Pursuit of Local History

Carol Kammen writes editorials for History News and is the author of On Doing Local History: Reflections on What Local Historians Do, Why, and What It Means and of eleven plays. She co-edited the Encyclopedia of Local History with Norma Prendergast.

• chapter 1 About the Editor chapter 2 Acknowledgments chapter 3 Introduction:Local History-In Search of Comon Threads chapter 4 I:The Local Historian chapter 5 1. The Amateur Historian by Carol Kammen chapter 6 2. Some Impressions of the Nonacademic Local Historians and Their Writings by David J. Russo chapter 7 3. Local Historians and Their Activities by Judith M. Wellman chapter 8 II:Nineteenth-Century Views of Local History chapter 9 4. An Address Delivered Before the New Hampshire Historical Society by Salma Hale chapter 10 5. Deficiencies in Our History: An Address Delivered Before the Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society at Montpelier, October 16, 1846 by James Davie Butler, Jr. chapter 11 6. The Literature of American Local History: A Bibliographical Essay by Hermann E. Ludewig chapter 12 III. The Nature of Local History chapter 13 7. The Value of Local History by Lewis Mumford chapter 14 8. The Value of Local History by Constance Mclaughlin Green chapter 15 9. Nearby History: Connecting Particulars and Universals by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty chapter 16 10. State, Local, and Regional Studies by John Alexander Williams chapter 17 IV:Thinking Anew about Local History chapter 18 11. Changes in the Community by Constance Mclaughlin Green chapter 19 12. Challenges and Opportunities in Writing State and Local History by Michael Kammen chapter 20 13. The Usable Past: A Study of Historical Traditions in Kansas City by Richard Wohl and A. Theodore Brown chapter 21 14. A Manifesto: The Defense and Illustration of Local History by Paul Leuilliot chapter 22 15. A Sense of Place: A Historian Advocates Conceptual Approaches to Community History by Shelton Stromquist chapter 23 V:Rx for Local Historians chapter 24 16. How Not to Write Local History by H. P. R. Finberg chapter 25 17. The Local Historian: His Occupational Hazards and Compensations by John Walton Caughey chapter 26 18. How to Write a Dull Town History by Geoffrey Elan chapter 27 19. Local and Community History: Some Cautionary Remarks on an Idea Whose Time Has Returned by David A. Gerber chapter 28 VI. A Passion for Local History chapter 29 20. The Stuff of History by Robert Archibald chapter 30 Suggestions for Further Reading

This is an important book for students of museum studies who, in their future careers, will become practitioners of local history. It is equally important for those of us involved in the practice of local history, as it is a good starting place for discussions about the quality of what we do and the ways we can make it better.