Digital Media blog

Both of the articles main points instruct historians and archivists on gathering archival material through digital means, especially when tragedies and conflicts strike.  In “The Future of Preserving the Past”, Cohen explores the differences in how historians collected data for archives after Pearl Harbor, 1941, and September 11, 2001. He found that after Pearl Harbor, archivists used people’s letters and diaries to understand the feelings of the American public towards the attack on the Hawaiian naval base. Cohen finds a distinct difference in the way archivists find material for capturing the American opinion and reaction to the September 11 events, because a majority of the people use emails, blogs and websites rather than letters and diaries.  Therefore, the future in preserving past events lies in digital media. Brennan and Kelly look at the importance of digital archives and the need to make them accessible to public audiences so the public can retrieve and input information into the databases easily.  The authors find that people will input information into a digital archive only if the people do not find the website confusing and difficult to use. In their archive over Hurricane Katrina, Brennan and Kelly find that a website that people find accessible and well-organized allows for more entries. However, resources in digital archives are limited to the population who own the technology and have the desire to contribute to the archives. Despite the downsides of digital archives, I believe that technology in current years is becoming more available to the general public. More and more people store their personal information online and a majority of people access information through online sources. Therefore, digital media is relevant, not necessarily just in disaster areas, and historians will continue to create them. It is important that historians make sure that their websites provide easy access and try to include as many perspectives in their entries as possible in order to make a complete archive, especially over key events that pertain to the nation as a whole.

Hollywood and History Blog

This week’s readings discuss historical presentations involving the use of film, in a large production to documentaries. In A Shared Authority, Frisch argues to include more use of oral histories in documentaries in order to show a variety of perspectives about an historical event. He uses the case study of the documentary Vietnam in order to explore ways that filmmakers use oral histories to tell a story. He finds that filmmakers make choices over who they conduct oral histories with and which histories they include into the documentary, and argues that directors need to include a wider range of oral histories in films to widen the film’s story.

 In the chapter “Watching The Civil War” by Glassberg, he discusses the validity and effectiveness of Burn’s documentary series on PBS The Civil War. In terms of effectiveness, Glassburg claims that Burn’s reaches a vast amount of people including “during the week of its initial broadcast –nearly one-sixth of the total United States television audience- saw at least one segment of the film.”(Glassburg 92, 2001) Therefore, because of the popularity of television, Burn’s was able to reach a wider audience than formal types of public history presentations in order to educate the population on topics such as the American Civil War. However, Glassburg explores the historical accuracy of the documentary by questioning if it reached all types of audiences and also academic historians criticize the film for its lack of focus on specific social issues such as women’s roles.

Robert Toplin in his article, “Cinematic History”, goes over historians who study “film’s treatment of history” and how films relate to their audiences. Toplin discuss the political role of films by looking at how films that present a history from the past sometimes deal with issues in the present. He uses the example of the film Bonnie and Clyde, made in the 1960s, which is a film made about the 1920s couple that portray characteristics of “anti-establishment, rebellious and independent minded” that people could relate too in the 1960s. The author also makes the point when researching films, the historian must look at the filmmakers’ objectives and put them into a historical context. Researchers have to look at the creation of the film as well as the final product when putting a film into perspective.

Natalie Davis’s article looks at a specific case when filmmakers cannot include new challenging historical information in films because of popular opinion. Sometimes historical accuracy is lost because of the desire for a popular movie. Filmmakers, especially in popular movies, will retell a story in a historical context, but leave out facts and information important to the story. Therefore filmmakers do not always achieve a level of objectivity in retelling historical events and most films should be looked at as fiction. But, films do provide a perspective about what they tell and do not tell and historians can look at films to come up with the popular opinion of an issue for a time period.

Week 12 Blog: Oral History and Public Memories

The reading for this week, Oral History and Public Memories, discusses how oral histories can capture different viewpoints of a nations or groups history. The authors, Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, break the book into three parts: the first discusses how governments or groups can use oral histories to create a national identity, the second shows how oral histories from groups cause a sense of identity, and the third focuses on oral history projects that hope to create change in the local community. The first two chapters of the book about the Aboriginal people of Canada and the creation of the national identity of Singapore go against what I usually think of as an oral history project. I usually find oral histories capturing voices that historians or governments have left out of texts, but in the chapter over Singapore the author discusses how the new government only sought the voice of public officials and important people that helped create the new Singapore. It was not till much later that the government started allowing the oral historians to officially seek interviews with the masses. The government only allows interviews with certain people in order to secure one story about the independence of Singapore from colonialism.

