Digital Public History in the United States

Digital history goes, by definition, beyond national frontiers, but can one decipher national specificities in its practices and projects? This chapter explores the birth, development, and institutionalization of digital public history in the United States. Issued from a strong network of digital history practitioners, the success of digital public history in the United States stemmed from its connection with pre-existing public history academic centers and projects. Through projects like the Valley of the Shadow or, later, the 9/11 Digital Archives, digital historians re-imagined the concept of authority and relations with the public. The Center for History and New Media was created by Roy Rosenzweig in 1994 and rapidly became one of the main actors in the move from digital to digital public history. Finally, the chapter explores the future of digital public history in the United States, its institutionalization as a discipline, and its increased focus on user-generated projects.