Analysis - Road Trips Through History: A Collection of Essays from Preservation Magazine

I absolutely love this book. Dwight Young does an excellent job of keeping the reader interested, entertained, and concerned with preservation in America. His genuine passion for preservation comes through so clearly, and I would even go as far as to say contagious. I love it (did I mention that already? And yes, I also love his parenthetical interjections of witty remarks).

On a more serious note, he highlights what he feels are the important aspects of preservation. We preserve things because we find them important. We preserve things because we believe they are worth remembering. We preserve things because we feel they have significance. We preserve things because they have meaning to us. Young makes preservation a series of personal experiences. And I love that.

Preservation, for Young, is fun. It is lively. It is certainly historic districts, old buildings, monuments, and all those things preservationists are known for. But it is so much more. It is not just buildings, sites, and districts. It is the night sky, song lyrics, a way of life. It is, most importantly, a connection with our past.

I wish I could be more constructive, find some sort of criticism. I have none. I think he does an excellent job of portraying the importance of the preservation movement and its growth, but at the same time highlighting that preservationists have not won yet. I found his writing style to be enjoyable, engaging, informal, and yet serious at the right times. Perhaps, my only possible criticism is that I wish instead of a compilation of his articles this was Young's recap of his experiences. Kind of like a new and improved, extended article.

It is clear what is important to Young: preservation, in every sense of the word. I would say he is a "born preservationist." And after reading this book, I would say I am too. And maybe that is why I absolutely love this book. Yes, from time to time I like to go to http://www.historicproperties.com/ and look to see what historic homes are for sale. And yes,I may have, at one point, purchased the 1972 copy of the National Register at my library bookstore. And yes, I may have accidentally purchased the American Heritage Book of Great Historic Places...twice. If this book accomplished anything it certainly made me unapologetic for my passion for preservation.

Analysis - Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation

Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation detailed the power struggles, culture wars, and conflicts that often accompanied these controversial exhibits and discussed the seemingly constant issue of who has symbolic ownership of a particular history or identity and, more importantly, who has symbolic ownership of the exhibit. Dubin focused on the role the museum played in establishing portrayals of cultures, ethnic groups, and major events in history, and the museum's shift from temple to forum (by unquestioned authority to questionable force). He examined not only the content of the exhibits, but the social and political atmosphere which surrounded the timing of the controversial exhibits, stating that the atmospheres directly related to the controversy.

Dubin examined some of the 90s most controversial exhibits, which often portrayed objects or events central to the American identity, including those found in art and history museums, as well as the Library of Congress. I felt a majority dealt with historical issues, with discussion focusing on both the history of different ethnic groups, historical events and figures, as well as art exhibits with a shock factor. Dubin discussed the wide array of battles that blemished these exhibits. There seemed to exist a constant presence of displeasure within the communities (ex: Irish-Americans towards Gaelic exhibit, intellectual community towards Freud exhibit, veterans towards Enola Gay exhibit) towards the curators or exhibit creators, or the intellectual authorities of the exhibits. He also mentioned the conflicts that arose over who funded the exhibit and the control that had over the exhibit objects, as well as the conflicts whose fire was agitated by the media and politics.

I can appreciate what Dubin is attempting to do by describing the social and political atmosphere of the era that surrounded the creation of particular exhibits. However, I found myself drifting away during the introductory portions of practically every chapter. For a book meant to describe the controversies in the American museum he spent a good portion of time discussing the environment surrounding the museum, as opposed to discussing the environment within the museum.

Even once Dubin reached the portion discussing the controversy surrounding the exhibits I still felt it lacked. Dubin presented a well-rounded discussion of the varying views and opinions, but by including so many different views you end up with a detailed account of the struggles surrounding the exhibits, and a fairly confined discussion of the conflict within the exhibits. It is clear the author is simply attempting to portray the consequences of these exhibits and their social environments; however a greater discussion on the actual exhibit itself and a more specific view or clear image of Dubin’s personal opinion on the exhibits (considering he probably had a pretty substantial understanding of its conflicts after researching and interviewing all those contributors and creators!), would have been helpful and may have even added another dimension to his findings.

Analysis - Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum (cont.)

This week's readings appear to be an encounter of last week's conflicts and struggles. Linenthal focuses on the boundaries of Holocaust memory and the often re-occuring struggles to balance the different views and opinions of this shared memory. It seems as though the second portion of the book deals mostly with the constant effort to create the appropriate and acceptable balance between often multi-sided, sensitive issues.

For instance, the permanent exhibit, throughout its planning process, faced several issues. Finding a balance between civility and the horrors of the Holocaust, between personal stories and the larger narrative, between stories and images of vicitms and those of bystanders and perpetrators, and between diluting the story and portraying it in its brutal truth. There was a great attempt to balance the differing views within the content committee, and with those of the survivors, the American public, as well as those of other communities affected by the Holocaust.

