To the editor:
In response to Marshall Poe’s letter of May 1999, Peter C. Rollins states: “If he would subscribe to Film and History, he . . . could have [sic] teaching strategies which would be of use in the classroom; on the other hand it is possible that the classroom is not of concern to those at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study.”
This is what is known as guilt by association. Poe’s creation of www.russianhistory.org, a major website for teaching and research tools, should be testimony enough to his “concern.” There is no reason, other than an odious brand of intellectualism, to assume that a year spent at an institute for advanced study should be equated with disdain for teaching. It only deflects attention away from the problems faced by history teachers and researchers alike.
Editor’s Note: For more on Reel History see the essays by Robert Rosenstone and Robert Brent Toplin.
Michael David-Fox
University of Maryland