Road Trips Through History

Road Trips through History: A Collection of Essays from Preservation Magazine is a wonderfully orchestrated book. It is a collection of 114 essays containing the thoughts and memories of a preservationist by the name of Dwight Young. Young uses these essays as a way to take the reader into what he feels preservation is as a discipline. Young uses his essays to show the reader that history can be seen through out everyday life. He wanted people to seek history in the world not just in historical buildings, sites and museums but throughout the entire world. Young has done a masterful job with this collection of essays. In my opinion each essay was well written and kept me interested in the topic of historical preservation.

Young is truly committed to historical preservation and it shows in these essays. He also shows that he has a strong relationship with historic preservation. He makes historical preservation personal for the reader with emotional stories that pull the reader in, there by making the reader concerned with the topic of preservation. Young discusses about large historical objects and sites the same way he does over smaller lesser known items. In doing so he shows that no matter the object or it size if it is important to someone it is worth preserving. In doing so simply trying to remind the reader to take in the surroundings of the world because you never know what can be seen.

With this collection of essays Young has made preservation into a series of personal experiences. He uses his personal appeals and provides everyday examples of how historical preservation can be used. In my opinion in writing in this way Young has provided the reader a service by showing how preservationist work with several different techniques to show how thing are preserved. This book actually made me realize why people preserve certain items. I had never really though about historical preservation as a discipline until reading these essays. I had always though of it as some left up to museum curators or historians only. People preserve things that are important to them or that they believe are worth preserving and they do not have to work in a museum or be historians to do it.

This book is a great and is a must read for anyone interested in historical preservation because it helps to remind the reader of how important historical sites, artifacts, antiques, and other important items are for society today and how important it is to continue to work in preserving these things for future generations. I look at places here in Tallahassee and marvel because they are wonderful to visit. Places such as Goodwood, The Knot House, Riley House, and Mission San Luis and think how heart breaking it would be if they were gone and not left for others to enjoy. Visiting these places is like taking a visit back in time. It makes me want to get more involved in historical preservation in order to protect the past for the future.

Displays of Power:Controversy in the American Museum for the Enola Gay to Senation

Having read Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation in the past I still find this book intriguing. Throughout this book Steven C. Dubin provides the reader with a great examination of all the distinct features that make up museums. Dubin provides the reader with some of the most controversial exhibitions of the decade of the 1990s. The museums mentioned in this book had exhibitions displaying such issues as slavery, religion, war with the dropping of atom bomb by Enola Gay, dinosaurs, and the Wild West just to name a few. I believe the author used these exhibitions to provide examples of how some museums challenged the standards of the time. He explains in great detail why some museums put up a challenge and tells while other museums were faulted for not putting up a challenge. By providing this information he is trying to show who he believes has the power when it comes to what is displayed in museum exhibits.

In the book Dublin details the controversy that took place at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The exhibit entitled Sensation: Young British Artist from the Saatchi Collection included works including painting, sculptures, photographs, and multimedia pieces. These works dealt with topics of human sexuality, death, and the body. New York Mayor Giuliani threatened the Brooklyn Museum of Art for what he considered "Catholic bashing" for displaying a controversial painting of the Holy Virgin Mary. The mayor said he would withdraw all public funds from the museum unless the painting was removed. There was a great deal of controversy surrounding the museum. The controversy was fueled by the use of censorship, with words like "hate speech" used to describe the exhibit.

This book is presented as a case study. It is extremely well written with the author proving evidence supporting his opinion. I believe by writing the book in this way Dubin has provided the reader with a great account of the things he encountered during his research. He wrote the book in such a way that it allows the reader to build further knowledge and form an opinion that may differ from the authors. Through out the book Dubin provides evidence detailing how museums and their curators have had to be careful in displaying their exhibits because of the fine line between consultation and freedom.

Dubin is very supportive of museum curators in this book. He has given them yet another voice by supporting their actions. He gives his thoughts on their opposition which allows the reader to form his/her own opinion. The book explains how museums are used as a tool to help expand public awareness on all sorts of issues they might not have any knowledge of or might not be aware. Museums provide information about the world we live in by displaying the world’s eminence multicultural societies. Dubin tells how museums that have been run by passive curators have made their museums weak. This often causes the curator and museum to become exploited by groups against their exhibits. Dubin goes on to say that weak curators have hurt the museum industry by not defending their exhibits. When curators do not defend their museums it gives groups that may disagree with the exhibit the time to build support and turn minor conflicts into full blown controversies involving high profile people. These controversies are often fueled by media exposure, as was the case at Brooklyn Museum of Art.

The problem many museums continue to face is while they put spectacular exhibits pertaining to controversial subjects and propaganda, they often fail to realize just how their visitors will react. The book to me made it seem that the 1990s had an explosion when it came to museum controversies. Dubin was provided a great deal of information by the people interviewed by writing this book. He uses these interviews to analyze museums in America and their struggle to define themselves. Museums have power in what they display it is how they use their power that makes each museum special. There will always be two sides to a story and museums will face some form of opposition its how they face this opposition that matters. This is the basic argument Dubin makes in the book. Will the museum be strong or will it be weak? I believe to be strong all a museum has to do is believe in their exhibit and defend it in the face of controversy.

