Firearms Historian - The Quest Begins..........

[RM Vivas]

I meant to post this in January but it wound up sitting on my desktop until I finally got to it.

The Practicum in Digital History kicked my butt and sucked up a lot of my time that might otherwise have been spent burning bandwidth here.

Some observations:

As of 17DEC22 I finally completed the requirements for a BA in History from SUNY-Albany. Yay me!

Now I’m on to my MA in Public History.

I had a choice between an MA in History and one in Public History. The History MA is 30 credits and the Public History MA is 36. The main difference is that for the Public History MA, one needs 6 credits of internship (at a rate of 50 hours of internship = 1 credit; total 300 hours internship).

========================
Group A: Academic Content Courses
(18- 21 credits)
Geographic and thematic courses in History, including one reading course
Research Seminar

Group B: Public History Courses
(9-12 credits)
His 501 Introduction to Public History

And other courses selected from the following:
Introduction to Historical Agency Management and Practice
Curatorial Practices for Historical Agencies
Interpretation of Historic Sites and Artifacts
History Museums
Material Culture Studies
Introduction to Historic Preservation
Practicum in Oral/Aural History
Practicum in Digital History
Practicum in Historical Documentary Filmmaking
Practicum in Historical Narrative

Students must complete a minimum of 30 credits of coursework chosen from Group A and B as apportioned plus a supervised internship for 6 credits.

Internship in Public History

Major Field Exam:
Satisfactory completion of a major field examination covering academic and public history course content.
===========================

The choice of Public History seemed more suited for what I wanted. It’s not my intention to teach (although Mrs. Vivas thinks I should). My chasing after this MA is so that I can write better about firearms history.

Also, as I look around my office and my hard drives, I realize that I have come into possession of a great deal of data that needs to be sorted, preserved and made available to other collectors.
I have ideas for advancing the academic/research side of our hobby (religion?) and a Public History degree may help me to put those ideas into action.

I thought it might be interesting to document the quest for the MA in Public History, so I’m posting this message and plan to periodically update it as the process plays out. I’m thinking that along the way, as I delve deeper into the courses on research resources and techniques, I might be able to pass those along so others who are looking to expand their research skills.

There is a fellow whose tagline on his posts states that he prefers to be called a collector because it sounds better than a hoarder. Funny, but it has some validity. As a collector, we don’t just accumulate firearms but we also look into their history and what makes them valuable (not necessarily in a monetary sense) to us.

Anyway, enough pontificating.

Classes start 18JAN23. I‘m signed up for two 3-credit classes:
AHIS 509 - Intro to Historic Preservation 18JAN23 - 02MAY23
An overview of the field of historic preservation, emphasizing the history, evolution, and application of its programs. Significant areas, such as the history of the preservation movement, historic preservation laws and their application, and the identification, evaluation, registration, and protection of historic resources will be discussed.

AHIS 596 - Practicum in Digital History 18JAN23 - 02FEB23
This course introduces students to the practice of history in the digital age. It focuses on how the Internet and digital technologies and software have reshaped public and academic history presentation platforms and venues -- as well as historical research strategies and tools. As a hands-on course, it will teach students the fundamentals of digital history. Areas of concentration will vary depending on the instructor but will include such topics as: narrative and hypertext theory and practice, digital imaging and visualizations, primary- and secondary-source databases, wikis, blogs, augmented reality, digital mapping, virtual museums, historical gaming, GIS and digital mapping, audio and video media processing and editing, and more.

 

[RM Vivas]

So classes ended and I wound up with an A- in AHIS 509 - Intro to Historic Preservation and, surprisingly, an A in AHIS 596 - Practicum in Digital History.

This brings my post-graduate GPA to 3.85.

I should mention that all this takes place at SUNY-Albany in the capital city of The Peoples Democratic Republic of New York (state motto “An Indictment Is Not A Conviction!”).

I need 300 hours of internship and I put in for an internship as a Firearms Record Specialist at the Buffalo Bill/Cody Firearms Museum and I really thought I’d get it. I’ve spent the past many years dealing with firearms records, you’d think that experience would count for something.

Unfortunately for me, they went with someone else and a consequence of my pinning my hopes on that one internship was that once it did not come to pass, it was really too late to put in for any others.

The result is that this summer instead of chipping away at the internship requirement, I’ll be doing non-credit research and letters. Good for the small arms collecting community (I think) but not so much for my academics.

One of my advisors is encouraging me to get published a bit more, so I’m going to work on a couple things that are not -directly- firearms related but hover on the edge of firearms. I’m working on an article for the New York State Archive Magazine that deals with the purse holsters used by NYPD Policewomen. That falls into a historical field known as Material Culture and a subject I’ll be taking a course in this Fall.

