Week Seven: What Can "The Public Historian" Teach Us About the State of the Field

The Public Historian: Comprehensive Accounts of Diverse Approaches

The Public Historian was created with the intention of creating a platform for the discussion and evaluation, allowing Public Historians the opportunity to showcase their projects, struggles, and tactics as they undertake research and partake in communal relationships in the effort to preserve history. Issuing a new compilation each month, the journal seeks to keep an active account of preservation and issues circulating public memory both on terms of shared authority and shared inquiry. The issues I was given specifically contain multiple instances on the issue of shared memory, specifically on the issue of combative memory and shared authority. The articles I selected are from the May and Augusts issues from 2017. Providing a synopsis of each article, I wish to understand the how each article engages in "radical public history" 

A Tale of Two Missions: Common Past/Divergent Futures at Transnational Historic Sites: Debora Ryan and Emily Stokes-Rees

    Public Historians Debora Ryan and Emily Stokes-Ress engaged in a public history project involving conflicting memory of a public history site with three different identities. the Sainte-Marie in 
Midland, Ontario and the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center in Syracuse, New York both share a common history, actively surviving as living museums depicting 17th century Jesuit missions. The cultural sites work to present a narrative emphasizing the French and British founding of Canada and New York, heavily washing over the interpretation of Native Americans and  removing them from communal identity. The article discussses the complicated history, going as far to weigh the entire survival of the historical sites on the balance of historical interpretation (Ryan, Stokes-Rees, 37-48). 

    The sites ultimately deal in the issue of shared authority. They represent the conflicting nature of multiple histories and the issue of nationalism as presented in both sites; the anniversary and expansion of Canadian identity pressed them importance of the sites contributing to Canadian memory as a whole, washing over other interpretations initially. Authors understand the importance of Native interpretation (the original sites had anything but artifacts or cultural expression from the tribes themselves), but actively understand the perseverance and survival of the sites as one indulging in shared inquiry (22). The sites battle public interpretation, forcing them to cater to tourism whilst sidelining education. Ultimately, the sites both deal in the radical expression and public altering perception of history as it pertains to the inclusion of multiple stories. 

Continuous Existence of Historic Ship Museums: Valuing Educational Opportunities over a defined period of significance: Philip R. Byrd

    Philip R. Byrd takes the SS John W. Brown and uses it to analyze the guidelines of the National Register of Historical Places' (NRHP) to understand the sustainability of current methodology as it pertains to museum ships and maritime preservation. His work focuses history as a shifting nature in the context of public history; As public memory of the 1940s fades away with every year, Byrd argues that museums must incorporate new presentation methods that do not incorporate a artifact within a period of significance, but rather expand the stories by focusing on artifacts themselves. The NRHP requires artifacts to be maintained and kept original, yet understanding it from a mechanical perspective, the upkeep of a historical vessel ultimately results in either it's destruction from corrosion or it's complete loss of historical identity (Byrd, 63). Byrd's argument circulates to what he calls "continuous existence," understanding artifacts like the SS John W. Brown as not just a significant vessel from World War II in it's historical context, but a crucial piece of technology that offers visitors and students the potential to understand technology from it's period, the efforts of maintenance, and comparative history form firsthand experience (Byrd, 78). 

    The SS John W. Brown is a public museum project. Byrd's work is crucial, as it is a direct representative of the importance of reinterpretation of history, represented by radical history. Radical public history may not involve perspective from a complete outsider view, but rather it may be new methodology in presenting of resources, artifacts, and documents as they are presented to inform the public on a new perspective of artifacts that are not based on it's significance in it's time period. 

War, Dialogue, and Overcoming the Past: The Second World War Museum in Gdansk, Poland: Anna Muller and Daniel Logemann

    Keeping with issues of public identity as presented by Debora Ryan and Emily Stokes-Ress, Anna Muller and Daniel Logemann evaluate the creation of Polish museums that directly target the impact of the Second World War on the population of Poland. The creation of museums spark a different kind of communal response; the museums themselves are filled with personal stories and firsthand accounts of both the Soviet and German invasions, educating visitors and opening conversation for victims of the brutality of war (Muller, Logemann, 85). The museum is a reflection of the complicated history of Poland, understanding and promoting national identity whilst providing an accurate critique of the past. From depiction of the holocaust, ethnic cleansing, personal stories of loss and tragedy, it depicts war as an event with no winners, displaying stories of heroism as they pertain to active rebellion and the promotion of life, displaying other events in their raw, devastating nature that reflects the experiences of Polish citizens.

    It is no surprise the management of the museum was fired in April 2017 as the museum did not reflect the government's wishes to be heard on an international stage. The museum directly reflects the idea of "radical public history" in it's initiative to promote a identity that addresses the intersectional nature of memory and reflection of the past, inviting visitors to address the nature of Polish history in both it's unique nature, whilst understanding the common factors in comparison to others. The radical nature of the museum is it's depiction of the victimization of Polish identity, understanding the brutality of war as a whole. 

"They've Taken It All Away. The Only Thing Here is Me:" The Struggle to Preserve the Legacy of King Records: Charles Lester

    The legacy of King Records is a public history project that calls for the promotion and inclusion of King Records in Cincinnati's public memory. Kings Records promoted and recorded Black musicians and, as argued by Charles Lester, is an integral member of the formation of American music, fostering artists in the rock, jazz, R&B, and gospel genres like James Brown (Lester, 58-59). The interior's building had been destroyed in 1997, sparking activists and those alike to fight for the memorialization of Syd Nathan and his wife as contributing members to the overall music industry of Cincinnati. The article gives a history of the company whilst showcasing the issues in which activists had in fighting for it's memory. 

    The article largely speaks to public awareness; A major issues surrounding the promotion of King Records in communal memory is the lack of awareness. Major newspapers and publishers had no interest in documenting the affairs of the company even in it's success due to racial and ethnic bias, even directly stating is dissatisfaction in it's association. After many years and multiple attempts through multiple endeavors, the struggle continues as a public history project that deals with the city in a matter of zoning and preservation laws. The situation directly reflects Eatonville, where the only surviving memory is property. Both situations involve the radical activism of community engagement and political engagement in local affairs to commemorate the public minority in the active prevention of gentrification. Kings Records, as crucial as the building is, faces the same danger that Eatonville doe sin communal memory that could be forgotten in two generations. 

Bibliography

The Public Historian 39, no. 2 (May 2017).

The Public Historian 39, no. 3 (August 2017).