MacDonald switched from work in construction to deconstructing the past through the study of history and archaeology.
Justin MacDonald will earn a B.A. in history and a C.U.S. in public history. The latter requires hands-on experiences with history through the study of museum artifacts, archival studies, first-person narratives, etc.
MacDonald’s public history hands-on experience began with an internship with Independence Trail. There, he unearthed the unsung French sailors and soldiers who died in Rhode Island during the American Revolution. Using diaries, journals, newspapers, historical sites, government archives, monuments, cemeteries and other sources, he attempted to discover the names of these individuals and where they were buried. He also researched the major French admirals at the time, mapping out their voyages, pinpointing the site where they embarked at Narragansett Bay and determining the locations of their hospitals and barracks.
Through his research, MacDonald was able to provide Independence Trail with a document that can be displayed upon their website to help educate and inspire individuals who have limited knowledge of the French and of their contribution to Rhode Island and American independence. What’s more, his internship at Independence Trail will continue after graduation along with his research.
During his tenure at RIC, MacDonald also held an internship at Roger Williams National Memorial, where he will stay on as a volunteer after graduation.
“I enjoy talking to the public about history,” he said. “History is not only about understanding the past, but understanding how the past still affects us.”
MacDonald received the History Department Award for academic excellence and was awarded the Evelyn Walsh Prize for excellence in history and service to the college.
He was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society and received Phi Alpha Theta history honors.
MacDonald’s archaeological interests extend beyond America to Asia. He is a practicing Buddhist and was invited by a monk from a local Cambodian temple to research Cambodia’s 2,000-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex – the largest religious monument in the world.