Peter the Great Monument

On page 16- 17, Levinson discusses the "grandiose, $20 million, 150-foot nautical bronze statue of Peter the Great". Well here it is, and it is truly not well-liked by many Muscovites and was actually supposed to be a gift to the U.S. from a Russian artist of Christopher Columbus. Yet, the U.S. turned it down, so they unscrewed the head and screwed on a Peter the Great head. As the article said too the irony is that Peter the Great created St. Petersburg because he despised Moscow. So, the irony of a nautcal monument of Peter the Great placed in a virtually land-locked city that he hated is not lost on the residents, and actually is viewed as disrespectul to many of them. The power of a monument.

Written in Stone Analysis

Sanford Levinson approaches the topic of Public History from the point of view of national identity through monuments and other public spaces. This book has proven to be an extremely interesting read. Levinson discusses the central theme of how those with political power within any society choose to organize public space to convey specific messages. One of the truly interesting aspects of this book is that it does not just focus simply on political reasons, but also ideological factors such as the Confederate flag. Levinson covers a broad base of public spaces that are influenced by politics and the history surrounding them.
In the beginning, Levinson focuses on the controversies present in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is known as being a tumultuous region, and is an excellent place to start with this discussion. As Levinson notes, the Bolsheviks were well known for this action. They were also well known for erecting hundreds of monuments depicting Lenin and Stalin throughout the Soviet Union (as Levinson describes in his explanation of Prague’s statue to Lenin). The surprising part to me was when Levinson notes on page 14 that after the fall of communism, even some strong anti-communists were ambivalent to the destruction of these symbols of the Soviet Union.
Beginning with the severe transitions in Eastern Europe opens the door to a global perspective on the topic. The movement to the conversation of the South brings it all back home. I especially liked that Levinson admits that it is slightly a personal reason that he focused on that area on page 31. It makes him appear to be honest and more trustworthy. I appreciated that he took his argument globally and then brought it back home, because it shows how the issue over public space is universal.
Levinson also expands on his point by including other aspects of public space, such as street names. He opens the subject to incorporate some aspects of public space that some may not commonly think of. The weight of a street name is expressed throughout his book, and surprisingly it is more complex than one might think. The name of a street in Germany or in San Francisco faces the same difficulties in the process. It really makes one begin to look around even Tallahassee and wonder how streets got their names.
Levinson’s approach to writing is unique in that he doesn’t use chapters. His book is one continuous process, in essay format. In some instances this may seem tedious but Levinson makes it work successfully. Also, the usage of photos is important because it shows the way historical figures are depicted. Overall this book approaches the issue of public space effectively. I really liked the perspective he took on the subject and how he described the situation from a relatable situation, the South, and the global view.

Archive Stories

In this week’s readings in Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History, a collection of essays are presented in order to show how the past works in the present, how archives interact with state matters, and how sometimes archives can become a contact zone. Through research and studies of archives around the world from a wide selection of authors, Antoinette Burton brings together these issues. It quickly becomes clear the amount of issues that archives face; whether it be from outside sources such as government regimes or from simply how to incorporate a sensitive issue such as the Soweto uprising. One of the most interesting themes of this book is that it shows how history can change and how often times objectivity is lost in history due to outside pressures.

One clear example of outside pressure comes from the essay by Jeff Sahadeo called, “Without the Past There is no Future”: Archives, History, and Authority in Uzbekistan.” In the creation of a central archive after the fall of Soviet rule in the area, it shows the need to reconcile two different histories and how access can be denied and utilized. Therefore these archives clearly become a contact zone within the country. In a country that has been forced to constantly change not only its culture but its understanding of the past, it becomes obvious why a sign that reads, “without the past, there is no future” would be necessary in such a central archive.

Throughout this collection it is shown the importance of archives in national identity, in continuing and exploring history, and how controlled they can be down to even who has the right to look at their materials. This book is an important tool in understanding the significance of archives in today’s societies. The use of essays allows the reader to understand that this is a global topic and breaks up what could become a monotonous essay. Also the division of the book into three distinct sections allows Burton to arrange the essays she has included into her three arguments. This book was informative and well researched, as well it helped to broaden my own understanding of just how many trials archives face around the world.

One of the things that truly struck me, and I am not even sure the author intended this to be a point, but how divided a collection can become in the archive system. This became apparent in the essay on the Peal archives in New Zealand. Mr. Peal collated documents and resources pertaining to the Polynesian society in the late 1800s. Today his works are scattered throughout larger collections: the main Polynesian Society Collection, the library section, and the “further records” section. I guess I just never realized how a collection, largely donated, would become split between different areas. It seems to make the work of an archivist a little bit more difficult when one considers that even taking care of one collection can span several different areas and centers.

Historic Preservation by Diane Barthel

Historic Preservation can occur for several different reasons, motives, and results. The book Historic Preservation: Collective Memory and Historical Identity explores the differences in the preservation movements between the U.S. and Britain. It’s especially interesting to note the two different reasons for the beginning of the movement. In the U.S. it was driven by a patriotic motive, while in Britain it was motivated by intellectual and artistic means. Barthel begins by describing the two areas progression in historic preservation, and does so quite well. One of the main themes that Barthel attempts to explain and explore is that of authenticity, which according to our author runs quite a gamut of options. She also explores the cultural capital of a nation, the concept of Utopia in staged symbolic communities.
An interesting moment in the book is when she explains on page 57 that the German word for monument is Denkmal, which can be literally translated as “occasion for reflection”. This leads to an interesting line of thought. Monuments really are an occasion for reflection. Just think of the monuments that span our own campus. Do they make you reflect on the meaning?, on the artistry?, or something else? I know that some of them make me stop and wonder what occasion was seen as important enough to need or deserve a monument. On that same page she goes on to explain how industrial ruins have become denkmals. Within this chapter, Barthel does a good job at explaining the differences between historical artifacts. She does this through looking at industrial ruins and how they have been utilized in both countries.
Barthel also explains the preservation and usage of war ruins and remembrance. She discusses how the Civil War Battlefields have always attracted tourists and how this buzz helps to stimulate the nearby economies. She also discusses how the new social history has changed what is today considered an artifact. One of the best examples of this is the package of cookies from the Gulf War. Prior to the new social history movement, a package of cookies would have rarely been held as a museum piece. The British preservation of this war is quite similar as well, as she notes that they preserved plastic cups, etc.
This book is an interesting look at the movement of historic preservation and its uses to form a collective identity and a historical identity. Objects and how they are displayed and preserved can aid in how people view themselves. Barthel does a good job with this book, and writes from a modernist form. She compares Britain and the U.S.’s preservationist movements. The U.S. appears to take a more capitalistic approach while Britain tends to take a more elitist view. This book makes sense once it becomes clear that Diane Barthel is a sociologist. She looks at the collective movement of preservation and the meaning that it can span between nations. This book is a more technical read, but still a good one.