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.