History's Babel : scholarship, professionalization, and the historical enterprise in the United States, 1880-1940 / Robert B. Townsend.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Townsend, Robert B., 1966- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historiography--United States--History.

Historiography.

History--Study and teaching--United States.

History.

History--Study and teaching.

United States.

Historians--United States.

Historians.

Physical Description:

xiii, 258 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Summary:

From the late nineteenth century until World War II, competing spheres of professional identity and practice redrew the field of history, establishing fundamental differences between the roles of university historians, archivists, staff at historical societies, history teachers, and others.

In History's Babel, Robert B. Townsend takes us from the beginning of this professional shift to a state of microprofessionalization that continues to define the field today. Drawing on extensive research among the records of the American Historical Association and a multitude of other sources, Townsend traces the slow fragmentation of the field from 1880 to the divisions of the 1940s manifest today in the diverse professions of academia, teaching, and public history. By revealing how the founders of the contemporary historical enterprise envisioned the future of the discipline, he offers insight into our own historical moment and the way the discipline has adapted and changed over time. Townsend's work will be of interest not only to historians but to all who care about how the professions of history emerged, how they might go forward, and the public role they still can play. Book jacket.

Contents:

Building the historical enterprise, 1880 to 1910. Establishing a framework for "scientific" history scholarship ; Developing the tools and materials of history research ; Defining a profession of history teaching

Cracks appear in the edifice of history, 1911 to 1925. Seeking refuge in professionalized scholarship ; Placing the tools and materials of research in "other hands" ; History teaching finds its own voice

Scattering the historical enterprise, 1926 to 1940. The crisis of the "research men" ; Handing tools and materials over to others ; Teaching goes its own way, 1925-1940.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226923925

9780226923932

0226923924

0226923932

OCLC:

783150233