Category: Museums

The kids listening to a voyageur at the NW Company Fur Post

6 Things I’ve Learned about Teaching History to 6-Year Olds

October 4, 2016

Last week our family spent several days in Washington, DC and Pennsylvania, taking the kids to historic sites ranging from the Air & Space Museum to the Gettysburg battlefield. Indeed, one of my favorite things about this fall’s sabbatical is that it lets us continue the historical exploration that we did much of the summer back in Minnesota. … More 6 Things I’ve Learned about Teaching History to 6-Year Olds

Screen shot from episode six of Past & Presence

Past and Presence: The Minnesota History Center

March 11, 2015

3/11/15 – Episode six of Past & Presence took us to the Minnesota History Center, where we met people who work in everything from exhibit design and textile conservation to fundraising and internship coordination. Plus advice for students on oral presentations and working in groups, an interview with an alum teaching middle school social studies, and an introduction to pre-law at Bethel.

Notes for my CFH2014 presentation on blogging

CFH 2014: Heritage Religion and Social Media

September 30, 2014

Part two of my recap of the 2014 Conference on Faith and History meetings, held last week at Pepperdine University. Part one covered sessions from Friday morning on teaching and public memory. Friday afternoon plenary: “Heritage Religion and the Mormons” Having arrived too late on Thursday night to attend Allen Guelzo’s conference-opening address in the … More CFH 2014: Heritage Religion and Social Media

Minnesota History Center

Introducing Our New Introduction to History Course

May 22, 2014

Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to hear from several of my colleagues at Bethel University as they shared some innovations in teaching at our annual “West by Midwest” festival. You can see all of my tweets from that two-hour event at the bottom of this post — they include links to some of the innovations mentioned. … More Introducing Our New Introduction to History Course

Entrance to The History Center: Archives of the Baptist General Conference and Bethel University

Congratulations to the Archives of the BGC and Bethel University!

May 13, 2014

Congratulations to The History Center: Archives of the Baptist General Conference and Bethel University — named the 2014 recipient of the Davis C. Woolley Award for Outstanding Achievement in Assessing and Preserving Baptist History. This puts our archives in very good company, as last year’s winner was the special collections and archives department of the Z. … More Congratulations to the Archives of the BGC and Bethel University!

The Smithsonian Institution

Historical Schizophrenia: Academic and Public History

February 28, 2014

Generally speaking, academic historians and public historians approach the past from two different vantage points. For historians, a productive career has traditionally revolved around producing monographs and engaging with other professional historians on the fine points of interpretation, theory, and effective arguments.  Public historians, on the other hand, do their work with a different audience … More Historical Schizophrenia: Academic and Public History