A 10-week summer experiential education program, running from May 20 to July 25, 2025.
* Applications are due on February 14, 2025. Details below. *
"Making Public History" (summary article for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies)
What is History+?
History+ is a mentored summer research experience for Duke undergraduates. It is designed to interface with the other + programs at Duke, and to follow their structure. For 10 weeks, in May, June, and July, several teams of Duke undergraduates- mentored by a graduate student and a faculty mentor- will engage in a variety of research projects. Ideally, those projects will result in a specific output: for instance (in 2024), an exhibit at the Museum of Durham History, or a report for the North Carolina Historic Sites office; or a bank of oral histories to be stored at the Rubenstein Library. The primary goal of the initiative is educational. Students will learn to work together, as a team, and they will learn how to use historical research skills. They will learn, as well, how to engage with community partners, putting their academic knowledge into practice.
Logistics
- Only students enrolled at Duke University are eligible to apply.
- The program this summer will run from Tuesday, May 20 to Friday, July 25, 2025. Move-in date is Monday, May 19.
- Students will participate in History+ on a full-time basis, during regular work hours between Monday and Friday, and may not take on courses or other activities during this period.
- The program is held in-person, following Duke guidelines for summer programs. There is no virtual option available, and students must reside in Durham during the summer to participate. On-campus residency is not required but is strongly encouraged.
- Depending on the project, varying degrees of local travel will be necessary. We will provide transportation options for any off-campus activities. Students are discouraged from driving private vehicles and from transporting other students in their own vehicles. If students organize their own transportation, Duke is under no liability.
- Students will have two choices for compensation:
- Students may choose to live on campus, have their room and meal plan covered, and receive a $1,000 award.
- Students may choose to live off campus, receive a flat sum of $5,000, and be tasked with sorting out their own room and board.
Application process: This summer's History+ project proposals may be reviewed below. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about these experiences, along with all of Duke's other Plus programs at the +Programs Fair on January 16, 2025, from 1-3pm in Gross Hall.
To apply, complete and submit the application by Friday, February 14, 2025. Two references* and a short essay are required within the application. Decisions will be made shortly thereafter and you will be contacted regarding acceptance no later than Monday, March 3.
* References can be professors you’ve had at Duke, or someone you worked with or studied with at home. We likely won’t contact them, but in some cases we might, if we have questions about your application.
If you have questions about the program or application process, please email historyplus@duke.edu.
Duke Center for Firearms Law
History matters a great deal for legal interpretation, especially in an era of constitutional originalism. The Duke Center for Firearms Law, based at the Law School, maintains the nation’s leading database of historical laws related to firearms from the colonial period to the early 20th century. Students will locate historical gun regulations, including in local archives, research the surrounding context of those laws, and gain an understanding of how the historical record is relevant to modern-day litigation. This project is a great opportunity for pre-law students and students interested in early American history or public policy.
Catawba Trail Farm
This project focuses on the long history of Catawba Trail Farm, a former plantation located in North Durham. Currently administered by Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN), a nonprofit that addresses issues of food insecurity in North Durham, the site can also be read as a physical record of the lives and lifeways of its inhabitants from the era of Indigenous peoples to the present. Students will collaborate with UCAN and the North Carolina Lives and Legacies Project to research the history of the land, and prepare public-facing exhibits for use in a welcome center that is currently under construction. A great choice for students interested in environmental history or the history of enslavement. This team is sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics.
Duke's Chapel United Methodist Church
This is a slice of Duke history! This church, located in Northeast Durham, was founded by Washington Duke's brother, William J Duke, a lay person. The church started in a log building in 1842 before the Duke stone building in 1927. Despite that lineage, very little is known about the church and its history, from the 19th century to the present. In collaboration with the pastor, a Duke Divinity graduate, students will dig through the unprocessed materials housed in the Church office. They will catalog those materials, ideally for deposit at the Durham Public Library, and supplement them with oral history interviews of current parishioners. An excellent choice for students interested in religion, Southern history, or oral history.
Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties
The Junior League is one of the most storied service organizations in the country. The Durham chapter, still in operation, was founded in 1928, and located about a mile from East Campus (in the Hill House). They have boxes of unprocessed records, scrapbooks, and photo albums. They would like students to explore and process that material, creating a timeline and web resource to celebrate the work of the League and its impact on Durham. Students might also conduct oral histories with older members of the League to learn about activities in the more recent past. An excellent choice for students interested in local history, public history, or the history of women.
Habitat for Humanity, Durham
The housing crisis is perhaps the defining crisis of our times, and few organizations have done as much as Habitat for Humanity to help alleviate it. The Durham chapter has a fortieth anniversary coming up, and would like to know more about their history: how many houses they’ve built, where those houses are, and how the homes have impacted the lives of those who live there. They would like to create both a physical and a web exhibit. An excellent choice for students interested in urban planning, non-profits, or public policy.
People’s Alliance, Durham
The People’s Alliance is one of the most important progressive organizations in Durham. In honor of their upcoming fiftieth anniversary celebration, they would like to learn more about their history, with a focus on their projects in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of those projects involved environmental justice issues: for instance, they were behind the first toxic exposure ordinance to be passed in the U.S. South (1985). Students would work with archival collections already deposited at the NC Collection at the Durham Public Library, as well as conducting oral histories with veteran members of the People’s Alliance. An excellent choice for students interested in environmental justice, local history, or the role of progressive non-profits. This team is sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics.
LGBTQ+ History and Activism in Durham
** This team is open only to participants in Hart Leadership's Laidlaw Scholars Program.
Students on this project will engage in archival and oral history research about LGBTQ+ organizing and activism in Durham in the 1980s. The research supports an upcoming exhibit at the Museum of Durham History commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Durham Mayor Wib Gulley’s 1986 anti-discrimination proclamation, which was the first such proclamation from a North Carolina elected official to endorse protections for LGBTQ+ residents and which resulted in an attempted (and failed) recall campaign against the mayor. Students will work with collections at the Durham Public Library, special collections at Duke and UNC, as well as public records and newspaper archives. Students will also listen to and analyze existing oral history collections, and assist in creating new oral histories to support the project.
- Duke and the Evolution of Higher Education
- Gentrification in Durham
- NC Lives and Legacies: Bennett Place Project
- LatinX History and Conservatism
For detailed information on these projects, participants, and outcomes, please refer to our 2024 Summary Report.
