As biographies top bestseller lists and take up ever more shelf space at chain bookstores, some academic historians hold these popular publications at arm’s length and decry their narrow approach and lack of rigor. But what are the possibilities and limitations of biography as a medium for communicating history? As part of a series of public seminars on the presentation of the past, on December 20, 2005, ASHP/CML will host a conversation about history and biography at the City University of New York Graduate Center. A panel of historians and publishing professionals will address how scholars use biography as a...Read more

In our second year of providing professional development to New York City public school teachers through the federally-funded Teaching American History initiative, ASHP/CML is conducting two large programs serving teachers in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island (in addition to offering workshops through other TAH-funded projects). These programs have enabled ASHP/CML to undertake in-depth work with 80 middle and high school social studies teachers, challenging them to engage with broad historical questions and helping them to develop classroom materials appropriate to their students’ diverse needs.

...Read more

The Lost Museum, ASHP/CML’s online re-creation of Barnum’s American Museum and introduction to mid-nineteenth-century U.S. history, won the Platinum Award for Interactive-Educational New Media at the 38th annual WorldFest Film Festival. Worldfest, one of the oldest competitive international media Festivals, was held in Houston, Texas, during the last week in April 2005. In April The Lost Museum also was the recipient of an Honorable Mention Award for excellence in interactive media production in the Horizon Interactive Awards competition.Read more

Here at the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, we pride ourselves on creating innovative and challenging digital projects as well as devising critical and rigorous approaches to their use in classroom and other educational settings.

Now that the World Wide Web encompasses a good part of our activities, it is increasingly our most accessible public face. Since we began establishing our presence on the Web relatively early in the development of the Internet, that face has a habit of aging rather rapidly. As we update our website with new programming and content we realize a few short...Read more