{"id":51,"date":"2024-04-17T14:08:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T18:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/commemorating\/?page_id=51"},"modified":"2024-04-17T14:09:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T18:09:19","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/commemorating\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCommemoration is a mirror,\u201d writes historian Seth Bruggeman. \u201cReflected in portrayals of the past are glimpses of today\u2019s hopes, fears, insecurities, and grudges,\u201d he concludes.1<\/a><\/sup> In many ways, the work of Princeton University undergraduate students in the spring 2024 class, Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City, has been to hold this mirror up and examine the resulting reflection as the United States prepares for the Semiquincentennial\u2014or 250th anniversary\u2014of the beginning of the American Revolution in 2026. This website, “Commemorating 1776, Past and Present,” is the result of those critical examinations. With backgrounds in public and international affairs, electrical engineering, economics, and chemistry, students have spent the spring semester learning how commemorative practices intersect with social and political movements, urban redevelopment, and American history more broadly.<\/p>\n

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“Crossroads of the American Revolution” National Heritage Area map, detailing sites associated with the American Revolution in New Jersey, courtesy of the National Park Service.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the \u201cCrossroads of the Revolution,\u201d New Jersey is perhaps one of the best places to study how Americans hav<\/span>e chosen to commemorate the American Revolution. So named in reference to the pivotal role of New Jersey in the events of the Revolution, the \u201c<\/span>Crossroads of the Revolution<\/a>\u201d is the official name of New Jersey\u2019s only designated National Heritage Area (NHA) spanning 14 of the Garden State\u2019s counties. First created in 2006, the \u201cCrossroads of the Revolution\u201d NHA is itself a product of ongoing efforts to leverage heritage for economic and urban redevelopment. Managed by a nonprofit organization in partnership with public and private partners, the \u201cCrossroads of the Revolution\u201d NHA continues to connect public audiences with New Jersey\u2019s Revolutionary heritage. As 2026 approaches, New Jersey is well-positioned to play a larger role in the upcoming commemoration.<\/span><\/p>\n

The work of students in Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City captures how residents of the Garden State have approached the Revolution from the nineteenth century to the present day. To inform their research, students have visited heritage sites within and beyond New Jersey who are rethinking how Revolutionary-era stories are told as they prepare for 2026. With generous support from the Effron Center for the Study of America<\/a> and the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship<\/a> (ProCES), students have had opportunities to visit with and learn from interpretive and curatorial staff at Morven Museum & Garden<\/a> in Princeton; Independence Hall National Historical Park<\/a> in Philadelphia (figure 1); and the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum<\/a> in Skillman, New Jersey. In the classroom, students have learned how the process of commemoration is always one rooted in contemporary politics, and our course visits have excavated how our current social and political climate is informing efforts to commemorate the meaning and legacy of the American Revolution. Efforts to tell underrepresented and marginalized stories such as those of enslaved Africans, women, and grassroots social actors predominate at contemporary heritage sites\u2014a product of the shift towards diversity and inclusion in the field of public history<\/a> more broadly in the last decade. The work of students in Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City embraces this trend by capturing little-known stories of Garden State residents who have tapped into heritage and history to make meaning of their present moments. As 2026 fast approaches, this work will hold increasing significance as we hold the mirror of commemoration up to understand our hopes and fears for our nation\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

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Students in Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City pose with interpretive and curatorial staff of Independence Hall National Historical Park in Independence Hall\u2019s Assembly Room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Photo courtesy of Brian Whetstone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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  1. Seth C. Bruggeman, ed., Commemoration: The American Association for State and Local History Guide<\/em> (New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield), 9. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cCommemoration is a mirror,\u201d writes historian Seth Bruggeman. \u201cReflected in portrayals of the past are glimpses of today\u2019s hopes, fears, … <\/p>\n

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