Should I Write an Op-Ed?

If you’re seeking to write to broader audiences, op-eds can be an effective way to draw on your skills as a historian to discuss the present-day implications of your research, historicize contemporary issues, and spotlight the concerns of those in your community.

Vietnam War Un-Essay Project

This "un-essay" assignment, which was used in an upper-level class on the Vietnam War, provides an alternate option for students' final research project--one that encourages creativity and experimentation in multimedia. The assignment prompt also defines the un-essay, offers examples from other courses, and provides evaluation criteria.

Vietnam War Oral History Project

In this assignment for an upper-level class on the Vietnam War, students conduct oral history interviews with Vietnam veterans. The project was designed to support the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. The assignment prompt also provides links and resources for learning and conducting oral history interviews.

HIST 4527: Mexican American History since 1848 – Syllabus

This course explores the history of Mexican-descent people in the United States since 1848. It gives particular attention to how the story of Mexican America appears in public sites of historical memory in the nation, and tasks students with developing a proposal for a museum exhibit or monument on a topic in Mexican American history.

History on the Government’s Dime

Practicing history as part of a state agency can be challenging, especially for a historic prison. This article uses Idaho as a case study to outline some of those challenges, and how historians must contend with conservative governments, racist pasts, and difficult prison history.

Public History and Dark Tourism

This article looks at what it’s like to work at a dark tourism destination, in this case the Old Idaho Penitentiary. From a public history perspective, it details the challenges of practicing history responsibly, while also catering to visitor demand for paranormal programming such as macabre prison stories. Ultimately, lucrative paranormal investigations allow for more historically based, educational programming that may not be as popular, but fulfills the site’s mission of informing the public of Idaho and prison history.

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