American History Workshop
produces public programs to
connect Americans with their past.
American History Workshop is a consortium of historians, writers, designers, and filmmakers who enliven public understanding of our people’s history. We began in 1980 with the goal of insuring that interpretive exhibits and presentations reflect new currents of historical research, thematic development, and sound pedagogical practice. Since then, our services have been expanded to include audience analysis, exhibit planning and design, media planning and production, fund raising assistance, and organizational development.
The interpretive arts – story-telling, theater, exhibitry – connect people to ideas and images that enrich their lives. When the subject matter is historical, interpretation ought to let people understand that the traditions of space, time, objects, and social processes are alive in their own minds. History isn't told so that minds can be furnished with the places, names and dates of battles, but rather to learn how modern life is rooted in the past. The history we tell is an honest one, unvarnished by boosterism or by nostalgia for a doubtfully golden age. We strive to locate and depict the human issues – the passions and the actions – of each generation of Americans that speak most forcefully to our own age. We especially want to recover the forgotten voices in the American past, and to show that life in the most ordinary circumstances and the most local places can be connected to the larger stories of the American people.