The past has always been “the property” of someone. This history, that has been preserved, interpreted, and presented to the public by individuals and groups with differing agendas, ideas of ownership surrounding the past, and how the interpretations of history will continue to shape the narrative of American history.

We as historians, particularly those in public facing roles, have found ourselves on the front lines of the battle for History. Linenthal and Wallace both introduce how the arguments of incorrect historical interpretation have cyclically been fought over by various groups throughout time.

As Wallace states, in American history there has been a consistent effort to ahistoricize the past and to remove entire contexts, movements, events, and peoples from specific lenses and periods of history.

Many of the readings this week aim to identify these problems and offer solutions for historians and museum professionals as they try and address these problems going forward.

The overall call to action by museums seems to be that an effort needs to be made by these professionals to acknowledge the less “visitor-friendly” aspects of the past, avoid sanitizing historical actors’ intentions and the lasting effects of their actions on the present. We as public historians, have a duty to facilitate the experiences and education of museumgoers by sharing more complete pictures of history, regardless of how difficult they might be.

Bibliography

Broomall, James J. “The Interpretation Is A-Changin’: Memory, Museums, and Public History in Central Virginia.” Journal of the Civil War Era 3, no. 1 (2013): 114–24. Accessed March 31, 2023, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26062023

Cauvin, Thomas. “Collecting, Managing and Preserving the Past: Public History and Sources.” In Public History. ?-?. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Greenspan, Elizabeth L. “Spontaneous Memorials, Museums, and Public History: Memorialization of September 11, 2001 at the Pentagon.” The Public Historian 25, no. 2 (2003): 129–32. Accessed March 31, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2003.25.2.129

Lewis, Catherine M. The Changing Face of Public History: The Chicago Historical Society and the Transformation of an American Museum. 3-34. Chicago: Northern Illinois University Press, 2005.

Linenthal, Edward T. “The Boundaries of Memory: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.” American Quarterly 46, no. 3 (1994): 406–33. Accessed March 31, 2023, https://doi.org/10.2307/2713271

Moe, Richard. “Are There Too Many House Museums?” Forum Journal 27, no. 1 (2012): 55-61. Accessed March 31, 2023, muse.jhu.edu/article/494513.

Wallace, Mike. Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory. 3-32. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.