Introductions

Hello. My name is Patrick Grossi and I am an entering PhD student at the Temple University Department of History. This blog is being developed in combination with Seth Bruggeman's Managing History course, but I hope to expand it beyond those horizons.

I have taken a strange route to the discipline of history. For several years I studied and practiced cinema and photography, particularly experimental and non-fiction work. Over time I found myself missing the classroom and became increasingly interested in the principal narratives and methodologies of American history. I am primarily interested in late nineteenth and early twentieth century urbanism, in particular public transportation, community mapping and development, and political culture.

Additionally I have a strong interest in the public exhibition of historical material, the ways in which both academically and non-academically trained individuals make use of public spaces and material artifacts toward shaping their notions of the past. It is on these latter points that this blog will primarily be interested.