Curating America's Painful Past : Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination
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| Title: | Curating America's Painful Past : Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination |
|---|---|
| Description: | Honorable Mention: National Council Public History Book AwardDuring the global Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, many called upon the United States to finally face its painful past. Tim Gruenewald's new book is an in-depth investigation of how that past is currently remembered at the national museums in Washington, DC. Curating America's Painful Past reveals how the tragic past is either minimized or framed in a way that does not threaten dominant national ideologies. Gruenewald analyzes the National Museum of American History (NMAH), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).The NMAH, the nation's most popular history museum, serves as the benchmark for the imagination of US history and identity. The USHMM opened in 1993 as the United States'official Holocaust memorial and stands adjacent to the National Mall. Gruenewald makes a persuasive case that the USHMM established a successful blueprint for narrating horrific and traumatic histories. Curating America's Painful Past contrasts these two museums to ask why America's painful memories were largely absent from the memorial landscape of the National Mall and argues that social injustices in the present cannot be addressed until the nation's painful past is fully acknowledged and remembered.It was only with the opening of the NMAAHC in 2016 that a detailed account of atrocities committed against African Americans appeared on the National Mall. Gruenewald focuses on the museum's narrative structure in the context of national discourse to provide a critical reading of the museum. When the NMAI opened in 2004, it presented for the first time a detailed history from a Native American perspective that sought to undo conventional museum narratives. However, criticism led to more traditional exhibitions and national focus. Nevertheless, the museum still marginalizes memories of the vast numbers of Indigenous victims to European colonization and to US expansion. In a final chapter, Gruenewald offers a thought experiment, imagining a memory site like the recently opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, Alabama) situated on the National Mall so the reader can assess how profound an effect projects of national memory can have on facing the past as a matter of present justice. |
| Authors: | Tim Gruenewald |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Historical museums--United States--Case studies, Collective memory--United States, Museums and minorities--United States--Case studies, Museums--Curatorship--United States--Case studies |
| Categories: | ART / Museum Studies, HISTORY / United States / General, HISTORY / Social History |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Curating America's Painful Past : Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: Honorable Mention: National Council Public History Book AwardDuring the global Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, many called upon the United States to finally face its painful past. Tim Gruenewald's new book is an in-depth investigation of how that past is currently remembered at the national museums in Washington, DC. Curating America's Painful Past reveals how the tragic past is either minimized or framed in a way that does not threaten dominant national ideologies. Gruenewald analyzes the National Museum of American History (NMAH), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).The NMAH, the nation's most popular history museum, serves as the benchmark for the imagination of US history and identity. The USHMM opened in 1993 as the United States'official Holocaust memorial and stands adjacent to the National Mall. Gruenewald makes a persuasive case that the USHMM established a successful blueprint for narrating horrific and traumatic histories. Curating America's Painful Past contrasts these two museums to ask why America's painful memories were largely absent from the memorial landscape of the National Mall and argues that social injustices in the present cannot be addressed until the nation's painful past is fully acknowledged and remembered.It was only with the opening of the NMAAHC in 2016 that a detailed account of atrocities committed against African Americans appeared on the National Mall. Gruenewald focuses on the museum's narrative structure in the context of national discourse to provide a critical reading of the museum. When the NMAI opened in 2004, it presented for the first time a detailed history from a Native American perspective that sought to undo conventional museum narratives. However, criticism led to more traditional exhibitions and national focus. Nevertheless, the museum still marginalizes memories of the vast numbers of Indigenous victims to European colonization and to US expansion. In a final chapter, Gruenewald offers a thought experiment, imagining a memory site like the recently opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, Alabama) situated on the National Mall so the reader can assess how profound an effect projects of national memory can have on facing the past as a matter of present justice. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tim+Gruenewald%22">Tim Gruenewald</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Historical+museums--United+States--Case+studies%22">Historical museums--United States--Case studies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Collective+memory--United+States%22">Collective memory--United States</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Museums+and+minorities--United+States--Case+studies%22">Museums and minorities--United States--Case studies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Museums--Curatorship--United+States--Case+studies%22">Museums--Curatorship--United States--Case studies</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22ART+%2F+Museum+Studies%22">ART / Museum Studies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+United+States+%2F+General%22">HISTORY / United States / General</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+Social+History%22">HISTORY / Social History</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 907.4 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Historical museums--United States--Case studies Type: general – SubjectFull: Collective memory--United States Type: general – SubjectFull: Museums and minorities--United States--Case studies Type: general – SubjectFull: Museums--Curatorship--United States--Case studies Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Curating America's Painful Past : Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Tim Gruenewald – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Tim Gruenewald IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2021 – D: 30 M: 07 Type: profile Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780700632398 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780700632404 Titles: – TitleFull: Curating America's Painful Past : Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination Type: main |
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