This effort to balance the different views and opinions, however, may ultimately have damaged the historical integrity of the museum. The museum's interpretations should not exist to please everyone, but rather to present a historically accurate and clear account of an event, and more importantly, should promote a social dialogue. In the creation of the Holocaust Museum it was often mentioned how great the responsibility was to establish a permanent exhibit that represented a true picture of the Holocaust. It was this responsibility, in my opinion, that should have kept the museum's creators from trying to balance all the various opinions.

Take for instance the discussion surrounding the museum's location and its exhibits; "It must not be forgotten that we are a National Museum on the National Mall and we must behave accordingly" (214). In my opinion, the fault here lies with the museum. The museum's interpretation should remain unaffected by the location of the museum, as should the story the museum hopes to portray. The historical events themselves should be clearly represented in the museum, regardless of its location, or the historical integrity of the museum is compromised.

Nonetheless, Linenthal's Preserving Memory is a great study of the issues museums face throughout their creation, and more importantly how museum creators deal with a memory still vivid, and very much still alive, as well as how museum creators deal with some of the conflicts that arise.

Analysis - Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum

Preserving Memory: the Struggle to Create America’s Holocaust Museum gives an excellent, in-depth, detailed look into the struggles and controversies that arose throughout the creation of America’s Holocaust Museum, beginning with its committee planning in the mid years of the 1970s to the location selection and construction of the Museum, its collection, and the memorial itself fifteen years later. The first portion of the book examines the constant disagreements that existed between politicians and survivors, survivors and museum professionals, architects and politicians, and so on and so forth. A common theme, which Linenthal highlights throughout the first half of the book, is the difficulty present when constructing a shared memory.

Linenthal followed the dialogue that existed between the core creators and shapers of this living memorial. He focused on their discussions of the appropriateness of the Holocaust in American life and national memory, who owned the Holocaust (was it the six million Jews who perished, or the five million others?), how the Holocaust should be memorialized, and with whom the story would be shared. This conversation would shift at times, focusing on the appropriate location of the memorial, what the memorial should consist of, its appearance, the storyline of the Holocaust and its definition, who would have ownership of the memory, the inclusion of controversial artifacts, and so on. Linenthal portrayed effectively that there is great difficulty in creating and constructing a shared memory, especially in regards to constructing a share remembrance of the Holocaust.

Edit:

If I had to come up with one criticism it would be that I believe the book could have been better organized. Linenthal’s information was so inclusive, and his chapters were so full of information that at times I felt overwhelmed with facts and names. If I were to give one recommendation it would be to either organize the book either solely thematically or chronologically, but not both.

On a more personal note, as someone who visited the museum a couple years ago, I found it very interesting to read about what ideas came forward that did not stick. And at times I recalled very clearly images of artifacts Linenthal discussed towards the end of the first portion of his book.

This week’s readings:
The readings for this week all circled around one main theme: the importance of collaboration and engagement.

All of this week's readings centered around one main issue, the importance of engaging the public audience and collaborating with them. Recording Oral History emphasized the collaborative effort between interviewers and narrators in preserving individual, local and community histories. The Presence of the Past also emphasized the public audience and the needed collaboration between historical professionals, public historians and their audiences. And the article What is Public History? focused on the belief that history is a collaborative effort, a “joint endeavor” between the public and historians. The article quoted Corbett and Miller who emphasized in their own article, A Shared Inquiry into a Shared Inquiry, the importance of shared authority and collaborative efforts as well. Rosenzweig, Thelen, Corbett and Miller highlighted how important it is for the audiences to be actively engaged with history as well as their past, and how essential it is for historians to be actively engaged with the public.

Analysis– The Presence of the Past:
The Presence of the Past does an excellent job of emphasizing America’s connection and engagement with the past. And yet, on the other hand Rosenzweig and Thelen focus on America’s connection with their own personal and family past as opposed to their connection with American history. The survey discussed in the book is said to have shattered the belief that the American people are ignorant of their history by portraying that the Americans they interviewed showed great interest and engagement in their personal past. However, it is important to decipher between one’s interest in their own personal history and one’s knowledge of their community’s history, and more especially of their nation’s history.

The book clearly established that contrary to popular belief Americans constantly engage with the past through family reunions and gatherings, holidays, photographs, videos, journals and diaries. And in their opinion it was this interest and engagement with the past that contradicted the previously held belief that Americans had become disconnected from their own history. And yet in my opinion one’s personal past and enthusiasm in one’s personal history is separate from one’s interest and understanding of national, community, or local history.

The main issue with this project was their choice of terminology. In conducting the survey the interviewers used the term “past,” noting that asking about one’s “history” elicited a less than enthusiastic response. For this reason the interviews highlighted the narrators personal pasts as opposed to their community, local, or even national histories. Using such terminology as past and heritage conjured up the response of the familial past, not responses of American history. There is a major difference between engaging with one’s past as opposed to engaging with one’s national past.