I’ll also be doing some specifically firearms articles for various sources. I’m looking at S&W’s used by NYPD Policewomen, Colt Metropolitans and the NYPD, S&W Victory Revolvers and the NYPD and a few other things.

So that’s where my quest for a Masters’ Degree in Public History as a stepping stone to becoming a Firearms Historian is currently at.

I’ll update as things develop (or as the muse calls).

 

[DixieRanger]

This my fellow forum member, is both interesting and educational. That you are able and willing to undertake the dedication too further education with knowledge. Please post progress and thank you for sharing.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Rustyt1953]

Bravo on your current achievements. I have little doubt that your present goal will come to fruition.

I firmly believe that sheep skins are proof of successful completion of a long and arduous task.


Much respect.

 

[huthike]

Congratulations on your accomplishments so far and keep us posted - I think great things are ahead for you and look forward to seeing what you produce.

 

[ladder13]

Congrats Robert.

 

[WardenRoss]

I'm excited for you and green-with-envy there Marine!

Valde invidus.


,

 

[Old_Cop]

I think that you would make an excellent teacher.

 

[Inusuit]

Congratulations and good luck. If I have life overs, I would pursue Western History and Museum Science.

 

[Onomea]

Excellent progress there, Robert!

Too bad about the Cody internship, but I think the lesson there is always apply for multiple positions/openings and scholarships/fellowships/grants. There is a lot of competition in the academic world, and most hardworking, persevering students wind up winning some and losing some. Just how it works.

Hey, we're all pulling for you!

 

[Valmet]

Back when I got my MA in History, Public History was easily my favorite grad class.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I'm confused. What is the differene between public history and history???

 

[Onomea]

Caje's question intrigued me. I found this:

"Public history is the use of historical skills and methods outside of the traditional academic realm of history. Public historians use their training to meet the needs of the community-the public-whether that community is defined as a city, a neighborhood, a business, or a historical society. It is the audience that differentiates the public historian’s work. The public historian’s audience might be a client, a government agency, or a tourist...."

What is public history? | Department of History, Geography and Philosophy.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Caje's question intrigued me. I found this:

"Public history is the use of historical skills and methods outside of the traditional academic realm of history. Public historians use their training to meet the needs of the community-the public-whether that community is defined as a city, a neighborhood, a business, or a historical society. It is the audience that differentiates the public historian’s work. The public historian’s audience might be a client, a government agency, or a tourist...."

What is public history? | Department of History, Geography and Philosophy.

SO Roy is a public historian in all things S&W.
Got it.

 

[bummer]

Does the Collins Foundation offer internships?

 

[swsig]

Retired professor here (though not in history). One idea is to begin to organize what you have, plus what you will acquire during the course of your studies, and create the beginnings of an formal academic institute for firearms history. If SUNY Albany doesn't want to house such an institute, maybe some other institution will. Naturally, you would be in the position of becoming the director of the institute, so you would be creating your own job.

Since universities rarely use their dedicated budget money to support institutes, you would need to be able to raise what is called "soft money" from grants. There should be public or private agencies that offer grants to support your efforts, and you'll need to become familiar with them. Your faculty will help you with the grant-getting process. In fact they'll be thrilled that you're interested in one, because faculty get big brownie points if they are part of getting a grant. If successful, you might then be able to leverage that into a position at SUNY Albany, or elsewhere.

Good Luck!

 

[RM Vivas]

Retired professor here (though not in history). One idea is to begin to organize what you have, plus what you will acquire during the course of your studies, and create the beginnings of an formal academic institute for firearms history. If SUNY Albany doesn't want to house such an institute, maybe some other institution will. Naturally, you would be in the position of becoming the director of the institute, so you would be creating your own job.

Since universities rarely use their dedicated budget money to support institutes, you would need to be able to raise what is called "soft money" from grants. There should be public or private agencies that offer grants to support your efforts, and you'll need to become familiar with them. Your faculty will help you with the grant-getting process. In fact they'll be thrilled that you're interested in one, because faculty get big brownie points if they are part of getting a grant. If successful, you might then be able to leverage that into a position at SUNY Albany, or elsewhere.

Good Luck!

When I first was in my grade advisors office, I noticed that he had a top of the line weapons grade Apple computer with a pair of screens slightly smaller than a parking space.

Every other person in the department had an unremarkable PC with a single 17" monitor. A couple people had two monitors. Nobody had a set up like this guy.

I figured he had specific computer tastes so he bought the gear himself. I asked him about it.

Me: That's a great set-up! You're a Mac guy and everyone else here has PC's. You bought your own gear just because you prefer Apple that much?

Dr.X: I really prefer Apple for what I do but this is the University's computer.

