The Dreaded Second Question – Or, In Defense of My Major

by Matt Beukema. You’ve likely heard the question or even asked it yourself. After answering “History” to the question of what I studied in college comes that dreaded second question. The question that comes nearly 90% of the time to history (and English, I’m sure) graduates. “Do you want to teach?” I don’t know why …

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The Politics of Memory in Russia

by Jenna Hunt. My Museum Studies masters’ thesis focused on museums of communism, and as part of my research I traveled to Central and Eastern Europe and analyzed several museums as case studies. One of these was the Perm-36 Gulag Museum, located on the western edge of the Ural Mountains. I arrived in the city …

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Why the Past Matters: Izmir’s Historical Amnesia

by Spencer Cone. Today, Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey. As a bustling city with a thriving economy and cultural life, it’s become a symbol of the modern, Westernized Turkey. However, the city’s prosperity disguises a tumultuous history. Throughout the course of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) the city, known then as Smyrna, witnessed …

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The Gilded Age and Ferguson: Teaching Students to Weigh Evidence as Apprentice Historians

by Caleb Lagerwey. The story of Ferguson, Missouri and the subsequent grand jury decision was hard to ignore in my school in the weeks before the Christmas break. The subject came up before, during, and after a few of my classes, and I noticed that some of my students were rather one-sided about the entire …

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