1. Brief lectures in Media History
Introduction
Overview of history
(1 of 15)

2. This lecture is about history …
What is history
Historical methods
Importance of history
Some of the great historians
Some of the branches of history

3. What is history?
Active investigation of what happened and what we can learn from the past
From the Greek, ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation.”

4. What is history? Collective memory of humankind
The record of events and also to the academic discipline of studying or helping create the record of events.
One of the Humanities (study of human culture)
Allows broad questions – when and who, but also why and how …
Can you name other humanities?
( Language, literature, philosophy, religion, music, theatre, Some also considered social sciences -- Anthropology, communication, law, linguistics )
What fields of study are not humanities?
Historians resist “scientific” approach, not everything can be quantified.
What happens when individuals lose their memories? (Alzheimers)
What happens when cultures lose their memories? (doomed to repeat history – George Santayana / more on Santayana below)

5. History is not … A static description of well-known facts
Useless memorization of dates
Only concerned with “great men” and “great machines”
Only concerned with the US or European-Americans

6. Clio: Muse of history First among the nine muses of Greek mythology
Often represented with a parchment scroll or a set of tablets.
The name is from the root κλέω/κλείω, "recount" or "make famous”.

7. Visualizing history History, by Frederick Dielman, 1896
For Class: What is depicted here, and who are the names in gold?
The figure of History, in the mosaic's center, holds a pen and book. Clio, muse of history, one of 9 muses.
On both sides of her, there are tablets mounted in a marble wall with benches on either side of the tablets. The tablets contain the names of great historians.
One tablet contains the names of the ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides in brighter gold, followed by Polybius, Livy, Tacitus, Bæda, Comines.
The other tablet contains the name of the modern historians Hume and Gibbon in brighter gold, along with Niebuhr, Guizot, Ranke, and the Americans Bancroft and Motley.
At the foot of one of the tablets is a laurel wreath symbolizing peace, and at the foot of the second tablet is an oak wreath symbolizing war. A palm branch designating success rests against the wreaths and tablets.
The female figure on one side of History is Mythology. As the symbol of the theories of the universe, she holds a globe of the earth in her left hand. The Greeks' female sphinx to her right represents the eternally insoluble Riddle of the World. Tradition, the aged woman seated on the other side of History, represents medieval legend and folk tales. She is shown in the midst of relating her old wives' tales to the young boy seated before her. The distaff in her lap, the youth with a harp in his hand (a reference to the wandering minstrel of the Middle Ages), and the shield are reminders of a past age.
The mosaic includes ancient buildings from the three nations of antiquity with highly developed histories: an Egyptian pyramid, a Greek temple, and a Roman amphitheater.
Along with the mosaic panel representing Law above the north fireplace, this mosaic was prepared in Venice, Italy and sent to the Jefferson Building to be put into place. Both mosaics were made of pieces, or tesserae, which were fitted together to provide subtle gradations in color.
(Much of the preceding text is derived from the Library of Congress's virtual tour of the Thomas Jefferson Building.)
Frederick Dielman
Date 1896
History, by Frederick Dielman, 1896
from the US Library of Congress, Washington DC

8. Assignment 1:
Pick One of 40 most famous historians (listed at course web site). Find three references for the historian (one from wikipedia) and write complete, accurate bibliographic entries in APA style. Read the Wikipedia article and other references. Compare them in your report back to class. One page note due in one week, ec for early turn-in. ID the person, nationality, life dates, significance, background, major ideas, major publications, awards, and criticism or alternative viewpoints.
OPTIONAL FOR INSTRUCTOR:
Assignment -- Select one of 40 historians in this section. We’ll be talking about some of them. The point is that if a class in media history is still a class in history, and you should know something about the variety of approaches to history.
Find three references for the historian (aside from wikipedia) and write complete, accurate bibliographic entries. Read the Wikipedia article and one other reference. Compare the two in your report back to class. Five paragraph paper due in one week. ID the person, life dates, significance, background, nationality, major ideas, major publications, awards, and criticism or alternative viewpoints.
Heroditus
Thucydides
Polybius
Livy
Tacitus
Bæda
Comines
Hume
Gibbon
Niebuhr,
Guizot,
Von Ranke,
Bancroft
Motley
Barbara Tuchman
Bernardino Croce
Georges Santayana
H.G. Wells
Lord John Acton
Allan Nevins
Arnold Toynbee
Oswald Spengler
Karl Marx
Herbert Butterfield
Francis Fukuyama
Jean Baudrillard
Elizabeth Eisenstein
Walter Lippmann
Terence Moran
Upton Sinclair
Max Weber
Michael Schudson
Michel Foucault
Theodor W. Adorno
Walter Benjamin
Jürgen Habermas
Marshall McLuhan
Harold Innis

