The Master of Arts in History offers two concentrations: public history and world history.
The Public history concentration encompasses the practice of history outside the academy in museums, state and local historical societies, archives, the National Park Service, and more. Public history includes the study of such topics as material culture, historical exhibits and museums, historical agencies, archival administration, and how difficult issues including slavery and site of violence are presented to the public.
The master’s program offers an optional cooperative education experience (“co-op”) to eligible students. Cooperative education is central to both the Northeastern experience and to the College of Social Sciences and Humanities experiential liberal arts framework. Northeastern’s signature co-op ecosystem provides qualified master’s students with six-month work experiences as practicing public historians. Graduate students take their work from campus learning spaces, apply their knowledge outside of the classroom, and then bring knowledge and skills gained in community learning spaces back to our campus learning spaces during the cocurricular experiential integration course.
Northeastern’s public history graduates work in museums, archives, historical societies, documentary film production, and social activism. Students in this two-year concentration receive rigorous training in the theory and practice of history and the digital humanities through coursework, and apply this training through fieldwork in New England’s wealth of public history organizations.
Designed to accommodate a wide range of intellectual and professional interests, Northeastern’s public history concentration prides itself on:
Our broad and deep connections to practicing public historians
Our Boston location allows us to develop a rich set of educational and professional opportunities for students. We make good use of its hundreds of historic sites, museums, and landscapes, and ensure that students experience and eventually contribute to these venues.
Our dynamic faculty
Northeastern’s history faculty prioritizes accessibility, collaboration, and cutting-edge research. They have advised or worked on projects close to home, in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, as well as further afield, in Russia, France, and Germany, and they regularly publish and comment in academic and popular settings.
Our commitment to socially engaged scholarship and practice
Students work closely with Northeastern’s Archives and Special Collections to develop digital and physical exhibits and research projects. We also partner with local and national groups to explore controversial historical topics. Currently, our concentration is partnering with the National Park Service to update the history of African American and Indigenous participation in the American Revolution.
For any questions, contact Director of Public History Dr. Jessica Parr at [email protected].
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Type of Program
- Graduate Program
