"That These Dead Shall Not Have Died in Vain," The Above-Ground Archaeology of New Jersey’s War Memorials

Summary

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 of significant anniversaries: 50, 100, and 200 years after the conflict, and participant life- course, with many memorials constructed as veterans become elderly and begin to pass away in significant numbers. Other social and cultural factors that influence the erection of monuments, e.g. economics, class, race, and immigration are also explored. Through commemoration some conflicts, which contribute to historically created national narratives, are highlighted and other conflicts are silenced and even erased.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 332