I bring to this list a background of over fifteen years' professional service in public history, including experience in exhibit research, development, and fabrication; serving as a docent, and also as an instructor for docent training; historical site administration; industrial archeology field recording projects; archival management; and documentary editing. In my current capacity as a project director at SITES, I am involved in the development of several traveling exhibitions, including WADE IN THE WATER, an overview of the history and development of African American sacred music traditions that is based on a series that aired on National Public Radio earlier this year. In addition to my experience, my professional training includes a BA in the history of science and technology from Ohio State University (1978), an MA in American history and the history of technology from the University of Delaware (1980), and a PhD in American history from the University of Delaware (1989). From 1978 to 1982, I was the recipient of a Hagley Graduate Fellowship from the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation and the University of Delaware. I also received a museum studies certificate from the Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware. I have written on, or made presentations on, topics relating to American business and labor history, archival management, the history of American technology, and public history.

I look forward to using this list as an opportunity to listen, and to learn, from my colleagues in local history--what their needs and expectations are, how museum professionals such as myself meet (or don't meet) their needs, and how the academic and public history communities do or do not serve their needs. I am especially interested in issues relating to the interpretation of history through exhibitions, and how, in particular, smaller historical societies can more effectively collaborate with larger organizations (such as the Smithsonian) to work towards the shared goal of presenting history to diverse audiences.

Research interests: American social, labor, and business history; the history of American technology; the history of American science; "public history," broadly construed.

Teaching interests: I am currently an adjunct instructor in the Academic Studies Department of the Corcoran School of Art, where I am teaching a course entitled "Science and the Making of the Modern World." Previously, I have taught survey courses in American history at the University of Delaware and at Widener University.

Professional societies: American Association for State and Local History; Organization of American Historians; American Historical Association; Society for the History of Technology.

Museum involvement: National Museum of American History. I should note, however, that as a project director at SITES, I am now or may well be involved with museums and historical societies throughout the United States, whether as traveling exhibit collaborators or as host venues for SITES-generated traveling exhibitions.

John C. Rumm
Project Director
SITES - Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
Quad 3146 MRC 706, 1100 Jefferson Drive SW
Washington, DC 20560
Office Telephone: 202-786-2238 (FAX: 202-357-4324)
TESEM126@SIVM.SI.EDU

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