Although his name is little known today outside Iowa, during the early part of the twentieth century Benjamin Shambaugh (1871鈥1940) was a key figure in the historical profession. Using his distinguished career as a lens, Conard's seminal work is the first book to consider public history as an integral part of the intellectual development of the historical profession as a whole in the United States.
Conard draws upon an unpublished, mid-1940s biography by research historian Jacob Swisher to trace the forces that shaped Shambaugh's early years, his administration of the State Historical Society of Iowa, his development of applied history and commonwealth history in the 1910s and 1920s, and the transformations in his thinking and career during the 1930s. Framing this intriguingly interwoven narrative are chapters that contextualize Shambaugh's professional development within the development of the historical profession as a whole in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and assess his career within the post-World War II emergence of the modern public history movement.
Shambaugh's career speaks to those who believe in the power of history to engage and inspire local audiences as well as those who believe that historians should apply their knowledge and methods outside the academy in pursuit of the greater public good.
鈥淭his is an important book that uses the long and distinguished historical career of Benjamin Shambaugh to place public or 鈥榓pplied鈥 history into a much-needed historical context鈥onard's narrative and analysis provide new insights into continuing debates about the proper role of federal and state governments in collecting and writing history鈥n important contribution to American historiography in the twentieth century.鈥濃擝arbara Franco, executive director, the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
鈥泪苍 Benjamin Shambaugh and the Intellectual Foundations of Public History, Rebecca Conard has written a useful and intriguing book鈥he historical profession and the people of 海角乱伦社区are indebted to Rebecca Conard for this book, which explores the impressive career of Benjamin Shambaugh and sheds new light on the fundamentals of the public history movement.鈥濃Annals of Iowa
鈥溾n unexpectedly engaging and useful examination and analysis of the ideologies, arguments, and politics surrounding the rise of history as a professional and academic discipline from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, especially as they were often rancorously expressed in disputes between the East and Midwest, state and national perspectives, and academic and professional practice.鈥濃Journal of American History
鈥淐onard has provided the history profession with a layered narrative of its development and fragmentation or redevelopment over time, and has explored the meanings of its own histories.鈥濃擩anelle Warren-Findley, American Historical Review
鈥淐onard鈥檚 biography is well written and interesting, and her strategies for engaging in dialog with a variety of texts produce a fresh method for defining and assessing public history.鈥濃Journal of Heritage Stewardship
鈥淩ebecca Conard provides an elegant discussion of a complex topic: the emergence of public history in the twentieth century鈥 sophisticated addition to public history historiography.鈥濃The Public Historian
