Commemorating 1776, Past and Present explores the many and diverse initiatives to commemorate the American Revolution in central New Jersey from the nineteenth century to the present day. This website grew out of “Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City,” an undergraduate course in American Studies, Architecture, History, and Urban Studies that studied the intersections of commemoration, heritage, urban redevelopment, and memory and a partnership with the New Jersey Historical Commission. Students were tasked with undertaking original research of a commemorative site, monument, or institution in the region in and around Princeton. Their work is presented here under the “Entries” section of this site.
This website and student research were generously supported by the Effron Center for the Study of America, the Program for Community Engaged Scholarship, and the Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities at Princeton University and the New Jersey Historical Commission.