Popular discourse often collapses “the past” with “knowledge about the past,” or equates “interest in history” with the scholarly practice of doing history. Such elisions obscure the expertise, rigor, creativity, and methodological care involved in historical work. At the same time, they underscore the importance of articulating our methods in ways that are transparent and accessible to students, public audiences, administrators, policymakers, and one another.

This series of three interconnected conversations responds to that challenge by examining the core practices through which historians produce knowledge: research, analysis, and writing. Building on existing scholarship in history pedagogy and methodology, as well as education research and the scholarship on teaching and learning, participants will collectively assess current resources, identify shared practices and vocabulary, and draft language that communicates the distinctive intellectual work of historians.

Each session builds on each other, combining discussion of existing scholarship with collaborative analysis of examples drawn from participants’ own teaching and research. Together, these workshops aim to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive, community-generated, evidence-based History Methods resource that clarifies the processes, values, and expertise at the heart of historical thinking and practice. Workshop participants who sign up in advance will have access to a shared Google drive with readings and resources.

How do historians collect historical evidence? This session focuses on the processes, practices, and ethics of historical research, emphasizing the expertise required to locate, evaluate, and organize sources. Participants will examine how historians navigate archives, digital repositories, oral histories, material culture, and other forms of evidence while confronting questions of access, preservation, power, and silence. The workshop invites attendees to reflect on how research practices shape historical knowledge and public understandings of the past. Drawing on existing scholarship and participants’ own experiences, the session will identify common methods and vocabulary that can help explain historical research to students, administrators, policymakers, and broader audiences and create a framework through which students and professionals alike can think through the process of collecting and organizing historical evidence. Through collaborative discussion and analysis of examples, participants will help draft accessible, practical, evidence-based language describing the rigor and creativity involved in historical inquiry. The session contributes to a broader effort to articulate what distinguishes historical research as a scholarly practice and why it matters.