Loyola University Chicago

Public history uses the past to serve a variety of contemporary needs. It entails the application of the skills and methods of history to the study, management, preservation and interpretation of historical records and artifacts. A public historian is a professional who can put his or her knowledge and skills to use in our society in such diverse activities as museum, historical society or archival work; neighborhood or community history projects; historic preservation and cultural resource management programs; and local, state or federal research projects. Working with architects, librarians, business people, government policy analysts, exhibit designers or history enthusiasts, public historians contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the past.

The Public History Curriculum

Public historians possess the desire and ability to understand and explain past human behavior in a variety of different contexts. The three public history program options at Loyola rest upon a combination of solid historical training and skill development in applied history research.  Loyola's curriculum serves to (1) introduce students to the skills necessary to successfully undertake applied research; (2) provide students with in-depth knowledge in a traditional field of history both to increase their knowledge about the past and acquire a sophisticated understanding of the historical process; (3) acquaint students with the different career options available in public history; (4) offer students practical experience in public history; and (5) make students aware of the professional and ethical dimensions of public history.

• 479 Public History Media
• 480 Public History: Method and Theory
• 481 Management of Historical Resources
• 482 Archives and Records Management
• 483 Oral History: Method and Practice
• 487 Management of History Museums
• 581 Practicum in Public History
• 582 Public History Internship

For more information, visit our graduate courses page.

The Master's in Public History program is a 33-hour program in which students must complete 15 hours of public history courses: 480, 481, 482, 483 and 487.  Because practical experience in an area of public history activity is an important component of public history training, all students must also complete an internship (HIST 582). Internships are tailored to fit the needs of individual students as well as those of the host agency or organization. Additional depth in an area of public history can be secured through a public history practicum (HIST 581).

In addition to their public history courses, students must take HIST 400 and three courses in a minor field. The minor field may be United States History, Medieval History, British/Irish History or Modern European History. At least one, preferably two, of the courses in this field should be 400-level courses. These courses provide background in current historical research on particular subjects. Original research projects are pursued in 500-level seminar courses.

Public history students will prepare a master’s essay (HIST 599) on a topic within their major or minor field under the supervision of a history faculty member. Students should work out their topic with the supervising professor before advancing beyond their 18th hour of coursework (normally at the beginning of the second year of study). Three credit hours are earned for the essay by registering for HIST 599.  The essay will be a substantial research paper based largely on primary sources.

The distribution of hours for the master’s degree is as follows:

Examination

Toward the end of their studies, public history students must pass a two-hour oral examination in the field of public history. There is no examination in the minor field, but students must maintain at least a B average (3.0) in the three minor field courses. There is no research tool requirement.  

The joining of two applied degree programs, public history and library science, provides interested students with the opportunity to combine historical training with a more focused educational background in archives and library science. Students receive two separate degrees: an M.A. in public history from Loyola University Chicago and an M.A. in Library and Information Science from Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. The joint program allows students to complete work on the two degrees in a shorter time than if each degree were pursued separately. In addition, it provides a more focused and structured education in archives than either degree program does individually.

The Loyola Department of History and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) of Dominican University cooperate to offer a joint program leading to the two degrees: Master of Arts in Public History and Master of Arts in Library and Information Science.

A total of 54 semester hours is required for the two degrees. A minimum of 30 semester hours must be taken in the GSLIS, and a minimum of 24 semester hours must be taken in the Loyola history department, including 12 of those semester hours in specified public history courses. All requirements in the joint program must be completed within seven years.

Students in the dual-degree program must apply to each program separately and must be accepted as classified students by both programs. Application for admission to the dual degree may be made at any time while students are enrolled in either program. No advance assurance can be given that admission to both programs will be granted.

A detailed description of the curriculum is available from the public history program director.

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science can be reached at (708) 524-6845 or GSLIS@email.dom.edu.

