Syllabus

That’s what this seminar proposes to address. The course is broken into three broad modules. In the first, we’ll look at the ‘market’ for history, whether that means ‘history’ as a thing that people buy, or whether that means those skills and analytical rigour that your historical training have provided you: where might those things be in demand? In the second, we’ll talk with professionals across a wide variety of industries or activity areas. What is ‘historical’ about what these folks are doing? How does their historical background inform what they do? As I write this in the fall of 2025, my suspicion is that we’ll see a lot of different kinds of storytelling, for a variety of purposes, to a variety of audiences, is key. In the third module, we’ll get down to it and use what we’ve learned to create a plan for each of you going forward. Maybe that’ll be a business plan. Maybe it’ll be a strategy for how you market yourself. I don’t know: that’s what we’re going to find out.

Before I was a prof, I hustled for work. In the 8 years between finishing grad school and starting at Carleton, I had two (2) academic job interviews: one in 2004, the other in 2010 (for Carleton). I hustled: I taught high school as a long-term substitute teacher; I pitched for research contracts with the NCC; I was part of two different business start-ups (one failed; the other continues); I set out my shingle as an independent researcher and wrote reports on the regulations surrounding nursing-home construction standards in Quebec. I applied for youth development grants and used them to write heritage inventories. I gave public talks about Roman archaeology and passed around the hat afterwards. All that to say I wish I had had an opportunity before all of that to think things through about what I really needed to do to set myself up for success.

This class therefore is an opportunity for us together to think through what you all might need to know, now.

Aims #

The aim is to give you the time and space to explore the business of history, to imagine possible futures grounded in your historical training and interests. This, too, is public history. My goal is for you to leave this class with some kind of plan or model so you can hit the ground running.

Learning Outcomes #

By the end of this class you should be able to

• evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities that fit with your own priorities
• analyze existing business models for alignment with practices and principles of public history
• define and develop your own business plan / personal strategy

Texts #

All readings will be via the resources in our library, or open access. link here.

Schedule #

Thursday afternoons, 3 hrs, Winter Term. 2.35 - 5.25 pm.

The first part of the class (January 8, 15, and 22nd) is our startup phase where we’ll try to understand what the market for ‘history’ is.

The second part of the class (January 29 - March 12) will feature weekly guests who we will talk with about their work. You will each be responsible as a designated ‘host’ for a given week, having prepared questions and being willing to guide the conversation. Afterwards, you’ll pull together some thoughts on the things we’ve learned, the insights we’ve gleaned, which will be posted to this website.

Note that reading week occurs the week of Feb 16 - 20.

The final part of the class (March 19, 26, and April 2) will be when you pull your plan together. This might be done individually, or as part of some larger group. On April 2nd you will present your plan to the class as a whole; we’ll hold a secret ballot to decide which one we think is most likely to succeed.

See more details here.

Guest Bios #

We are fortunate to have a number of guests willing to share their experiences and insights with us. See the full list here.

Evaluation #

• Environmental Scan: 30%
• Lead Discussant / Backgrounder: 30%
• Business model (includes in-class presentation): 30%
• Above and Beyond: 10% (leadership in the seminar, quality of the work, sophistication of questions for our guests, etc.)

See more details here.