Welcome to the course site for History 200: Historians for Hire, a Spring Term 2020 class at Carleton College taught by Professor Susannah Ottaway.

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Carleton College’s spring courses will be taught remotely for at least the first half of term. In normal times, this is a project-based history course in which students work closely with community partners to complete specific elements of historical research and writing, as well as various public history tasks. These are not normal times, so this term we will be suspending our regular community partnerships due to COVID-19 related closures. This term, our work will focus on collecting and curating materials for A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19, a site curated by public historians at Arizona State University. One thing that will not change: students will still use this experience to better understand the role of public historians in contemporary civil society, gain sophistication in their understanding of archival research, and practice writing for the broader public. Students will take a brief but deep dive into a specific public history experience, while also gaining insight into professional standards of practice involving collaborations among distinct institutions.

This blog will provide a space for students to document their work and reflect on their experiences as they collect and curate sources that speak to this moment of pandemic while simultaneously living through this uncertain and unsettled time of pandemic and crisis.