Commemoration

Seth C. Bruggeman is an associate professor of History at Temple University, where he periodically directs the Center for Public History. His books include Born in the USA: Birth and Commemoration in American Public Memory, and Here, George Washington Was Born: Memory, Material Culture, and the Public History of a National Monument.

[T]his volume lays out a collection of succinct and straightforward discussions that speak to the complexities inherent in public commemoration that heritage professionals will find insightful, applicable, and thought-provoking. With examples and case studies rooted in the present and recent past, Commemoration offers a helpful glimpse into contemporary commemorative practice and does so with a decidedly forward-thinking lens, offering honest reflections on the challenges, deficiencies, and common pitfalls that face those treading into the slippery yet weighty territory of public memory, feeling, and remembrance.

• 1. Introduction: Conundrum and Nuance in American Memory - Seth C. Bruggeman2. The Exhibition and the Funeral: Commemoration as Display - Tammy S. Gordon 3. Festivals as a Commemorative Genre - William S. Walker4. Reenactment: Performing the Past - Cathy Stanton5. A Local Commemoration of National Significance - Anne C. Reilly6. Get Territorial: Idaho at 150 - Janet L. Gallimore7. Global Histories and Cross-Border Commemoration - Adam Hjorthén8. Sir John A. Macdonald and the Problem of Great Men - Jean-Pierre Morin9. Gay is Good: Commemorating LGBTQ History - Kenneth C. Turino10. Sacred Subjects: Religion and Commemoration in America - Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas11. Commemoration as Activism - Patrick Grossi12. Alive in Our Imagination: The Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War - Rick Beard and Bob Beatty13. Commemorating Tragedy at Mother Emanuel AME Church - George W. McDaniel14. Afterword: Commemoration, Conversation, and Public Feeling in America Today - Erika Doss