Thankfully the chapter over South Africa in post-apartheid Cape Town told a different story. The author presents two different communities oral history projects that discuss life and memory during the apartheid regime in their community. The author found that the two communities held very different memories during the regime because of the ethnicity of the community and their location. This chapter not only shows the benefits of oral histories among populations that experience discrimination, but also shows that people’s memory differs and is multi-dimensional in countries depending on areas, ethnicities and other things.

The third part of the book shows interesting stories of how people use oral histories to try and make change in communities. I thought the chapter over the Cleveland Homeless Oral History Project by Daniel Kerr is unique and innovative because the author hopes to allow for homeless people of Cleveland to tell their story and give them a voice. The project allows for the homeless people to confront issue of Cleveland’s urban policies of wiping out poor neighborhoods and creating buildings designed to promote tourism that leaves a lot of people homeless. After the conclusion of the interview, I found that the people grew confident that the public heard their voice and some homeless people were willing to confront city officials about the conditions of shelters.

week 11 post

Archive Stories by Antoinette Burton focuses on archives and in particular researchers’ experiences at archives as well as how archives change over time. The book is broken up into three parts: stories of researchers at archives, examples of how archives are built and why archives matter. The book has an overarching theme of collecting stories of historians’ experiences in different archives across the world which is especially the case in the first chapter by Durba Ghosh in her encounters in the British and Indian archives. The author speaks to how she found two different interpretations about Indian women and British men relations in the two archives. She states that Britain recognizes that these relations occur, but there is little to no document evidence and names are left out of the equation. Britain’s purpose of their archives with India exists to show the superiority of British imperialism at the time. Also it excludes a majority of lower classes and local Indian women perspectives. On the hand, the research aids at the archives in India question the author’s topic and deny that women slept with British men and the only kind of women to participate in these acts were Muslims. The Indian archive tries to preserve a national identity free of British involvement. Her experiences show an interesting look at how colonialism in perceived in different countries.

                I found Peter Fritzsche chapter on the history of the German archive particularly interesting in how in changes from World War I to World War II. At first the archive worked towards a democratic and inclusive outlook in order to gather the history of World War I from the perspective of all German citizens, but in World War II the archives are mended to support the views of the Third Reich causing various populations to be left out of the archive and records is destroyed. This chapter shows how an archives original purpose of representing the whole population can change the archives mission and outcome.

                A third goal of the book shows why archives are important and one author speaks of her research in South Africa during the fall of Apartheid about the Soweto Uprising. The South African archive saw trouble when people tried to erase the Apartheid years from the archive and some records were destroyed. The archive plays an important role in collecting oral histories about the Soweto Uprising of what different people remember about the Uprising in the 1970s, which added new perspectives to the archive, rather than just government reports. The archive has the purpose of being a place, after the end of Apartheid that allowed people a place to tell their stories of the event.

Week 10 post

The two readings from this week discuss local and national celebrations and their goals and effectiveness towards their communities. Bodnar focuses on national events for the bicentennial of the Revolutionary War and the centennial of the Civil War. One of his main themes reveal that there is disconnect between the government or administrations goals in the ceremony and the all the population. In particular the Revolutionary War bicentennial more than the Civil War, the administrations goals were to involve as many citizens as possible to instill a celebration of patriotism. While the government tries to celebrate the nation’s heritage and use this event to sooth the national discontent with the Vietnam War and social issue, the public did not always want to celebrate and some groups even called for another revolution because of the withering conditions of the United States. Therefore, celebrations such as these can be used for political purposes to try and gain national unity in times of turmoil. Another major theme for Bodnar was the main purpose of the centennial of the Civil War sparks an increase in tourism because of the marketing done for the celebration. Civil War battlefields and monuments increase at the sites during the 1960s because of the centennial and the major tone was unity rather than the split in the nation. This gave the Southern population a chance to renew their image in the Civil War and by 1965, Burton states in Virginia that the state “gained a more sympathetic appreciation everywhere of the Southern position.(226)”

                Glassburg focuses on city celebrations at the local level that celebrate local history. These celebrations are used mostly for an attempt at sparking a feeling of city pride and unity, however these parades and events tend to leave out the minorities of the community. One problem is that they give one face to the community. One positive aspect of celebrating local history was the increase in local tourism because of the events, therefore lifting up the economy in the area. I questioned the purpose of the festivities and whether they were a marketing tool for local politicians and a chance to spark the economy or whether they should be about giving a chance for all groups to tell their side of the local history and have a chance to celebrate the entire city’s history rather than just one perspective.

