Welcome back to everyone’s favourite series, Historian’s Histories, where we discover what makes historians tick. Today we have a very special guest, public historian Jessica Knapp! Even though she is extraordinarily busy organizing things at the Canada’s History Forum, she was gracious enough to take some time to answer our questions! I hope you enjoy!
Jessica Knapp (She/Her) is a Canadian public historian working as an independent consultant. She specializes in digital outreach and engagement, relationship building and collaboration, and project coordination. Her digital work has received national recognition through the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. Jessica is active in the public history community in Canada and internationally through the National Council on Public History.
What is your background (education, life experience, etc..)?
My French and German ancestors whose family settled in southwestern Ontario sometime in the early 1700s. They were mostly farmers, but by the time I came around, they weren’t anymore. I was raised in what we called the county – I’m a county kid, and this, to my surprise, distinguished me a fair bit from the other folks I went to school with. Why? Growing up in the county, which is not on a farm and not in the city, equipped one with a particular set of skills, a way of being, and a unique type of resourcefulness. But once I went to school, and socialized with kids who grew up in the suburbs or in the city, I realized that different lived experiences shape the way we interact with each other. It is this experience that has shaped who I am and how I relate to others, far more than my cultural heritage.
Family history was never emphasised in my family. Maybe it was because my grandparents weren’t around for long after I was born, or that both of my parents are the youngest of eleven. Maybe, it was always someone else’s responsibility, and maybe that is exactly the reason I became a public historian; to give others access to history in a way I never had when I was growing up.
As I was finishing my master’s degree, I accepted an internship with Canada’s National History Society. This 6-week internship eventually turned a full-time position. I worked there as the Online Engagement Coordinator for four years. I did everything under the sun in this position from research and writing to interviews, webinars, and voice overs, I even hosted a short video series called “Handle with Care.” There was also data analysis, project management, event planning, and more.
What drew you to history in the first place?
It was one of those situations where I didn’t especially excel at math or science, so I found my way through high school with English and History. When it came time to apply to university it just seemed like a natural choice to continue to study these two subjects. But I fell in love with history for the first time after taking my first historiography course. Yes, you read that right. I fell in love with theory. But history courses gave my the opportunity to easily connect the course material to my personal interests, and allow me greater freedom to satisfy my curiosity.
Why did you decide to become a historian?
Is it too cliché to say that I didn’t choose history, history chose me? If not, I am going with that. It was in my fourth year of my bachelor’s degree at the University of Windsor when I was offered my first “history” job. I was asked to do the primary source research and oral history interviews for a book being written about the history of the local hospital. It was an incredible experience, and the one that helped me realize the importance of archival research and presenting history in accessible ways for the public.
** Also, I proved to my parents that you could in fact get a job with a history degree.
Why did you decide to focus on your particular area of study?
This is a funny story. So, I really didn’t know what public history was before applying to a public history master’s program. I would have studied is as part of an historiography course, but it clearly didn’t click for me at that time. I was reading articles on the bulletin board in the history department at the University of Windsor, when I came across an article about a phone application that would take you on a guided tour of historic sites related to the War of 1812 through southwestern Ontario. Turns out, one of the creators shared the same last name as me, and she had worked on this project while completing a master’s degree in public history at the University of Western Ontario. And I figured, if she could do it, I could do it. I still don’t think I’ve ever met this person, but she was my inspiration to apply to this public history program.
If you didn’t go study your chosen area, why kind of history do you think you would want to do?
I would be focusing on the history of race and ethnicity in the Windsor-Essex County/Detroit region. I was already well on my way in this research, specifically looking at how education and labour both broke down and reinforced segregation.
Or medical history, or conservation. Yes, I would love to be a conservator. I still could too!
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A veterinarian, a teacher, and, a baker. I asked for and received a KitchenAid stand mixer for my sixteenth birthday. I moved it to Winnipeg and to Montreal. I’ve had it for over 10 years. I could still grow up to be a baker.
What kind of work do you do as a historian?
I do a lot of different things. I work as a freelance consultant in the heritage sector. So, I have different types of clients that require different types of work to be done, from project management to research, to design review to digital communications. As my business is just starting up I am taking on many different types of projects, it is this variety that drew me to consulting in the first place. What is most important to me is to work with people and organizations that share the same or similar values as me.
What is the coolest and/or strangest thing you’ve ever found or learned while doing research?
In graduate school I was conducting an object analysis on this artifact that was being assessed for the medical collection at Western University, and as I was doing my research for the report, I learned that that the man who ran the company that created this object helped Jews escape from Germany during the Holocaust. I thought that it was cool that this random medical artifact led me to that history.
What is your favourite part about being a historian? And what is your least favourite part?
Supporting others in making connections, whether that be with history or with each other. Networking and collaborating are among my favourite parts of being a historian.
My least favourite part is seeing and hearing about the abuse folks in this field continuously face, as well as seeing the continued misuse of history.
What is the most surprising thing you’ve ever learned about history?
That it is created and by that very act, history is biased.
Why do you think we, as a society, should study history?
Because it’s good for the soul. To know that we are a part of this story, to know that we have agency, and that what we do now in these moments matter.
If you could go back in time, whether to live or just visit, which time and place would you pick and why?
Oh, I would like to just live alongside Ernest Hemmingway and Gertrude Stein in Paris in the early 1900s. Yes, I know there are a lot of cons, but I am totally swept up in the romantics of being an ex-pat writer/artist living that early 20thcentury Parisian lifestyle.
What is your favourite historical book/film/museum/etc, and why?
My all-time favourite museum is the Morbid Anatomy Museum, it used to exist in Brooklyn, NY, now it lives in the internet and through the occasional workshops in cemeteries. This is my favourite museum because it has made an incredible amount of oddity and taboo history accessible to the public, including me! I only went once, but I’ll remember that visit forever, as will my mother, but for different reasons. During my visit they were exhibiting House of Wax, which was a selection of waxworks once shown as part of Castan’s Berlin-based Panopticum (1869-1922).
In your opinion, what is the most important event or person in Canadian history that everyone should know about?
Everyone is on their own learning journey, so I would never say that there is one most important thing for everyone to know. However, I do think the most important thing that everyone should know about it that something that helps them to better understand themselves and the society they live in.
Special thanks to Jessica Knapp for her fantastic answers! You can find her on Twitter at @jessmknapp, where she is always posting neat stories about Canadian history. I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog post! If you did, please consider sharing this post on the social media platform of your choice! And don’t forget to check back on Sunday for a brand new Canadian history roundup! See you then!
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