Please allow me to introduce myself as a new subscriber. My name is Jeff Hyson, and I'm a fourth-year Ph.D. student in history at Cornell. At the moment, I'm developing a freshman writing seminar on "Presenting the American Past," and I'm hoping list members can assist me in assembling a collection of readings. My plan is to spend the first half to two-thirds of the semester taking students through the history of American history museums, exploring changes in their purposes, methods, and audiences. (This may also include field trips to Cooperstown, Seneca Falls, and the Strong in Rochester.) The last part of the course will be devoted to in-depth readings in the two big public-history controversies of recent years: Disney's America and the Enola Gay. Here's the dilemma: Since this is a writing seminar (with a program requirement of 8-12 assignments totalling about 30 pages, including revisions), reading assignments must be brief and to-the-point. The official guideline is 70 pages a week, but colleagues who have taught similar courses say 30-40 pages is more realistic. This leaves me searching for clear, relevant, SHORT essays relating the history of American public history. Some possibilities are obvious: Benson, Brier, & Rosenzweig, eds., _Presenting the Past_ (1986); Rosenzweig & Leon, eds., _History Museums in the United States_ (1989); the two volumes from Smithsonian Press, _ Exhibiting Cultures_ and _Museums and Communities_; and Mike Wallace's new collection, _Mickey Mouse History_ (1996). I'll likely select one or two of these as a "text" for the course. I've also got PLENTY of material on the Enola Gay and Disney's America. What I'm looking for now are readings on U.S. history museums from the 1840s to the 1980s: case studies, critical assessments, journalistic pieces, and/or primary sources. These readings need to be easily accessible to freshmen, essentially self-contained, and--to really take the prize--reasonably well-written, so that I can better integrate them into the more mechanical aspects of a writing seminar (i.e., "How does George Brown Goode construct his argument in this essay on the Smithsonian?"). I realize this is a rather tall order, but I'm very excited about teaching this course, and I want to construct a provocative reading list. Any and all suggestions are welcome, either on-list or privately. Thanks very much for your assistance. Jeff Hyson Doctoral Candidate, Department of History Cornell University [log in to unmask]