Week 9 Post

In the chapter “Watching The Civil War” by Glassberg, he discusses the validity and effectiveness of Burn’s documentary series on PBS The Civil War. In terms of effectiveness, Glassburg claims that Burn’s reaches a vast amount of people including “during the week of its initial broadcast –nearly one-sixth of the total United States television audience- saw at least one segment of the film.”(Glassburg 92, 2001) Therefore, because of the popularity of television, Burn’s was able to reach a wider audience than formal types of public history presentations in order to educate the population on topics such as the American Civil War. However, Glassburg explores the historical accuracy of the documentary by questioning if it reached all types of audiences and also academic historians criticize the film for its lack of focus on specific social issues such as women’s roles.

Levinson focuses his book, Written in Stone, on public monuments and discusses the roles these statues play in connecting to certain groups in the society. I found his topic on Eastern Europe very interesting and how the communities tore down Lenin statues after the communist regime change in the 1950s-1960s and then again tore down Stalin statues in the 1990s. Thereby, erasing the history of communism before that time period; I found that Levinson argued for keeping the statues of controversy and of an old regime, rather than tearing them down and dismissing that part of history. Levinson makes a point that these monuments could be placed in museums, especially history museums, where they could be appreciated by that audience. Then the city or state would not have to display the unwanted monuments and make contentious stands. I found the author’s points tended to sway back and forth depending on the topic, because he would go around important issues, such as communism and southern heritage in the US South, and not take a definite stand about his opinion towards monuments. The main theme I found from this book relays the message that monuments speak for a community, and that voice is frozen in time when the monument is created. Perhaps to better relay the message that history is a progressive moment, signs could change to dictate the changing opinions of that community.

Week 7 post

The articles this week discuss the history of public presentation in the California region as well as the impact of the Antiquities Act on public history. The two Glassburg chapters counters the historic preservation on the opposing sides of the United States, the Northeast region and the California region, to discuss the differences and uniqueness of each region’s sense of heritage and how that has changed over the years. The article of “Rethinking New England Town Character” challenges the thought that the colonial view of the historic district revolves around the town’s center and that all experiences of a New England town were mostly similar. Through varies examples, Glassburg shows that each community values the town, not on the classic historic dimensions of the town, but also in the unique places of the town that hold traditional value because of memories of either family or culture. The second article focuses on the development of local history in California that began with white heritage groups glorifying the 1849 Gold mining communities. Glassburg later shows how as minorities gain power and support in the government’s perspective, representation of other groups are included in California’s history presentation, therefore showing the diversity of the region. The last article focuses on the development of the Antiquities Act and how it gave power to the President to set aside land of historical significance and gave governmental agencies power to run and develop the site. The Act allows for historical and natural parks to develop and allows for the public to learn about history in a new form through visiting the places that history actually happened. 

Week 6 reading post

The first article centers on the historical preservation movement and its move towards professionalization. Historic preservation takes another change in face, because as the movement gains, men take over the field and push aside the women that helped start the field of preserving historic homes, such as Mount Vernon. The article focuses on the different viewpoints on the themes in the historic homes between men and women.  The author shows that women in the field spotlight on a perspective called personalism, which focuses on the material culture and its relation to the people and the time and therefore was a more personal view of history. On the contrary, men tended to focus on the buildings and architecture from a particular time and place, rather than the people and stories inside.

                Nolan’s article presents two different historic preservation houses, the Monticello and the Mont, to show two different ideas and philosophies on how to restore projects. Monticello, Jefferson’s house, is remodeled to a specific time period when Jefferson lived there in the early 1800s. The Monticello is rid of all of its recent additions and is restored with current methods to its previous state. One problem shown by the author is that the Monticello shows only one part of the houses history, which focuses on Jefferson, even though he did not reside in the house the longest. The other house, the Montpelier, at one point was the house of President Madison. The curator at the Montpelier does not restore the house, but instead preserves it in its current state. Therefore the house is described to have layers that allow for multiple stories to be told from each era the house has existed. One down side to this style of preservation the visitors complained about was they got confused to which part of the house was in which era, because the house is not broken up by period, and instead is scattered through the house.