9. Historical method Comparative & critical
not experimental like sciences
when, where, by whom, who else, what medium, source integrity & credibility
Duty to truth and accuracy
Preference for eyewitness accounts, original documents,
Journalism “first rough draft” of history
Precise answers are elusive
Looking for insights & explanations
Producing narrative & analysis

10. Great historians:
Herodotus (484–420 BCE) preserve the memory of great heroes
Thucydides (460–400 BCE) learn the lessons of the past as a guide to the future
T said of H: To hear this history rehearsed, for that there be inserted in it no fables, shall be perhaps not delightful. But he that desires to look into the truth of things done, and which (according to the condition of humanity) may be done again, or at least their like, shall find enough herein to make him think it profitable. And it is compiled rather for an everlasting possession than to be rehearsed for a prize.
Why do historians write history?
Heroditus and Thucydides

11. Great historians:
David Hume ( ) History of Britain from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of (written 1754–62) Definitive interpretation of British history. Highly analytical -- not written for beginners.
Edward Gibbon ( ) History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (written 1776 – 1788). One of the most famous early modern works of history, used primary sources and worked for accuracy while also readable and ironic.

12. Why is history important?
George Santayana (1863–1952), American
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

13. Why is history important?
H.G. Wells (1866–1946), historian, science fiction writer
“History is a race between education and catastrophe”

14. Why is history important?
Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989) American
Guns of August, Proud Tower, First Salute, Stilwell and the American Experience in China,
Tuchman’s Law:
"Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on
Like Acton, Tuchman is a moralist
(Note similarity to George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory)
Quote From: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
In 1985, Saturday Review magazine named her one of the country's "Most Overrated People in American Arts and Letters," commenting that "over the years [she has made] an unhappy transition from writing history as a moral lesson to writing moral lessons as history.”
the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place. … The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development…”

15. Is history objective?
Leopold Von Ranke (German 1795–1886) Historians should take a fact-based empirical approach and report “the way things really were.”
Vie est eisenshaft gvessen /
So a history of the battle of Waterloo by German, French or British historian would be pretty much the same.
Note that Von Ranke’s history of the Protestant Reformation makes almost no mention of printing – Elizabeth Eisenstein wonders about that kind of omission

16. Is history objective? Allan Nevins (1890 – 1971)
American journalist, worked with Walter Lippmann at Pulitzer’s World newspaper
“History is never above the melee. It is not allowed to be neutral, but forced to enlist in every army…”
Among the progressive era historians, the idea of a moral history was important.

17. Is history objective? Arnold J. Toynbee
(Br. econ. Historian 1889 – 1975)
A Study of History (written 1934–61)
“Universal history”
Patterns of 26 civilizations are similar, predictable
Creative elites lead change
Broad-gauge history was a major influence on media historian Harold Innis

18. Is history objective? Lord John Acton (1834 – 1902)
Highly influenced by Macaulay
“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Historians must apply moral judgments
Among the progressive era historians, the idea of a moral history was important.

19. Is history objective? Benedetto Croce (Italian - 1866–1952)
History should be "philosophy in motion.”
Reacting to Von Ranke and Toynbee, Croce said there is no great "cosmic design" or ultimate plan in history. The "science of history" is a farce, he thought.
. (As opposed to Von Ranke but also predictable history as opposed to Arnold J. Toynbee, (1889–1975), A Study of History, world history
Croce did not agree with John Locke about the nature of liberty. Croce believed that liberty is not a natural right but an earned right that arises out of continuing historical struggle for its maintenance.

