Guest Post from Alice

For our first week in Cornwall, we partnered with the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus. Alice Elliot, one of the 2nd year Cornish students, is guest contributing this post about her experience with public history.

The week that the University of South Carolina Masters students came to visit provided us with a great range of opportunities! The week commenced with a welcome drink where we were able to introduce ourselves to each other and discuss our contrasting countries, universities and cultures. Our next encounter took us on a trip to the Godolphin House, Helston, where we spent the day exploring the house and gardens. We analysed, discussed and reflected upon the practice of public history within the National Trust property and suggested improvements for the site. Saturday hosted our public history workshop and allowed us to thoroughly converse about our experiences in the field, comparing the American Masters programme to our undergraduate curriculum. The day was most stimulating as we inspected key issues in public history and how to further our study into the subject, perhaps even pursuing a career into it! Finally, on the Saturday evening we parted ways with a delicious meal at the Greenbank hotel and said farewell to our American guests!

Not only was the experience useful, but I really enjoyed it too. We were able to meet a group of interesting, lovely and entertaining Americans who we could share our knowledge of Public History together. Our various experiences and studies complimented each other as it allowed us to have a taste of English, American, undergraduate and post-graduate Public History. Overall, the week and the prospects it presented have encouraged me and some other students to consider furthering our work in Public History.