Hear from our Successful Alumni
The Public History Advanced Certificate
What is your name and your current job title?
My name is Gabriella Leone, and I was the archives manager at the Staten Island Museum, and I’m now curator at Historic Richmond Town.
What was your general experience like in the program? What are some experiences that stand out the most to you?
I had great classes. One in particular stands out: Professor Zara Anishanslin’s historical methods class, which she taught from the perspective of material culture and interpreting artifacts and documents. She also took us on a wonderful historic tour of New York City. So, that really excited me at a time when I was starting to pursue a career in museums. I also met Cara Delatte in the program, who was the archivist at the Staten Island Museum at the time. I got a job with her as an assistant archivist, and the rest is history.
Looking back on your career, would you say that the program helped you?
For sure, any educational experience is worthwhile. The Thomas Calvin book on public history, the work we did on the COVID-19 exhibition, and the digital collecting initiative. It was really helpful to study some other cultural institutions in the field and tap back into some theory around public history. That has helped to shape my practice a bit. I have been to conferences for the Museum Association of New York and other professional organizations like that. Whenever you have a chance to slow down and think about theory, practice, why you are doing certain things, what is the best way to do certain things, and look around for other ideas to spark creativity for yourself, that is always helpful. It was great to take the time in class to discuss things that I was doing, my opinions on how to do certain things, and get other perspectives on that.
What advice would you give to prospective students?
I would tell them to seek clarity about what they hope to achieve with their degree. Your focus can be anything you want it to be. Try to figure out how to seize opportunities that will help you get to where you want to be, whether it’s doing a lot of internships or certainly asking the people who you admire in the field or whose job seems really interesting to you, how they got to where they are. Just be really open. Ask professionals questions and seize opportunities so that when you graduate with your degree, it comes along with some practical experience to get where you want to go.
Part of the goal of public history really is to share the magic of sort of meeting friends from the past with people who don’t get to do it all the time. I always joke that, as a historian, most of my new friends are dead. A history teacher of mine said that in order to become a good historian, you have to be comfortable reading other people’s mail.
Carlos A. Santiago is the Programs Associate and Archivist at Citizens NYC, a grantmaking nonprofit supporting grassroots community projects across New York City since 1975. Previously, he managed an online records platform at a genealogy nonprofit, making historical documents more accessible, and now applies his history and archives background to grantmaking and community engagement.
Paula Farias-Teran: How did you go about finding a job? Did the degree help you find your path?
Carlos Santiago: I am the program's associate and archivist at the Citizens Committee for New York City, or Citizen NYC for short. The CSI Public History Program is what allowed me to get into this opportunity to begin with. One of the amazing things that came out of being in the CSI program was the fact that I ended up getting two internship opportunities. One of them was at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the other one was at the National Archives at Bowling Green downtown. So, those were two really amazing and valuable experiences. I had this opportunity to interview for the Citizens Committee for New York City, and they needed an archivist.
Paula: What courses did you find most useful?
Carlos: Two classes. Museum studies class was instrumental. The class on material culture and how we analyze it has been very valuable because not only has it allowed me to apply it in my work, but it also allowed me to apply this stuff in articles, writing articles, getting published. The other class was the historiography class. That made me appreciate historiography more and made me a better researcher.
Paula: How have you applied the knowledge you gained in the real world?
Carlos: I do outreach to our applicants and our grantees, and just, overall outreach to the community to spread the word about our micro-grant, the community leaders grant, and the neighborhood business grant. I also do a good chunk of the grant review. I also kept the archivist title because we have basically an archives project that has a whole bunch of newspapers and photographs that document the amazing history of this 50-year organization since 1975. I'm very grateful that I got to have this job, where I get to contribute, but also, I get to do all this other public history stuff, and I can see where I'm applying my public history knowledge. Because to be honest with you, all of the people that applied for a Community Leaders grant, or a Neighborhood Business grant are applying because there is a real need in the community. So, what are the historical and structural issues? Well, there are plenty of stories. I literally have an archive full of it, and I have grantee partners, people that we're funding right now that have stories that are not just telling a present story, but that are also telling stories of the past. So, yeah, it's been awesome to marry those two things in my career.
Sam Hauff is a Park Ranger with the African Burial Ground National Monument. A CUNY Staten Island Graduate, Sam has worked at over 8 different National Park sites since 2020 and finished his MA in History with a Certificate in Public History in Spring 2024. Sam is dedicated to the education, preservation, and conservation of our public lands throughout the world for this and future generations.
Thomas Giudice: Did your degree help you find your path?
Sam Hauff: Well, my first plan was getting a job right out of college. But I didn’t know I needed an 8-page resume, which is insane! After I graduated with my undergrad degree from SUNY Cortland, I reached out to CSI for their public history program to help guide me along my way. The degree has helped me tremendously. I didn’t realize at the time how much it helped me, looking back at it now, it has helped me in my development as a person and helped me in my career path. Public History is relatively new, but it is super relevant and helpful to have when you go into the Park Service. My long-term goal is to be a park ranger, and without this program I wouldn’t know what next right step to take.
Tom: Good to hear. What courses did you find most useful?
Sam: Overall, what I got from all my classes was how to display information concisely, precisely, accurately, and impactfully. Having great professors here at CSI has helped me with my career path.
Tom: How have you applied the knowledge you gained in the real world?
Sam: One of the things that has helped me from this program was taking in a lot of information really quickly. Along being in the History program here at CSI I have had a great variety of classes that will prepare me for the NPS. For I could be working at Yellowstone Park one year and then be working at Gettysburg the next. Having all this information and knowledge accessed to me will help me in my future endeavors as a park ranger. Being able to read at a graduate school level too will help me in the NPS because I have to be able to translate information quickly and make it easy for the public to read it. Another thing I enjoyed was learning how to cut down information.
Gabby Grassi: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Jenny Kelly: My name is Jen Giacomo Kelly. I went through the Public History and History MA program over at CSI. I am currently the director of alumni and development events here at Wagner College, where I got my BA. Before this, I spent seven years at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden managing all of their earned income, all of the activations of historical assets for rentals, for community events, and things like that.
Gabby: Why did you decide to go back to school? Why'd you decide on graduate school?
Jenny: I'm a forever learner. I went back to school for my BA at 35. I am someone who is hungry for knowledge. I felt that the public history degree could really serve the work that I was doing within the community, and I was right about that.
Gabby: What classes would you say you found most useful throughout the program?
Jenny: I found my internship to be really valuable. I remember taking a course on archiving. That information on how to work in spaces that have historical records was a great experience. It was new knowledge for me to go in and think about how to interact with those pieces, with those artifacts, and I got to do an internship at the Noble Maritime Museum, and they had a really beautiful archive that was well maintained and climate controlled, and so that was very valuable to me.
Gabby: How have you applied the knowledge you gained in graduate school into the real world?
Jenny: I think the biggest thing I took away from my time at CSI and the public history degree, and with the history department, was just how I interact now with history around me, how I walk through museums and take that information in.