Labor Heritage at the Homestead Waterfront

Author(s): Maura A Bainbridge

Year: 2016

Summary

This paper explores the memory of the Battle of Homestead at the Waterfront shopping center and other related sites throughout Pittsburgh. Through interviews, site visits, and guided tours, I compare the approaches to this memory by various involved groups, such as developers, artists and community organizations. My analysis employs an archaeology of supermodernity to consider the authorized heritage discourse surrounding the Battle of Homestead as it relates to sites of labor struggle in the United States. By contrasting the heritage products at the Waterfront and nearby, I conclude that narratives of industry and nation building dominate this discourse. Challenges to the authorized heritage discourse are only allowed to exist in remote locations, far from the heart of the Waterfront’s shopping section.

Cite this Record

Labor Heritage at the Homestead Waterfront. Maura A Bainbridge. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 435105)

Keywords

Temporal Keywords
1892-present

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 740