Defining Memory (eBook)

Amy K. Levin researches and teaches on race, class, and gender in museums. After 21 years as a professor and administrator at Northern Illinois University, she began a career as an independent scholar in 2016. Joshua G. Adair is associate professor of English at Murray State University in Kentucky, where he also serves as coordinator of Gender & Diversity Studies and director of the Racer Writing Center.

Foreword to the first edition, David KyvigForeword to the second edition, Carol KammenI. Frameworks1. Why Local Museums Matter, Amy K. Levin2 .Local History, Old Things to Look At, and a Sculptor’s Vision: The Curriculum in Three Local Museums, Elizabeth VallanceII. The Rebirth of a Nation3. Public History, Private Memory: Notes from the Ethnography of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, Richard Handler and Eric Gable4. The House of the Seven Gables: A House Museum’s Adaptation to Changing Societal Expectations since 1910, Tami Christopher5. The Louisiana Old State Capitol, Change and Continuity, J. Daniel d’OneyIII. Nostalgia as Epistemology6. The Small Town We Never Were: Old Cowtown Museum Faces an Urban Past, Jay M. Price7. “The Dream Then and Now”: Democratic Nostalgia and the Living Museum at Arthurdale, West Virginia, Stuart Patterson8. History Lessons: The Selling the John Dillinger Museum, Heather PerryIV. Museums at Risk: Changing Publics9. The Politics of Prehistory: Conflict and Resolution at Dickson Mounds Museum, Donna Langford10. “Such is Our Heritage:” Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museums, Jessie Embry and Mauri L. Nelson11. “A Repository for Bottled Monsters and Medical Curiosities”: The Evolution of the Army Medical Museum, Michael Rhode and James ConnorV. Challenging the Major Museum12. Objects of Dis/order: Articulating Curiosities and Engaging People at the Freakatorium, Lucian Gomoll13. Cities, Museums, and City Museums, Eric SandweissVI. Museums Moving Forward14. Crowdsourcing the Art Museum, Leah Mitchell15. “Womanhood,” Whiteness, and Weddings: On the Complexities of Carnton Plantation, Joshua G. AdairVII. No Business Like Show Business16. Business as Usual: Museums, Money, and 9/11 Memories, Amy K. Levin17. Conclusion: Museums and the American Imagination