Department of History
Dr. Benjamin P. Filene
Director of Public History/Associate Professor
Contact Information
Email: bpfilene@uncg.edu
Office: 2137 MHRA
Office Phone: 336-334-5645
Education
Ph.D., Yale University, 1994
B.A., Brown University, 1987
Teaching/Professional Experience
Director of Public History/Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006-
Senior Exhibit Developer, Minnesota Historical Society, 2004-2006
Exhibit Developer, Minnesota Historical Society, 1997-2004
Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota, 1999
Exhibit Curator, Outagamie County Historical Society, 1994-1997
Research Interests
- public memory and popular historical consciousness
- public history institutions as agents for civic engagement
- exhibit-development and informal learning in museums
- American vernacular music
Current Projects
My next book project, Passionate Histories: Renegade History-Makers and What They Know, sets out to understand where history is alive and well beyond the domains of universities and museums. Passionate Histories takes an intimate, on-the-ground look at how history feels, looks, and operates to genealogists, heritage-tourism planners, graphic artists, labor activists—“renegade history-makers” who do path-breaking, accessible and inspiring work beyond the usual institutional realms. Each chapter concludes by profiling path-breaking projects within museums or universities that tap into the vitality that make passionate histories so vibrant and sustaining. If we learn from the popular history-makers around us, the book argues, we can build a vibrant future for our museums and sites.
Courses Taught
- HIS 626: The Practice of Public History
- HIS 627: Public History Interpretation
- FMS 160 (Freshman Seminar): "Meaning and Memory in American Popular Music"
Recent Publications
- Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music, University of North Carolina Press (2000)
- “Training Public Historians: Academy and Reality.” History News 61 (winter 2006): 13-15.
- “O Brother, What Next?: Making Sense of the Folk Fad.” Southern Cultures 10 (summer 2004): 50-69.
- Book review of Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering the Fisk University- Library of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1942-1942, Journal of Southern History 73 (August 2007)
- “Searching for Florence.” Minnesota History 57 (fall 2000): 130-139.
Awards and Honors
- My exhibit Open House: If These Walls Could Talk at the Minnesota Historical Society won an Award of Merit and a WOW! award from the American Association for State and Local History (2007). As well, it was cited by the American Association of Museums for "innovative new directions" (2007).
- Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music was
- named "Notable Book of 2001" by New York Times Book Review (Dec. 2001)
- recipient of Herbert Feis Award from American Historical Association for best work by an independent scholar
- recipient of ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for outstanding writing about popular music
- recipient of Association for Recorded Sound Collections award for Best Research in the Field of Recorded Folk or Ethnic Music
- writing supported by NEH Fellowship for Independent Scholars (1996)
- “Searching for Florence” was named a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays of 2000 collection.
- The “Open House Journal,” a 5-part series of essays in Minnesota History magazine about the making of the exhibit, was awarded the Minnesota Historical Society’s Theodore C. Blegen award for excellence and creativity in research and writing (2005)
- “O Brother, What Next?: Making Sense of the Folk Fad” was anthologized in Music City Reader 2005: Great Writing on Country & Bluegrass Music
Curriculum Vitae