lokalhistorie.no is run by: The Norwegian Institute of Local History

Last modified:

United States

by Carol Kammen

> Introduction
> Genres and Publishing
> The academic field
> Institutions/Organizations
> Bibliography and references
> Acknowledgments

Introduction

The earliest local histories in the U.S. date from the colonial era when community histories were written by pastors and other educated men to document the local past. This phase lasted well into the middle of the 19^th century with newspaper editors and other men of education writing about communities.

The Massachusetts Historical Society was the first history organization, created in  1791, followed by the New York Historical Society in 1804. Organizing in other states followed. These elite organizations collected manuscripts, print and visual materials, and were a forum for the discussion of papers on historical topics.

The Centennial of the American Revolution in 1876 created considerable interest in local history. County and city historical organizations sprouted up, and publishers commissioned writers and compilers to create county and regional histories. In 1884, however, members of the academy pulled away from those considered amateurs to form the American Historical Society. Academic history focused, for the most part, on politics, diplomacy, war, and power. Local historians focused on the artifacts and documentary history of communities. By 1900 interest in local history waned.

The Centennial of the Civil War (1961-65), the Bicentennial of the American Revolution (1976), an interest in ethnicity, and the growth of genealogy among many different parts of the population - along with the publication and television presentation of Alex Haley's Roots (1976) - revitalized interest in localities and in local history. This new enthusiasm was fueled by an affirmation of smaller places and by funding available from the National Endowment for the Humanities and its redistribution of money to state councils and then to localities. To qualify for grants - from the NEH and other funding agencies - localities considered new subjects such as a consideration of ethnicity, gender, the environment, social conditions and the history of the family.  This outside money, especially for exhibits, pushed some historical organizations to seek historical consultants and to meet higher standards.

Academic history, beginning in the 1930s with the development of the field of Urban History, and continuing after the Second World War with an interest in localities, influenced by the French Annales School and English Population Studies, encouraged graduate students to seek local topics.   Any number of important monographs appeared from the 1960s on. In 1976 scholars interested in training students for work outside the academy, in historic preservation, in state, city and county historical societies, and in archives, created the National Council on Public History (NCPH). These trained historians, both those who remained in the universities, and those who went into the field, brought the New Social History to local historical societies, which revitalized and expanded the doing of local history.

A consequence of the late 20^th century interest in local history has been the creation of many new historical organizations, many small and under- funded, and most staffed by volunteers with little training. Interest in architectural preservation encouraged others to develop museums in old buildings. In some cases these new organizations have flourished, especially those with adequate funding, but in a great number of cases these organizations are now floundering as their initiators age, and as they carry the financial burdens of upkeep of buildings.

Local history has also been discovered by those promoting state and regional tourism, sometimes to the benefit of communities, and sometimes not. The future for local history is hard to predict, despite its popularity at the moment. There will certainly be less money - something that has already begun to become apparent - while at the same time there are probably greater expectations on the part of the public and by those professionals in historical organizations. Only organizations ready to modernize to meet community needs will survive.

The writing of local history continues. Graduate students find material for PhD dissertations, amateurs research and write, and sometimes publish. Others too, mine the local past including journalists, travel writers, and community development officers.

Genres and Publishing

University presses in the U.S. publish local history monographs that result from graduate programs or are written by academic historians. There are dozens that are noteworthy. For a review of some notable books, see Kathleen Neils Conzen, "Community Studies, Urban History, and American Local History," in The Past Before Us: Contemporary Historical Writing in the United States, ed., Michael Kammen (1980).

The Encyclopedia of Local History, edited by Carol Kammen and Norma Prendergast (Alta Mira Press, 2000) presents articles on the sources for local history and various ways of thinking about writing and presenting it. There are also essays about local history in countries other than the U. S. and Canada.

Genealogy in the U.S. has become a very important activity on the part of many people. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains a Family History Library and has much material, along with advice, available on line at http://www.familysearch.org. In each state there is a "genweb" site devoted to genealogy. See http://www.genweb.org.

There is enthusiasm for books of pictures of communities, some featuring old postcards, others of pictures showing places now and then. These books are not generally histories, but they portray history, and their captions, which tend to be detailed and explicit, are a form of history writing with which many people are comfortable.

In general, there are relatively few commercial publishers interested in issuing local histories, although there are exceptions if the writer is well known or particularly skilled, or the place is thought to be of general interest.

The largest publisher of regional and local history is Arcadia Publishing, which issues several series about localities, especially Postcard History, Images of America, and Making of America. These books are handsome and richly illustrated. See http://www.arcadiapublishing.com for information.

AltaMira Press is associated with the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). It publishes a wide range of books useful for those who work in historical organizations, manage historic sites, or research and write local history. In particular, see Carol Kammen, On Doing Local History, (2^nd edition, 2003) and David Kyvig and Martin Marty, Nearby History (2^nd edition, 2000).

Some authors, and many historical organizations, interested in publishing local history fund their own publications.

Most state historical societies issue scholarly journals or history magazines featuring local history. The American Association for State and Local History publishes History News four times a year (see http://www.aaslh.org/historynews.htm), and the National Council on Public History issues Public History quarterly (see http://www.ucpress.edu/journals/tph/).

The academic field

A number of state institutions and many local colleges offer courses in local history. There are, in addition, Public History programs are to be found around the country, each offering courses in related fields such as demography, urban history, folklore, museum studies, and historic preservations. The headquarters of the NCPH is in Indianapolis, Indiana. See the National Council on Public History at http://www.ncph.org. The Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies in Cooperstown, New York began offering graduate degrees in 1964. Its web address is http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/cgp.

Institutions/Organizations

The American Association for State and Local History is the premier organization for local history. It began in 1904 and in 1940 inaugurated its publication program issuing American Heritage (which became an independent entity), History News, and Dispatch. The organization provides professional development, awards, and it runs regional workshops and seminars, in addition to holding an annual meeting. See http://www.aaslh.org

Each state has a state historical society, and some have more than one. Some of these are private organizations; others are publicly funded. These serve many different roles, including that of research institution, exhibit hall, and cultural educator.

Also important is H-net, featuring monitored e-mail discussions of history linking academic historians, students, and others, in conversations devoted to specific topics (urban history, African American history, ethnicity), and to geographic locales (Michigan or California history). See http://www.h-net.com for the list of topics available.

A consortium of research libraries created an important aid for historians.  Making of America is a digital library of books and journals.  See http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/.  An interesting example of local history on the Internet is the research project entitled Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War, at http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu.

There are important libraries around the nation. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. maintains a local history reading room.  There are materials for local historians at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, at the Newberry Library in Chicago, in the New York Public Library, and in other regional collections. There are also materials located in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., in university libraries, and at state and local historical societies.

Bibliography and references

The history of U.S. local history is discussed in Carol Kammen, On Doing Local History (2003), and in The Encyclopedia of Local History, edited by Kammen and Norma Prendergast (2000). See also, Michael Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (1991), and Carol Kammen ed., The Pursuit of Local History: Readings on Theory and Practice (1996). Most U.S. local historians have delved into their own historical projects rather than looking at the local history as a national activity.

Acknowledgments

Carol Kammen is a Senior Lecturer in History, Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., and editorial essayist for History News. She may be contacted at ckk6@cornell.edu.

This website has been sponsored by
Culture Net Norway