Beyond Battlefields: Incorporating Social Contexts into Military Sites

Summary

Although it has been more than a century since the US Civil War was fought, battles regarding interpretation and the public memory of the conflict continue to rage. Hundreds of sites along the eastern seaboard are consecrated to this period, with many preservationists and other historical organizations dedicated to sterile interpretations of these battlefields. These interpretations fail to capture social contexts of the site, as well as the development of the landscape since the Civil War. The case study of Fort Stevens serves to illustrate the inadequacies of stagnant interpretation, and how larger social histories can be integrated into existing literature. This paper examines how social histories, including those of marginalized peoples, can be incorporated into interpretive materials with additional research beyond the battlefield. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• CONSTRUCTING THE PAST: An examination of manipulated historical landscapes at historic sites.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 597