NPS Photo

PSU graduate student Duane Barringer presents an interpretive talk to the public at the annual Brigade Encampment special event.

The Public History Field School is a partnership program between Portland State University (PSU) and the National Park Service (NPS) through the park’s Northwest Cultural Resource Institute (NCRI).

The upper-division course, available to graduate students in the PSU public history program, is designed to build on the context of their introductory coursework by providing a focused, hands-on immersion into how history is promulgated by one of the leading stewards of the nation’s history – the National Park Service (NPS).

NPS Photo

Participants in the site's inaugural Public History Field School take a break from their public programs at the Brigade Encampment special event in 2006.

For eleven weeks onsite in the park, these graduate students actively apply knowledge gained through group discussion, directed readings, research, practical exercises, peer review, and class instruction to crafting programs for the public.

Throughout the course, students work within the NPS Interpretive Development Plan (IDP), the leading program for the professionalization of historical interpretation. It was created to help park rangers develop effective interpretive skills to facilitate meaningful visitor experiences and encourage stewardship of park resources.

Dig deeper...

For more information, click on a link below.

• 2008 Public History Field School
• 2006 Public History Field School Course Syllabus (101 KB .pdf file)
• Press Releases for 2006 Public History Field School
• Information on Internships in Public History
• See some of the 2006 field school students in action at the annual Brigade Encampment special event by clicking on the Photo Gallery below!