Missouri Historical Society

April 01 2008 States of Inquiry: Social Investigations and Print Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain and the United States. By Oz Frankel (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) 370 pp. $48.00 Robert Mullen Robert Mullen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Robert Mullen Online ISSN: 1530-9169 Print ISSN: 0022-1953 © 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Inc.2008 The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2008) 38 (4): 596–598. https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh.2008.38.4.596 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Robert Mullen; States of Inquiry: Social Investigations and Print Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain and the United States. By Oz Frankel (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) 370 pp. $48.00. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2008; 38 (4): 596–598. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh.2008.38.4.596 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsThe Journal of Interdisciplinary History Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Inc.2008 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Shared inquiry is a key component of reflective public history practice. All good historical practice is reflective, but public history requires a special commitment to collaborate, to respond, to share both inquiry and authority. Because trained practitioners and lay people often seek different pasts for different purposes, public historians may find themselves poised between advocacy and mediation, monitoring and adjusting their own behavior through the process of shared inquiry. Since public history is inherently situational, there is no one-size-fits-all methodology. Drawing on thirty years of shared public history experience, the authors reflect on situations in which they strove to share both inquiry and authority.