What Can Public History Do for Museums, What Can Museums Do for Public History?

Abstract

In the early 19th century, at the dawn of the historical professions, historians did not dismiss working with objects and collaborating with museums. It was the increasing professionalization of the discipline of history that opened a gap between the two. Recent interest in museums and in objects might help connecting these two fields again on a different basis. Investigating the multiple interconnections between historical museums and Public History not only helps to better understand museums or Public History per se, but might also help better understanding of the history of the historical profession, its early developments as well as its present tendencies. This article focuses firstly on new history museums around the world. Secondly, it tackles the issue of the complex relationship between Public History and museum studies. Thirdly, it present some suggestions on how public historians can interact with museums.