Preserving Memory pg.166-End

Many issues came about in the creation of the Holocaust Museum. The faced the issue of how to Personalize the Story. A design team was established in order to personalize the Holocaust, since it wanted the visitors to the Museum to eschew forever the role of bystanders took during the Holocaust. They believed this could be accomplished effectively through a painful link with the faces of Holocaust victims.

The author revealed the challenges in determining if the Holocaust truly was a part of American history or was it primarily an element of Jewish and European history. They wanted to show as a part of our nation’s history so the museum would have a better chance of earning a spot in the national mall people would want to visit. They wanted to reveal the horrors of Holocaust but had trouble deciding what would be acceptable to show in the museums exhibits. The keep in mind according to the author that they were a National Museum on the National Mall and would behave accordingly in deciding what to show. The book also revealed how the museum would exhibit how United States citizens felt toward the Jewish refugees of Europe. The museum also had a dilemma when trying to decide how United States failure to use military action to destroy the death camps would be treated in the museum's exhibits.

The museum also had to decide how to tackle the topic of genocide without losing its primary mission as memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. During the creation of the Holocaust Museum it was mentioned how the creators had the responsibility to establish a permanent exhibit that represented the true picture of the Holocaust. When trying to decide what and how to present the artifact the creators had to deal the issue of why the Jews were getting a museum on the national mall before African Americans or Native Americans. It was suggested by some people that African Americans and Native Americans deserved a museum before the Jews because events took place here in America that affected their lives and it was said that it even happened on a wider scale.

Edward Linenthal's book Preserving Memory is a wonderful description of how political, spiritual, and ethical dilemmas came about during the establishment of a national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and how museum creators dealt with these issues. This book revealed how the museum creators dealt with issues still vivid in many of the survivors minds. Linenthal did a masterful job showing how the museum creators dealt with the conflicts that came about during the creation of the museum. The museum is not just for a remembrance of victims the Holocaust but it is also a reminder that when a conflict arises we can not sit ideally by and watch. Linenthal said the museum could be used as a tool to prevent future uprisings. The Clinton cartoon on page 265 is a good example of how Linenthal thought the museum could be used. It shows President Clinton in front of the Vietnam memorial looking at all the names with a thought that we can not afford to go into Bosnia and then going to the Holocaust Museum and the thought was we can not afford not to go into Bosnia. Having never been to the museum I can not say what I would feel by see the exhibits but from what I have read in the book the museum seem to be a must see.

Preserving Memory pg.1-166

Preserving Memory by Edward Linenthal's opens with an introduction of the opening of the Holocaust Museum. The opening chapters describe the political and spiritual conflicts that came about during the development of the national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. The Carter Administration was accused by their opposition of creating a commission whose task was to create a national Holocaust memorial as a political ploy to garner more Jewish interest in the administration. The author provides several discussions of the conflicts that arose as the museum was being planned and built. The book comprises these discussions along with other case studies to show the extensive history of the governmental decision that were made regarding the issues related to ethnic inclusion of the museum in United States history.
The story of architect James Ingo Freed is told in great detail. The author tells how Freed researched and implemented his plans for the museum. The tells how critic Herbert Muschamp describes Freed’s use of brick, steel, and glass in his design as invoking the hardship form of the Holocaust. The book also discusses the challenges that came about when the decision to set up a Holocaust memorial on land adjacent to the national mall in Washington, DC came forth. The design of the museum and what would be housed in it had to be decided so it would not take away or diminish the other monuments on the national mall. The main hardship the museum faced was that it might be thought of as a memorial to the mass murder that took place and might prevent tourists from visiting and learning about the Holocaust.
Kalman Sultanik who was a Holocaust survivor and served as vice-president of the The World Jewish Congress wanted the museum to use the memorial space for the commemoration of the six million Jews killed and not to treat the killers or the countrymen as victims because they were not worthy of commemorative respect. The museum had to consider all of this while still presenting the horrors of the Holocaust. The museum had to be careful in its presentation because it still had the task to protect its visitors from the horrible and graphic events that took place under Nazi rule.
Linenthal provides the reader with the process the developers used in personalizing the story of the Holocaust in the museum. He tells how several artifacts from the time period were gathered and the measures that were taken to protect the artifacts as they made their way to the United States. Jacek Nowakowski is described by Litenthal as playing a crucial role in the negotiations with officials from Auschwitz and Majdanek that to place in gathering the artifacts for the museum.
Linenthal lets his readers know that several questions came about and had to be answered about the artifacts. These questions included such things as what should be considered sacred, such as the hair that had been sheered from the prisoners, the shoes and clothing from those killed, and other personal belongings of victims of the death camps. He tells how there was a great difficulty in answering these questions. The main reason was because the questions had to be answered without losing the impact or importance the artifacts were to bring to the museum.

The Presence of the Past Book...a cont of first blog

Rosenzweig and Thelen book The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life is a great read for anyone interested in history. The book provides evidence of how average people are engaged with their past. However, while people are engaged with their past they also are alienated from the history they have been taught in the classroom. The book tries to answer the question if history really has anything to do with the everyday lives of Americans? The authors in a quest to answer this question conducted a survey in which they asked 1,500 Americans about their connection to the past. The book is based on the responses provided. Before this survey, it was thought that the American Public had a lack of historical awareness because of the lack of historic knowledge. The book also showed that the presumption of past history is different back on ethnicity. Most white Americans in the study tend to think of history as something personal, while African-Americans were more likely to think in terms of broadly shared experiences like slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.