The Importance of Public History

So this week's readings were long, even if they were cut down, but still provided me with a lot of history I did not know occurred because no one ever talks about it. In the beginning of the Wallace readings, the author talks about the jailing of hundreds do El Salvadorian immigrants. I had no idea this had actually happened and I thought it was an interesting fact of history our regular textbooks leave out. I also had no idea that there was a museum in the Statue of Liberty, probably because I've never been to New York but it is interesting to know there are museums in the oddest places. Having so many different kinds do museums was fun to read about also. I think people go to museums that apply most to their interests and lives. The Museum of History and Industry (MOHIA) in Seattle for example may not be everyone's cup of tea because a lot of what they display has to do with Seattle's industrial background but other people may not like the Pacific Science because it is too science based. Having different types of museums to appeal to different interests/aspects of history is great for society and the everyday person. 

When I was looking at the Ellis island website, I watched a video about a women who retraced her mother's footsteps through Ellis Island back in 1902 and I think this should really be what Public History is about, helping connect people with the history of their past. I think the most interesting history for most people outside of the history field, is where they come from. That may be why sites like ancestory.com are so successful, because people want to know where they come from. 

The Disney's America website actually pretty fun to look at. First of all, I love Disney and actually enjoyed learning the history and geography of Disney in another class I took so this was really cool to see. It was also fun to see the progression of what attractions from the old theme park made it to the the current theme parks. It makes me laugh thinking about which attractions I've been on and how they were actually planned to be in this historical theme park. I did laugh when I got to the bottom and one of the references and it was Wikipedia.... Awkward.