Course on Writing Local History

This sounds like an interesting course at SFU:

We can’t alter the past, but we can create history. In this course we will examine practical approaches to writing the history of the people, places, and events that interest us.

The focus is on finding approaches that work for you and your project, from collecting documentary and oral evidence, shaping it into something meaningful, putting words on paper (or screen), and sharing the finished product.

We will consider how to add significance to a research project while enriching our own “historical consciousness.”

This course is most suited to people who have a history project in mind, have begun to identify and consider evidence, and have read something about their topic but are uncertain how to put their thoughts into writing.

It will be taught by Eric Damer, PhD, wrote MA and PhD theses at UBC on educational history and subsequently published three books in that field. He has an article in the upcoming spring issue of British Columbia History about UBC’s new teacher training programs in the 1920s.