20. Time – related historical terms
Chronological – In order of occurrence
Anachronic - contrary to flow of time
(Ex: Mad Men Anachronisms)
Synchronic – at one time
(Ex: synchronize clocks)
Diachronic – through time
(Ex: diachronic linguistics is the study of language change over time)
For example, the TV series Mad Med is set in the 1950s and 60s, but there are anachronisms that show up --

21. Problems in history Anachronisms Chronological snobbery
(things were better / worse in the past)
Historian’s fallacy
(not recognizing fog of history)
Determinism – Strong causality
(Usually there are many factors are at work)
Revisionism – Re-consideration of orthodox views (sometimes negative, but not usually)
Presentism / Whig history (next)
Reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event. Though the word revisionism is sometimes used in a negative way,
Holocaust denial is one form of revisionism that is viewed very negatively, and with good reason. History should always be open to evidence – based challenges. Constant debate and challenges are part of the normal scholarly process. But the evidence fails in Holocaust denialism, so the attempt to revise history also fails. For really interested students, the David Irving / Deborah Lipstadt trial of 2000 is an interesting episode in denialism.

22. ‘Whig’ history
Thomas Macaulay (1800 – 1859) History of England A political Whig (reformer), Macaulay put liberalism, reform and public service at the center of British history. The “Progressive History” approach was widely accepted in UK and US
Herbert Butterfield The Whig Interpretation of History (1931) pointed to Macaulay as an example of Whig history. Butterfield was skeptical of “presentism,” that is, seeing the past through the lens of the present.
But is objectivity really the problem?
What we call Whig history today honors the heroes, emphasizes progress, ignores the roads not taken, de-emphasizes minorities, and generally glorifies the inevitable present. Whig history is what happens when the winners get to write history.
Macaulay’s history was biased towards progress and liberalism – Butterfield didn’t think that was a bad thing, but he wanted people to understand the method was flawed and not very critical.
Quote from Macaulay:
I should very imperfectly execute the task which I have undertaken if I were merely to treat of battles and sieges, of the rise and fall of administrations, of intrigues in the palace, and of debates in the parliament. It will be my endeavour to relate the history of the people as well as the history of the government, to trace the progress of useful and ornamental arts, to describe the rise of religious sects and the changes of literary taste, to portray the manners of successive generations and not to pass by with neglect even the revolutions which have taken place in dress, furniture, repasts, and public amusements. I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history, if I can succeed in placing before the English of the nineteenth century a true picture of the life of their ancestors.
Also, Macaulay was aware of the problem /
There are two opposite errors into which those who study the annals of our country are in constant danger of falling, the error of judging the present by the past, and the error of judging the past by the present. The former is the error of minds prone to reverence whatever is old, the latter of minds readily attracted by whatever is new. The former error may perpetually be observed in the reasonings of conservative politicians on the questions of their own day. The latter error perpetually infects the speculations of writers of the liberal school when they discuss the transactions of an earlier age. The former error is the more pernicious in a statesman, and the latter in a historian. (The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 2)
Macaulay hoped to present “… A true picture of the life of their ancestors.”

23. What’s a Whig?
This illustration by James Gilray, May 5,
(The name Whig derives from a derogatory nickname for Scottish parliamentarians, whiggamores, which meant cattle drivers.) Cartoon shows a carousel on which sit government ministers Charles Fox, Lord North, Edmund Burke and Admiral Keppel. Beam in the center of the carousel platform is a pillar topped by a bust of King George III, a wig and Union Jack suspended over the bust. In the background two robbers lower a large bundle from the window of a building. An inscription above the cartoon reads "Poor John Bull's house plunder'd at noon day.” W. Humphrey, 1783 May 5th. Puns include wig for Whig and block for the device for beheading, the head-shaped device for forming wigs, and blockhead as in stupid person. Burke is dressed as a Jesuit, is reading from Sublime and Beautiful, and has a skeleton for a leg. (The name Tory derives from tóraí, an insulting Irish term for brigand.)
A political party in Britain (1670s – 1860s) that favored Parliament over the monarchy, free trade, religious tolerance, abolition of slavery and expansion of voting rights. Whigs became the labor party in the 1860s. (Opposition was the Tories, favor monarchy, tradition).
Whig history is about history that favors the idea of progress.

