Recently purchased

I am always looking to expand my book collection, not in the way I used to when I was a young reader, that is, by grabbing everything in sight, but by carefully scanning the shelves at used book stores, for instance, to see what might pop up and then seriously weigh whether or not a book is needed on my shelves.

Last week, I was lucky to find a good copy of A History of African American People: The History Tradition & Culture of African Americans (1995) edited by James Oliver Horton (The George Washington University) and Lois E. Horton (George Mason University). The couple were scholars of the antebellum South and African America experience. Today we have the internet, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In the absence of those resources when this particular edition was published in 1995, its highly illustrated pages and accompanying narratives were pored over for hours. 

 

Blogging as a tool for learning history

A blog can be a meaningful way to explore history as you learn and experience it. With this blog I hope    to contemplate what I've learned since I began the Public History Program at NOVA. 

A blog is an opportunity to contemplate themes related to the courses, themes and skills I have studies so far. It is difficult not to apply what I have learned in everyday life: "There's a Corinthian column!" "That house is Federalist style!" "Wasn't there a restaurant here before that school was erected?"  But what do you do with that information except glaze over the eyes of your family?

By addressing the public, a blogger takes on the responsibility of mastering a topic and explaining it to the best of her ability. Having come to care about all of the things I have studied in the public history program, I consider a blog a special responsibility, like teaching. 

With the internet as my classroom, I will keep the curious reader in mind and anticipate write what I think my audience wants to know.  Blogging is an interesting exchange as I share what I experience and the reader earns along with me. The reader also learns how my knowledge bank is expanding and how my tastes and interests grow with the blog. ~Susan