Waubonsee Community College

History comes alive, public history and popular culture in the 1970s, M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

illustrations

index present

non fiction

History comes alive

bibliography

962304228

M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska

Studies in United States culture

public history and popular culture in the 1970s

During the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, millions of Americans engaged with the past in brand-new ways. They became absorbed by historical miniseries like Roots, visited museums with new exhibits that immersed them in the past, propelled works of historical fiction onto the bestseller list, and participated in living history events across the nation. While many of these activities were sparked by the Bicentennial, M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska shows that, in fact, they were symptomatic of a fundamental shift in Americans' relationship to history during the 1960s and 1970s. For the majority of the twentieth century, Americans thought of the past as foundational to, but separate from, the present, and they learned and thought about history in informational terms. But Rymsza-Pawlowska argues that the popular culture of the 1970s reflected an emerging desire to engage and enact the past on a more emotional level: to consider the feelings and motivations of historic individuals and, most importantly, to use this in reevaluating both the past and the present. This thought-provoking book charts the era's shifting feeling for history, and explores how it serves as a foundation for the experience and practice of history making today. --, Provided by publisher

Past as present : history on television from the 1950s to the 1970s -- The commemoration revolution : planning the federal bicentennial -- Preservation is people : saving and collecting as democratic practice -- The spaces of history : museums, interactivity, and immersion -- Cultural logics of reenactment : embodied engagement with the American past -- History comes alive : activism, identification, and the American archive