Me: <perplexed voice> Everyone else has PC, yours is the only Apple set up I see. How'd you score that?

Dr. X: <totally deadpan>I brought a $400,000 grant in last year.

The local Community College offers a class in grant writing; always thought that would be a good one to have tucked into my academic weapons rack!

Best,
RM Vivas

 

[RM Vivas]

I'm confused. What is the differene between public history and history???

An oversimplification would be a historian writes for other historians and academics, a public historian writes for a broader less academic audience.

Kinda when you're doctor (historian) writes in your chart that your 'experiencing a prolonged episode of epistaxis' and then the doctor (public historian) tells you "you're having a heck of a nosebleed".

Supposedly a History Masters is better for teaching and a Public History Masters is better for museum/curator work, although there is much cross-over between the two.

Or so I'm told.

Best,
RM Vivas

 

[RM Vivas]

So yesterday (21AUG23) was the first day of class for the fall semester.

To recap:

In Spring 2023 I started my quest for a Masters degree in Public History from State University of New York at Albany (SUNY-Albany).

The degree requires 36 credits, 6 of which must be from a field related internship.

For Spring I took two clases that were worth 4 credits each: Intro to Historic Preservation and Practicum in Digital History.

Both classes were worth 4 credits each; got an A in Digital Practicum and an A- in Historic Preservation.
8 down, 28 more to go.

Picked up a summer internship (sorta/kinda) that, quite frankly, a man could build an academic career out of. That’s 6 credits if I do 300 hours of work (1 credit per 50 hours). I’ll get an incomplete in it for the summer because I haven’t yet hit the 300 hour mark but my instructor tells me that once I log 300 hours, hand in some paperwork and such, it’ll be done and graded and I’ll get the six credits. I figure that will happen in about six weeks or so, so let us count those in the ‘done’ column.

6 more down, 22 to go.

That brings us to Fall 2023.

There was a class I wanted to take last semester that I got closed out on (most graduate classes in the History Department are 15 students or so).

It suddenly opened up for Fall -after- I had already selected two four credit classes. I didn’t want to chance losing it again so, despite my better judgement and desire not to die from exhaustion, I signed up for it.

The result is that I am now signed up for THREE four-credit classes for Fall!
AHIS501 – Introduction to Public History
AHIS508 – Material Culture Studies
AHIS610 – Research Seminar in History

Introduction to Public History involves “…exploring the world of public history to see how historians present history to diverse public audiences. The field trips will acquaint students with important historic venues and repositories in the region….”. Lots of museum trips to see the mechanics of how museums take information and make it into a presentable form to the public. Of the three classes, this is likely to be the most challenging and time-consuming. The instructor is a fellow I’ve had before and is a decent enough fellow but a bit of a hard grader. On the other hand, he teaches an after class Akido group and brought in enough grant money last year that he has his own University funded cruelly high end Macintosh computer set up at a University that is all PC (it was -serious- money).

Material Culture Studies looks to be a bit easier and a bit more fun. It focuses on the historical concept of Material Culture; the history imbued in an object. Right up my alley because, hey, guns are objects! Our first paper, due in 4 weeks or so, is supposed to be about how objects can become associated with a specific gender and how that alignment can change over time. For this project we have to choose an object (or class of objects) that has changed its gender history at least once over time. Sounds like a good excuse to write about women and firearms….hmmmm…..what could I come up with…… LADYSMITH!! Perfect! Guns are for men but lets make something for the gals!

I think this will be a decent class that won’t be super difficult.

Also, I’m going to stay within the sphere of firearms so I don’t consider it Material Culture Studies; instead I think of it as Materiel Culture Studies. See what I did there? I’m hilarious! Seriously, that joke killed in the English Department.

The final class of the semester and the one I think (hope!) will be a ‘gimme’ is AHIS610 Research Seminar. The purpose of this class is to teach students to write a scholarly paper 6-9,000 words long for a peer reviewed journal, like,…the SWCA Journal maybe?

This one may be a ‘gimme’ because not only does it meet exclusively online, I can take the ‘scholarly article for a peer reviewed journal” that I have been working on this summer (which will run about 12-15,000 words) and hand that in. That means that the bulk of my semester work for this class is already done AND whatever isn’t done is stuff that I would be doing anyway, now I’ll just get academic credit for it. Gimme the ‘gimme’s! (Also, when the article hits the SWCA Journal I think its going to have a very big reception amongst the readers; not to be immodest but I think it’s killer!)

So those classes are (I think) 4 credits each, so by the end of Fall I pick up another twelve credits. That means that after this semester I will be TEN credits away from completing!

So that’s where I am now on the road to becoming a Firearms Historian.

 

[huthike]

Thanks for the update - looking very much forward to your article.