Week 5 reading post

The major dilemma discussed in the two chapters from Dublin’s article focuses on the content of the presentation of the Enola Gay exhibit by the National Air and Space museum in the Smithsonian. The opposing sides include an association of veterans, the government including congress as well as the Air Force against the curators at the museum. The author’s main point lays in the argument over whether public domain, such as an airplane from a major war, can be displayed in a confrontational mode outside what the opposing sides stated was against the wants and desires of the public of the United States. Another key issue in this article introduces the problem of outside sources involvement in the creating phase of an exhibit in a somewhat publically funded institution. The author sarcastically addresses the issue of the involvement of Air Force representatives going through the exhibit and checking what could or could not be included in the display. The article hits on how the government wants to present the American armed forces in a positive manner rather than focus on the issues on how the war was fought as well as presenting the Japanese point of view, in this case. Presentations of war and other confrontations involving in the military appear to have to choose between two different style of design, which includes a patriotic view point that does not question the decisions of wartime and confrontation or a democratic view point that brings in outside issues that break past the conservative version of war. I found a major problem in the National Air and Space museum separates this museum from most progressive stances on presentation that allows for an open forum for discussion, and in this case there is no room for discussion, but only a patriotic version of the Enola Gay exhibit.

Week 4 reading post

The book “Slavery and Public History” deals with the dialogue of slavery in public places and tells of different places that were instances of the sensitive issue of presenting slavery.  In recent years, portraying slavery in a public venue creates different emotions for different people, but in the end it stirs up controversy. Slavery and the African American community before the civil war have been left out of the public eye for the most part, until the later part of the 20^th century when some curators and community leaders sought to give voice to the population under slavery in America. The problems of the presentation of slavery vary depending on the area as well as the community. The book describes that all areas of the United States administered slavery in some point in American history, but the problems of presenting slavery were different depending on the area. The northeastern portion projects a heritage of democracy and freedom and pushes the story of slavery away from memory because of the areas long times to the pursuit of independence. Areas such as The Library of Congress and The Liberty Bell book suffered problems of displaying a section of the history of slavery because of the rich tradition of the heritage of revolution and afterwards that the idea of the founding fathers owning slaves appeared to be a an unwanted exhibit. The south uncovered other complications on portraying history in that the relationship between slaves and white plantation owners were well known. Neither ancestral side knew the correct way of showing the true history without stirring up controversy or bringing up unwanted memories. In conclusion it seems that portraying the true history of slavery in an area without leaving any groups out appears to be one option to the question. It seems that communities want a just and full representation of the past without it being distorted or not shown.

Week 3 reading post

The book, Defining Memory, confronts the fact that memory can challenge the direction of museum and argues the question if culture is public or private property. The author makes the argument that, “Memory contests and resists official history (60).” In the chapter about Arthurdale, citizens picture in their mind how the house looked back in the 1930s and contested some of the decisions of the set up of the house, while they missed the bigger mission of the site. It seems when dealing with people’s memory, museum personal continually encounter problems with the local population about the real details of the past. This seems true in the chapter about the Dickson Mounds Museum when the Native Americans in the area had a problem with the archeologist for digging up remains at their burial ground and wanting to put a museum on the site. Communicating and having a say in the display of the museum solved the problem for the Native Americans of the museum along with stopping the digging of the burial grounds. The split in the view of the community of the Native Americans sparked the issue because of the view that Native Americans portrayed as primal. Government groups often bring problems in the creation of an exhibit because of image. The John Dillinger museum and the Enola Gay exhibit proved controversial because it showed the armed forces and the police department in a questioning perspective. Local officials accused the museum of championing John Dillinger as a criminal and therefore changed the museum’s focus to showing that crime pays and lifting up the law enforcement. Similar in the Enola Gay exhibit, the army forced the National Air and Space museum to change it’s exhibit to glorifying the plane whether than questioning it. Therefore nostalgia for the past inhibits museums because the public does not want museums to show the messy past and instead people only tell of the good memories they have in order to show their town in a pleasant perspective.

Week 2 reading post

In Glassberg’s chapter titled “sense of history”, there is an interesting connection between the academic goals of an institution and the goals set out by the author over public history. The author’s main point of the chapter seems to occur around a theme he labels as a “sense of history” which explores how people develop their own unique view of history that depends on different elements such as their background, their location, and where they grew up. The author then presents the question of who can attribute to history and looks at the different accounts used to tell history at that time period on a public level. The author separates the telling of history into three separate categories that include politics, popular culture and place and gives examples of how history is told in different views depending on what agenda the teller is pursuing. The author is convincing in his argument that history told to the public is different depending on who is the narrator such as in his example of a national park in Mesa Verde (17), Glassberg argues that in the end the park ranger under little supervision has full control over what story the audience hears about the national park and the people who resided there. Glassberg’s presentation on location is persuasive because he argues that location makes a difference on what story is told and that everyone is biased towards a certain view depending on their environment. One weakness in the chapter over place and placelessness is that for the intended audience, there is possibly too much emphasis on the psychological sphere, but the author does do a good job of presenting how there are different types of views depending on the person and the environment he/she grew up in depending on economical statuses.