Public History in Practice: The IFPH Explorers Internship Program

Author: Jimena Perry, PhD. Assistant Professor, Iona University. Project Manager IFPH Explorers

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In an effort to keep the project growing, since 2022 the @ifphexplorers has had the privilege of collaborating with students from Macquarie University thanks to the support of the IFPH President, Professor Tanya Evans. This Fall 2024, we welcomed our fourth cohort of interns. These dedicated students, who have invested their time and energy in learning about public history, have significantly contributed to the ongoing development and success of the IFPH Explorers project. To know more about our first three groups of interns, visit our Instagram account. As a matter of fact, the popular logo we have was done by our intern Ashleigh Morgan. 

Our interns have contributed significantly by writing several blog entries for Bridging, the IFPH Blog, creating videos for our social media accounts, and developing Instagram campaigns. Fall 2024 is no exception—building on the work of previous cohorts, this semester’s students have taken their projects to the next level. Meet these interns here.

This semester, Debra Hanna, currently residing in England, expressed her interest in a medieval church and graveyard located near her house. Concerned about the potential loss of the site’s history, she proposed a research project for her internship, resulting in a work titled Disappearing History. The medieval Church and graveyard of St Laurence.

In a true demonstration of public history practice, Debra meticulously photographed and transcribed the headstones at St. Laurence’s medieval church and graveyard, acting before further deterioration could occur. Using the images and descriptions she gathered, she created a database aimed at “submitting a comprehensive survey to the burial space research database in the future.”

Additionally, Jason Van Essen, another intern, aimed to make a lasting contribution to the IFPH Explorers. To achieve this, he proposed an ongoing initiative to enhance the visibility of public history practices in Latin America. As a result, he created a comprehensive annotated bibliography titled Resources for Public History in Latin America (for English Readers). This first version, as Jason noted, is intended to evolve and be updated by future interns and researchers. It includes a diverse range of materials such as articles, books, museums, archaeological sites, and videos. Some entries feature abstracts, and the goal is for future contributions to enrich these sections further. This bibliography is something new on our website and the hope is that it will encourage research and collaborative public history projects. 

Katie Haberlin was another intern who made a significant impact on our social media presence. To increase engagement with the events featured on our Vimeo Channel, Katie designed a targeted campaign to draw viewers to our Instagram account. She created over ten short clips highlighting key themes in public history. For example, these excerpts cover topics such as the intersection of public history and medicine, collaborative efforts between public historians and artists in comic creation, and discussions on the audiences that public historians should engage. These engaging vignettes serve as excellent conversation starters, inviting viewers to explore these vital themes further. Watch these clips here.

The IFPH Explorers initiative aims to continue collaborating not only with students from Macquarie University but also with public history practitioners worldwide who are interested in the project. If you would like to get involved, please reach out to us at jimenaperry [at] gmail [dot] com.

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