[can-events] Making Public Histories - Seminar Series

Making Public Histories – New Seminar Series

Welcome to a new seminar series exploring issues and approaches in making 
public histories. The seminars will be engaging and audio-visual, with 
expert presentations and lively participation from historians working in 
museums, heritage, professional history, the media, universities, archives 
and libraries, community history – and anyone interested in historical 
representation in contemporary society. 

Where and when: on Thursdays, 5.30-7.00pm, at seminar room 1, State 
Library of Victoria. Come to Entry 3, La Trobe St at 5.25.

24 July 2008
The Tail Wagging the Dog? Oral history, digital story-telling and old 
Media
The expanding realm of online communications, and increasing public access 
to multi-media production tools, from mp3 files to PowerPoint, has seen an 
unprecedented growth of websites devoted to individual and community 
story-telling in a multiplicity of forms.  From digital autobiographies to 
web sites which allow the production, dissemination and sharing of 
personal and group stories, this technology-driven phenomenon has begun to 
challenge and alter old paradigms which once defined the roles of 'the 
story-teller' and 'the audience' - particularly in relation to the 
broadcast media. Michelle Rayner, Executive Producer of social history 
programs at ABC Radio National, will discuss the implications of the 
brave, new and seemingly limitless world of digital online storytelling 
for her own practise of producing oral history radio programs.

4 September 2008
Unlocking the Medieval Imagination: Living history and public culture
Shane Carmody, Director of Collections and Access at the State Library of 
Victoria, will consider the Library’s recent exhibition, ‘The Medieval 
Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New 
Zealand’, which drew capacity audiences, linked with medieval re-enactment 
groups, music groups, art and craft societies and the Universities, and 
challenged notions of public value being measured only in monetary terms. 
Constant Mews, Professor of History and Director of the Centre for Studies 
in Religion and Theology at Monash University’s School of Historical 
Studies, will reflect on the public nature of the history both celebrated 
and performed through the exhibition and associated events.

16 October 2008 
Creating Victoria’s Framework of Historical Themes
Amanda Bacon (manager of the strategic projects unit in Heritage Victoria) 
will outline the origins and aims of a project which is developing a 
framework of historical themes for assessment, management, promotion and 
interpretation of Victoria’s heritage places and objects. The project 
attempts to redress the longstanding dominance of architecture and 
engineering in heritage work, and seeks broader community engagement by 
identifying the rich web of stories and historical connections across the 
state. Sandy Blair from Melbourne-based consultancy firm Context will 
outline the challenges of creating a set of themes that are at once 
engaging, inclusive of a wide range of experiences, and also applicable 
across the natural, indigenous, and historic environments. As Heritage 
Council representative on the project, Renate Howe will explore the 
different ways that historians, heritage professionals and local 
government administrators perceive historical themes.

20 November 2008
'Exhibiting Melbourne: The city in the museum' 
Visitors to Melbourne can now approach the city's history through an 
impressive range of galleries and exhibitions, including The City Museum, 
The Australian Gallery of Sport, The State Library's 'Faces of Victoria', 
the Immigration Museum and Museum Victoria's recently opened 'Melbourne 
Story'. Deakin University Museologist Linda Young, a recent arrival in 
Melbourne, and Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, historian Graeme 
Davison, who has been interpreting the city for three decades, introduce a 
discussion of how to interpret the city's history and culture in the 
museum environment. Museum practitioners, including Deborah Tout-Smith 
(Museum Victoria) and Richard Ferguson (MCC Exhibitions) will respond from 
a curatorial perspective. 

The Making Public Histories Seminar Series is offered jointly by the 
Monash University Institute for Public History, History Council of 
Victoria and the State Library of Victoria. 

No charge and no booking required. 
Venue information at www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/learning. 
Suggestions for future seminars to Professor Alistair Thomson, Director, 
Institute for Public History, School of Historical Studies, Monash 
University: 99059785, alistair.thomson at arts.monash.edu.au


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message and any attachment is intended only for the use of the Addressee and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please delete all copies of the message and its attachments and notify the sender immediately. Thank you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.collectionsaustralia.net/pipermail/can-events/attachments/20080604/1f48c75b/attachment.html