24. Whig History in the USA American progress, John Gast, 1872
This is an example of a view of American history that is Whiggish – That is, it depicts positive, inevitable progress, it ignores problems (note the Indians and buffalo fleeing …)
Questions: Where is this? (Manhattan island background Brooklyn Bridge)
Was there telegraph service or railroads across the US at this time?
Notes on this painting: “ As students begin to describe what they see, they quickly realize that they’re looking at a kind of historical encyclopedia of transportation technologies. The simple Indian travois precedes the covered wagon and the pony express, the overland stage and the three railroad lines. The static painting thus conveys a vivid sense of the passage of time as well as of the inevitability of technological progress. The groups of human figures, read from left to right, convey much the same idea. Indians precede Euro-American prospectors, who in turn come before the farmers and settlers. The idea of progress coming from the East to the West, and the notion that the frontier would be developed by sequential waves of people (here and in Turner’s configuration, always men) was deeply rooted in American thought.” -- Martha A. Sandweiss, Amherst College
American progress, John Gast, 1872

25. Whig History example James Grunig & 2-way symmetrical flow
Progress in public relations history:
P.T. Barnum & ballyhoo
Mid-19th century
Ivy Lee & press agency
Early 20th century
Edward Bernais & scientific public info
Mid-20th century
James Grunig & 2-way symmetrical flow
Late 20th century
The “progress” of public relations is a good example of “whig” history --
Each of these approaches to public relations is theoretically better than the previous one, and each major example is found chronologically after the previous one, so its possible to imply a chain of causality where none may actually exist.
Are there people still practicing ballyhoo today?
Do we have press agents?
Was there “scientific” public relations (using opinion polls and psychological strategies) earlier than the 1930s? (There’s an argument that the women’s suffrage movement used advanced public relations tactics).
So are we looking at a range of approaches used in many rather than an historical progression ?

26. Critiques of history
“History is furious debate informed by evidence and reason, not just answers to be learned. Textbooks encourage students to believe that history is just learning facts… No wonder (it) turns students off!”
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong -- James W. Loewen
In recent years, many historians have moved away from objective and progressive national histories, focusing instead on cultural history or other smaller topics. Cultural history might involve the history of ideas, history of technology, women’s history, black history, environmental history and many others not yet explored. Yet history as a discipline, as Novick has noted, has not moved any closer towards a resolution of the fragmentation.

27. People’s history Howard Zinn (1922 – 2010)
People’s History of the United States
“History is invoked because nobody can say what history really has ordained for you, just as nobody can say what God has ordained for you…”
In recent years, many historians have moved away from objective and progressive national histories, focusing instead on cultural history or other smaller topics.
Cultural history might involve the history of ideas, history of technology, women’s history, black history, environmental history and many others not yet explored.
Yet history as a discipline, as Novick has noted, has not moved any closer towards a resolution of the fragmentation.

28. Black history People who have been ignored until recent generations
Major contributions
Struggle for equality reflects America at its best and worst
Influences (Gandhi, Tolstoy)
Has influenced (Mandella, Tum, Aung San Suu Kyi, others)
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, Aug. 28, 1963.

29. Women’s history Early non-violent movement
Major contributions that had been ignored
Struggle for equality reflects the world at its best and worst
Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of British movement for women’s suffrage, 1913.

30. Environmental history
Conservation
Public health
Technology regulation
“Wise use” – TR
“Preservation” – JM
Goes back through history
Not “new” but new as an historical discipline
US President Teddy Roosevelt & Sierra Club founder John Muir at Yosemite National Park, May, 1903

31. End of history ?
Francis Fukuyama (1952–present) / also Jean Baudrillard (1929– 2007)
End of the idea of progress
Abandonment of utopian visions from right- and left-wing political ideologies