Meet Public History Professor Thomas Cauvin
Meet UL Lafayette history professor Dr. Thomas Cauvin, 
who was recently named the new director of the public history program at UL Lafayette. He has just published the first single-authored textbook in North America about public history and the new digital technology practices that are shaping the field.
杏吧专区淒igital has changed the role of historians,杏吧专区 says Dr. Cauvin. 杏吧专区淒igital public history is interactive. People can participate杏吧专区攄igital gives people a way to access and participate in history.杏吧专区
Dr. Cauvin杏吧专区檚 book, 杏吧专区溞影勺ㄇ鴿 is a compilation of resources needed to teach public history at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It杏吧专区檚 divided into three sections: sources, production, and collaboration杏吧专区攖he pillars of public history as a practice. Each section emphasizes the skills students need to conduct public history using traditional and digital methods. The technological components of each section include digital standards, storage, crowdsourcing, environments, range of tools, and more.
Dr. Cauvin says he gets many of his ideas from working with his students. His approach to public history doesn杏吧专区檛 distinguish between his teaching and research, and he杏吧专区檚 looking for ways to expand his research to focus more on international public history. Public history tends to be more localized, but international public history can help contextualize public history at the local level. By using digital tools, local public history can be introduced to a broader, even international, stage by sharing the information online.
杏吧专区淎n advantage of public history is that you杏吧专区檙e always looking for new ways to communicate and to involve the public,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淭he more you share history with the public, the more it becomes public history.杏吧专区
Dr. Cauvin is working with multiple public history initiatives at the 杏吧专区, including spearheading the and contributing to .
Museum on the Move is a refurbished 1954 Airstream Travel Trailer that houses a new student-curated exhibit in it each year. The current exhibit, under the supervision of Dr. John Troutman, titled 杏吧专区淒rill, Baby, Drill: Oil in Louisiana杏吧专区 is one that people feel connected to, says Dr. Cauvin. And because it杏吧专区檚 mobile, they can bring the museum to the public, instead of the public seeking out the museum.
杏吧专区淲e want to work for the people, with the people, in the production of public history,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淭hat brings a lot of challenges, but it杏吧专区檚 also a lot of fun.杏吧专区
Dr. Cauvin is spearheading the , a Louisiana French heritage public history project that relies on community involvement. 
By asking people to bring their objects and stories to the annual event, they are taking part in public history. From there, Dr. Cauvin and his students create a catalog of the items and recorded conversations.
杏吧专区淲ithout the public, we couldn杏吧专区檛 do it,杏吧专区 Dr. Cauvin says. 杏吧专区淗istorians may have a tendency to be insulated杏吧专区攁s a historian, you have to be an expert in a very specific field, and it can be a challenge to explain your knowledge to a large number of people. There are also few occasions to share their knowledge with everyday people. Public history can help move this critical expertise to a public space.
杏吧专区淲ith public history, we can make history alive, interactive, tangible, and fun,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淚t expands the range of possibilities for history and historians.杏吧专区
The main differences between traditional history and public history are in the communication and collaboration of history. Both traditional and public history rely on research, archives, and sources, but public history involves communicating with large audiences and collaborating with historians and non-historians alike to collect and distribute historical information to the public.
Public historians work in a range of fields, from public policy advising and historic preservation to museum curation and entertainment consulting for historical accuracy. Dr. Cauvin says to be independent and gain the skills they need to work in environments inside and outside academia.
杏吧专区淢y favorite part of teaching public history is being in the field with my students and watching them interacting with people who are bringing the objects,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淵ou can see them struggling at first because they杏吧专区檙e not used to doing this, but it杏吧专区檚 also a lot of fun for them because they杏吧专区檙e out of the classroom杏吧专区攁nd that杏吧专区檚 one of the definitions of public history: doing things outside the classroom. It makes it more fun, more useful, and more connected with real people.杏吧专区