“History, Memory, and Public History,” a graduate seminar co-taught by Professors Anthony Grafton and Martha Sandweiss, explored the methods, approaches, and challenges of public history in the contemporary world where one encounters the past in many ways and places; in textbooks, monuments, films, museums, historic sites, as well as the writings of professional historians. Students were given the opportunity to highlight public history through research in special collections. Christopher J. Parton, a PhD student in Musicology, explored the Library collections in search of America’s first composition. The coursework resulted in a digital exhibition, James Lyon: The Search for America’s First Composition, as well as a musical performance, Peaceful Nassau in Thee We Sing, as part of the Festival of the Arts celebrating the opening of Princeton’s new Lewis Center for the Arts complex.
