Public humanities is a term used to describe the work of federal, state, nonprofit and community-based cultural organizations that engage the public in conversations, facilitate and present lectures, exhibitions, performances and other programs for the general public on topics such as history, philosophy, popular culture and the arts. Public humanities programs explore engage everyone in reflecting on diverse heritage, traditions, and history, and their relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of life.

Workers within the public humanities endeavor to create spaces where the public can engage in conversation, learning and reflection about issues and ideas. Public humanities projects include exhibitions and programming related to historic preservation, oral history, archives, material culture, public art, cultural heritage, and cultural policy. Practitioners of public humanities are invested in ensuring the accessibility and relevance of the humanities to the general public or community groups.

The American Council of Learned Societies' National Task Force on Scholarship and the Public Humanities suggests that the nature of public humanities work is to teach the public the findings of academic scholarship: it sees "scholarship and the public humanities not as two distinct spheres but as parts of a single process, the process of taking private insight, testing it, and turning it into public knowledge."[1]
Others suggest a more balanced understanding of the ways in which history, heritage and culture are shared between the academy and the public.

Several universities have established programs in the public humanities, including:

• Portland State University
  Portland State University
  Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
  
  , whose Portland Center for Public Humanities provides a yearlong forum of talks, roundtables, and workshops where the public can engage with humanistic questions, knowledge and debates.

• Brown University
  Brown University
  Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
  
  , whose John Nicholas Brown Center supports public humanities programs, and whose American Civilization Department offers a masters degree in public humanities. Brown's public humanities program emphasizes practice, balanced alongside theory.

• University of Washington
  University of Washington
  University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
  
  , whose Simpson Center for the Humanities offers an annual symposium. http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/research_graduate_Connecting.htm

• Michigan State University
  Michigan State University
  Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
  
  , whose Public Humanities Collaborative "provides a gathering place, a commons, where faculty, students, and outreach professionals can collaborate with community groups to build strong campus-community partnerships and enhance public understanding of liberal arts for democracy."

• University of Wisconsin–Madison
  University of Wisconsin–Madison
  The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
  
  , whose Center for the Humanities is the primary vehicle on the campus for interdisciplinary work in the humanities, has a public scholarship program, HEX (Humanities Exposed) that supports collaborative work between humanities grad students and the community.

• Yale University
  Yale University
  Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
  
  , whose MA program in Public Humanities is part of the American Studies Program at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Related fields include public history

Public history

Public history is a term that describes the broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice has quite deep roots in the areas of historic preservation,...

, public sociology

Public sociology

Public sociology is an approach to the discipline which seeks to transcend the academy and engage wider audiences. Rather than being defined by a particular method, theory, or set of political values, public sociology may be seen as a style of sociology, a way of writing and a form of intellectual...

, public folklore

Public folklore

Public folklore is the term for the work done by folklorists in public settings in the United States and Canada outside of universities and colleges, such as arts councils, museums, folklife festivals, radio stations, etc. The term is actually short for "public sector folklore" and was first used...

, public anthropology

Public anthropology

Public Anthropology, according to Robert Borofsky, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University, "demonstrates the ability of anthropology and anthropologists to effectively address problems beyond the discipline - illuminating larger social issues of our times as well as encouraging broad, public...

, historic preservation

Historic preservation

Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...

, museum studies, cultural heritage management

Cultural Heritage Management

Cultural heritage management is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. It is a branch of cultural resources management , although it also draws on the practices of conservation, restoration, museology, archaeology, history and architecture...

, community archaeology

Community archaeology

Community archaeology is archaeology by the people for the people. The field is also known as public archaeology. There is debate about whether the terms are interchangeable; some believe that community archaeology is but one form of public archaeology, which can include many other modes of...

, public art

Public art

The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...

, and public science

Public science

Public science refers to a science outreach project that has been conducted outdoors or in another type of public or accessible space such as a public park, metro stop, library, university campus, etc. Similar to public art, there are typically aspects of collaboration, community support and...

.

Examples of some private/public institutions and organizations that implement public humanities programs are:

• Museums
  Museum
  A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
  
  
• State and National Parks
• Cultural Organizations, such as community centers
• Libraries
• Archives
• Historic Sites
• Schools and universities
• Cultural Policy
  Cultural policy
  Cultural Policy is the area of public policy-making that governs activities related to the arts and culture. Generally, this involves fostering processes, legal classifications and institutions which promote cultural diversity and accessibility, as well as enhancing and promulgating the artistic,...
  
   institutes
• Historic and Preservation Societies
• Public Art
  Public art
  The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
  
   and Public History
  Public history
  Public history is a term that describes the broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice has quite deep roots in the areas of historic preservation,...
  
   Projects
• Public Radio
• Community Building
  Community building
  Community building is a field of practices directed toward the creation or enhancement of community among individuals within a regional area or with a common interest...
  
   Initiatives
• State Humanities Councils

External links

• American Council of Learned Societies' National Task Force on Scholarship and the Public Humanities
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• http://www.brown.edu/Research/JNBC/maprogram.phpPublic Humanities Program Brown University
  Brown University
  Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
  
  , Providence, RI]