Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This session examines public monuments, grand and modest, with a view towards understanding the cultural factors that shape their creation, maintenance, and removal. Why are some events and individuals commemorated and others forgotten or erased? What factors drive the erection of monuments and other forms of commemoration? How does the public interact with monuments? How do monuments reflect and shape our national mythology? This session aims to bring archaeological and cultural heritage perspectives to bear on a category of highly visible artifacts imbued with meaning and meant to convey information to future generations.

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  • Documents (11)

Documents
  • Artifacts of Glory and Pain: Evolving Cultural Narratives on Confederate Symbolism and Commemoration (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John Jameson.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Depending on one’s perspective, Confederate monuments and other forms of commemoration symbolize a grand “lost cause” heritage, a perplexed and paradoxical cultural inheritance, or symbols and agoras of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and hate. Most of them were not crated in isolation, but rather as political statements and consequences...

  • Forgetting and Remembering "Poverty Row": A Case Study of the Pullman National Monument (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Cassello.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. President Obama established the Pullman National Monument in 2015. Within months, private developers advanced plans to redevelop the site known historically as “Poverty Row” as the “Pullman Artspace Lofts.” This significant but often excluded site is associated with the difficult history of some of the poorest, mostly immigrant, workers...

  • The Fredericksburg Slave Auction Block: A Material Reminder of Race Relations in Virginia (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kerri S. Barile. D. Brad Hatch.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Cultural memories in Fredericksburg, Virginia, are numerous and pervasive. While some stories are rooted in recorded data, others are the product of changing tales over time—modified as they filter through the lens of cultural consciousness. Recognition of these traditions is imperative during urban archaeology. In 2018, Dovetail Cultural...

  • German Gravemarkers and Cultural Retention (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sadie S Dasovich.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Germans from the Palatinate region in Germany continually immigrated to various regions of the United States from the 1720s until 1910s. Particularly significant regions are Western Pensylvania, the Missouri River Valley in Central Missouri, and the Dakotas. By comparing gravestone symbology and inscriptions in these three regions, I was...

  • Making the Absent Present: Forgetting and Remembering the African American Past in Putnam County, Indiana (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lydia Wilson Marshall.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Exodus of African Americans from the U.S. South in the late 1870s and early 1880s encompassed the relocation of tens of thousands of people to a variety of Midwestern and western states. Hundreds of “Exoduster” migrants came to Indiana’s Putnam County following promises of available farm work, good wages, and the opportunity to...

  • Memorializing Defeat: Remembering Civil Wars in Finland and USA (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Timo Ylimaunu. Paul R. Mullins.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The consequence of the Civil Wars in Finland and USA differed from each other: the winning Finnish side, the Whites, organized violent revenge against the Reds, and almost 19,000 Reds died in POW camps or were executed immediately after the war. Until WWII, the Whites erected memorials representing their victory and ignoring the Red...

  • "No (repeat no) funds will be available to Traditions Committee:" A Case Study in Memorialization Logistics (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa Ziobro.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper examines the records of the Fort Monmouth, NJ Memorialization Committee from the 1940s through early 21st century to shine a light on the logistics behind memorialization: who/what gets memorialized, when, where, why, and how. The paper also considers what happens when memorials are abandoned. These thousands of pages provide a...

  • Refugees, Resettlement, Revealed History and Commemoration of the Tutelo Diaspora (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sherene Baugher.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The history of displaced people is rarely commemorated and often part of a “silenced” history. In the late 1600s, the Tutelo Indians were driven out of their homelands in Virginia by Europeans. Their diaspora involved moving to North Carolina, then to another part of Virginia, and to refugee settlements in Pennsylvania. In 1753, the...

  • Remembering a Painful Past: Fredericksburg's Slave Auction Block (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Laura Galke.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The town council of Fredericksburg, Virginia opted to remove its in situ slave auction block from its main street by an overwhelming majority this past June. The imposing stone block represented one of the most tangible relics of the slave era, where documented sales of people occurred. Across town, a monument to a problematic account of...

  • Standing for Sacred Spaces: NC Division of Cultural Resources and the African American Burial Ground Network Act (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa A Timo.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The NC Division of Cultural Resources has enacted a division-wide plan to recognize and embrace the state’s African American heritage resources and communities in a dynamic way. In particular, the Division is taking an active role to support the stewardship of NC’s African American burial grounds. This paper will detail how the North...

  • "That These Dead Shall Not Have Died in Vain," The Above-Ground Archaeology of New Jersey’s War Memorials (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Veit. Melissa Ziobro. Mark Cianciosi.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper examines New Jersey’s war memorials with a focus on understanding how and why some conflicts are commemorated and others are overlooked. Memorials commemorating conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf Wars are examined. Particular attention is paid to two factors that drive commemoration, periodicity, e.g. celebration...