A peek behind the scenes of academic history

The history we present to students, however rigorous and challenging, and however full of integrity in eflecting history as a discipline, is a shiny show of our best resources. Peeling back this curtain and allowing students to see the real world of academic history was a major motivation in inviting some historians into school to deliver lectures. I wanted students to see that the history we do in school is the tip of the iceberg of history as a living discipline, with people who devote their careers to discovering and debating the past.

I had always held it as central that my teaching be rooted in real historical questions and, while history had always been popular, we had noticed a tendency for some students to view their studies as a series of tasks to be completed, rather than appreciating the debates and research that are inherent in historical study. I hoped that listening to an historian argue a case would increase students’ awareness and appreciation of history as a living subject that’s being written and rewritten in the present...