courses in urban planning and preservation, architectural history, historical archaeology, Geographic Information Systems, and urban geography. Some preservation students choose to complete the Certificate in Museum Management offered through the university's "McKissick Museum". 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. Preservation students generally choose to take advantage of one or both of our innovative field courses. The Charleston Preservation Field School is an intensive course in the theory and practice of historic preservation in the United States 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. An international perspective is offered by our Comparative Public History course in England . This five-week course introduces students to practicing professionals and heritage issues at museums, archives, and historic sites in London and the North of England.

            The Local Preservation Community. The Public History Program enjoys strong working relationships with our region's diverse and dynamic preservation community. Agencies based in Columbia include the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office; the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism; the South Carolina Downtown Development Association; the South Carolina African-American Heritage Council; the preservation office of the City of Columbia; the Columbia Development Corporation; and Historic Columbia Foundation, which operates four historic house museums. Two hours away in Charleston are 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 preservation students in recent years.

            Preservation Research Projects. The built environments and historic landscapes of the southeastern United States offer a wide and exciting range of subjects for historical research, internship projects, and thesis topics. In recent years, preservation students have worked on projects related to the material legacy of the civil rights movement and the Cold War, the preservation of women's history and African-American heritage, histories of urban planning, park and landscape histories, industrial architecture, and the history of the region's many well-established preservation organizations. For your information, my own research has focused on the challenges of remembering and preserving chapters of history that are controversial or problematical. As a social and environmental historian working in public history, I am especially interested in the preservation of sites associated with African-American and labor history. My most recent publication is a history of historic preservation in Charleston, Historic Preservation for a Living City (University of South Carolina Press, 2000).

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. We recognize that access to financial aid often makes the difference in the decision to attend graduate school. 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. I can be reached at 803-777-6398 or weyeneth@sc.edu. Questions for the Graduate School should be directed to 803-777-4243.

Robert R. Weyeneth
Professor of History
Co-Director, Public History Program