What Is Inority Participation In Heritage Preservation

I knew that my hometown of Blairsville, Pennsylvania was a rich historical place before my research. I turned to visiting the historical society in my town for my information, there I was given a tour of a historical house where all of the artifacts had been donated. After looking into the history and the other elements of the town, I found out that the place where I grew up was so much more history than I could have ever imagined.

Museums serve as a way to connect with the public on a large scale, and the knowledge held within exhibits can be a fruitful experience for those who choose to visit these institutions. Experiencing all that a museum has to offer, no matter how well intentioned, can at times be confusing and overwhelming to the individuals visiting the site. The Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian dedicates itself to Native Americans in North and South America, and worked tirelessly with varying tribes to create a new standard. Some visitors and scholars found their work to be successful in design and approach while others found it to be lacking in execution. This institution does not approach Native American history in a familiar fashion; however it does cover an expansive period of time, and produces a great amount of detail while generating powerful emotions.

In essence, historic preservation roots collective memory in a physical, tangible space. To many scholars, memory in this context is not simply information that is recalled and retold (qtd. in Till 11). Instead, it is the act of continuously finding and contextualizing history by means of physical space. Preservation of historical architecture is therefore unique, as it juxtaposes this history and memory with the surrounding modern world. This highlights the importance of preserving history through architecture, rather than museums, textbooks, and archives alone. By preserving the physical remnants of a city’s dark history, residents and passersby are forced to confront this history nondeliberately. Moreover, according to Rudy J. Koshar, a preserved site must maintain some present value or purpose. This is particularly relevant when considering the preservation of buildings or sites which represent a history that is controversial or shameful, as it is important to balance the shame evoked by this space with the benefits of its preservation.

The research done on the African Burial Ground has strengthened the public’s knowledge of 17th and 18th-century black heritage in New York. The comprehensive research done integrates scientific approaches and the intellectual, educational and political insights of African American communities. Blakey and the Howard research team conduct research to publicize the lost narrative of Africans living in New York during the 17th and 18th-century. The research conducted adds to the history of the United States and is a reservoir of knowledge about the time period and the deceased. The research does not attempt to speak for the dead but rather allow their findings to speak for themselves. However, when presenting history on a systematically marginalized

Most events and places of historical value nowadays holds little value in our lives. We confine ourselves to our interstates and highways, following the long line of motel chains stopping for maybe two minutes to take a picture just to say we were there. We take nothing away from these sites that is of real value. We barely scratch at the surface of information and true meaning of what happened at these historical sites. Rinker Buck explains his own experience with removing himself from this cultural norm

The museum believes in a pastiche and populist pathway, in which the history of all people is displayed. Its interactive viewpoint allows this museum to convey history in a way that would be more accessible to its audience. For example, patrons are given the opportunity to record their own history. However, academics, such as Keith Windschuttle, assert that the NMA is a “profound intellectual waste”. He argues that although it displays accurate history, it’s purpose of entertaining its audience detracts from its value, thus creating “waste”. Although Windschuttle’s view may be extreme, it demonstrates the considerable extent to which the tension between academic and popular historians exist.

As children growing up in the United States, educated through our public schools, we learned about the institution of slavery, which was an integral part of life in our country for nearly 300 years. We do not usually question the historical facts we learned about slavery or ask how we know so much about the history of these people (the enslaved Africans in America) who left behind so little written record. In the classroom, archeologists do not receive much credit, but it is largely through their work and research that we have been able to learn about “America’s diverse ethnic heritage” (Singleton 155). In the 1960’s, excavations of slave cabins

According to Kaufman, the author of the Park Service’s Cultural Needs Assessment Report, one of the quickest ways and most economical way of creating new historic places that acknowledge Latino- American historic places is to acknowledge the groups’ role at existing historic places (Kaufman 40). Some proposed examples are to recognize “leaders and intellectual of Latin American independence movements who came to Philadelphia during the early nineteenth century, inspired by city’s contribution to the cause of liberty” and at Faneuil Hall in Boston “hosted important demonstrations against the Spanish-American war” (Kaufman 40). Independence National Historic Park still does not regularly include the Latin American independence movement in their interpretation. However, these stories are slowly making their way to the surface. In contrast to the interpretation in Independence Hall, Independence National Historic Park chose to include how the Liberty Bell is a symbol of freedom for many groups in the United States from African-Americans seeking to abolish slavery to Suffragettes seeking universal voting rights to international groups in the Liberty Bell pavilions

We view historical preservation as very important. This year we helped the Secretary of State with a biographical project, Legacy

The passage of time continues its long journey as present becomes the past. We, as humans, have always viewed the past as a valuable asset capable of assisting us towards greater heights. We, therefore, strive to preserve our history in order pass it to the next generation, without alterations. To accomplish such a task, our society created monuments—structures that would last for long periods of time and would be able to preserve our memories, understandings and perception of an event and/or a significant personality. Consequently, our country harbors countless monuments and memorials which allow us to understand own history, and comprehend the numerous achievements and sacrifices of those who served the country.

On a camping trip to Pine Creek Gorge, I became mesmerized by history in a way that can only be described as a passionate need to be a part of it. Upon biking the Pine Creek Rail Trail, I stopped for a moment on a bridge overlooking a magnificent site. A river stood before me, and I was immediately transported two hundred years through time. A canoe slowly made its way towards me, two Native American men, its passengers. I became transfixed and it was this one moment in time that I gave in to my passion for history.

The Smithsonian Museum is a selective representation that allow an intuitive recollection of history oriented by our personal experience, whilst challenging the inflexible traditional museum through its ability to be altered and manipulated by our personal memory and reminiscence. Continuous uploading and addition of new content in conjunction with constantly altering graphics ensures that the website is viewed differently by every responder, allowing our memory of the 9/11 to steer our interpretation of the text. The provision of a 'Tell your story' link, directing responder's to "help document this historic event", places equal academic validity in the function of memory as that of an artefact, and in doing so, essentially intertwines the roles of history and memory as being complementary in the documentation of fact. Supporting this distinct representation of 9/11, the title of the website 'Bearing Witness to History' allows the individual testimonies of its responders to enhance this representation of a unified response to the attack. This is supported by curator William Yeingst who

I visited the Ancient American exhibit at the Field Museum and analyzed the voices that I heard within the different sections: the researchers, the curators or the people. Throughout the exhibit, I heard different voices, but the strongest voice I heard was the curators who put together the exhibit. The museum did a successful job at attaining all the facts about the Ancient Americans despite the lack of native people to get information from, but they were unsuccessful at capturing the people’s voice within the exhibit.

Preservation took the stage in the early 19th century – although preservation efforts existed prior – when Ann Pamela Cunningham rallied America’s women to save Mt. Vernon. Over the years, the field has followed similar patterns: save the house of a significant person, recognize the site of an event, or memorialize a style of architecture. Agendas and private support characterized the origins of the preservationist’s professions; while the roles and theories behind the products morphed as time ticked along, todays modern preservation efforts rely a great deal on the support of governmental laws and programs to protect America’s treasures.

In the dictionary, heritage represents valuable things that have been passed down to descendants. The behavior of heritage protection is a process of inheritance. Heritage protection not only conserves precious historical places and objects, but also provides the authentic environments for people to experience and research history. The valued and diverse heritage can bring a great impact on people’s behavior and feeling.