Building on Loyola's already strong Master's in Public History program, this 60-hour degree program will give students the opportunity to compete for positions calling for a doctorate, such as teaching public history at the university level, curating or administrating at governmental institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution or the National Park Service, or serving as a principal in a consulting firm. In essence, this program is similar to the standard American history Ph.D. program but requires a double major in American history and Public history instead of a major field in American history and two minor fields. Students will leave Loyola with a firm grounding in American history as well as in the skills and theory of public history and its practice. Loyola is one of the few universities to offer a public history degree at the doctoral level and hopes to continue to attract strong non-traditional students already working in the public history profession as well as students interested in history at the doctoral level.

Students who have not taken HIST 400 or an equivalent course at the master’s level must do so in the Ph.D. program. They must also successfully complete at least one seminar (i.e., a formal course at the 500-level) in their American history field. They must take History 598 in which they develop their dissertation proposal under the supervision of their major field advisor.

In consultation with their major adviser, students develop a doctoral field in American history focused on a specialized area of concentration through coursework and research. Such a definition might be, for example, 20th-century American cultural history.

Students are required to complete 21 hours from among the formal offerings in their selected field.

Students build their doctoral field in Public History from the six basic applied courses in Public History (480, 481, 482, 483, 487, and 582) and one additional course selected from one of the following:  479: Public History Media, 492: U.S. Local History or 581: Practicum in Public History.

The remaining hours in the joint doctoral program are to be devoted to dissertation research. Normally, three hours are fulfilled through 598, the Dissertation Proposal Seminar, and the remaining hours from Directed Study and Dissertation Research.

Admission

Students enter the Joint Program in one of two ways:  (1) admission to the accelerated Ph.D. track or (2) admission to the Joint Program after receiving the M.A. degree.

(1) Accelerated Joint American history/Public history program (60 hours)

Admission to this program is highly selective and limited to a few outstanding undergraduates. Students will be chosen on the basis of the regular criteria for the accelerated track by the public history program director and three faculty members who are involved in reviewing application materials.

(2) Joint American History/Public History Doctoral Program (33 hours)

Students enter this program with a M.A. with a Public History concentration or with a concentration in American History. Students who must complete History 400 will have a 36-hour requirement.

The research tool requirement may be fulfilled in two ways:

• A reading knowledge of two foreign languages. 
  
• A reading knowledge of one foreign language and a special skill required by the student's doctoral research. HIST 583, Quantitative Methods in Social History, and HIST 483, Oral History, may fulfill the special skills requirement. When taken for the research tool requirement, HIST 583 cannot be counted as a seminar nor can HIST 483 be counted toward the major field in Public history. With the approval of the Graduate Programs Committee, students may also demonstrate mastery in statistics, computer science and paleography. To fulfill the requirement in statistics or computer science, students must take six hours of courses in appropriate departments and pass an examination administered by that department.  Paleography may be taken at the Chicago Inter-University Consortium for Advanced Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern History at the Newberry Library.

Near the end of their doctoral studies, students must pass a five-hour written examination and a two-hour oral examination in their American history field and a two-hour oral examination in their public history field.

Students will develop a "dissertation field" within their American history field. They will present a dissertation topic and prospectus to their major advisor (History 598 Dissertation Proposal Seminar) and the graduate program director for review and approval. Students formalize their proposed committee with the submission of the Dissertation Committee Recommendation form to the Graduate School. Following the successful completion of doctoral examinations, students will make a public presentation of their dissertation proposal to a review panel, which will include the dissertation director and at least two other faculty members acquainted with the research areas of the dissertation. In discussing the proposal, students and members of the review panel should work out problems and address questions the reviewers may have. Upon successfully completing the dissertation proposal review, students submit a formal dissertation outline to the graduate dean. Following its approval by the Graduate School and the successful completion of all other degree requirements, students are admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.

The Ph.D. dissertation must be completed, approved by the designated readers, and successfully defended orally at a public defense.