Week 6: The power of place

     The Power of Place:

     This week, we deal with the notion of memory in regards to location. This book, much like the 9/11 documentary that we watched last Thursday, examines memory with objects. Power of Place has more to do with buildings rather than smaller, personal objects, however. The writer, Doloras Hayden, tries to make the point that history for the public, specifically history found in urban centers, needs to be all-inclusive. She argues that there is a natural power vacuum where the wealthy get their history told while the impoverished minorities of these urban areas get historically overlooked. She believes that, "A socially inclusive urban landscape history can become the basis for new approaches to public history and urban preservation" (12).

Example of History being told exclusively about the lives of
white, wealth men as in AMC's Mad Men. Image courtesy of AMC

     She next deals with the idea of "place" and "space." She examines the work of French sociologist, Henri Lefebvre, and his notions that the production of space is the foundation for the inner workings of the political economy and that this space is defined by the first people who found themselves in that space and their need for sustenance (19-20).

     She brings up an interesting point when she looks at the work of urban planner Kevin Lynch. He believed that images from the people themselves create the portrait of the city, so when he designed new things for an urban area, he would ask the residence to give him directions or draw him maps of the city. Through the landmarks and places they told him about, Lynch would be able to know the essentials of the city. I tried this on my roommates and tried it myself, and the landmarks that you use for directions or to create a map actually do create the heart of your city. I challenge you to try it.

New York Housing circa early 1900s. Image courtesy of ECRP

     When discussing buildings to keep for historical purposes, she talks about the "typical New York tenement." She says that we don't need to focus exclusively on mansions and other fancy houses from the past, but to look into the common man's life. Such as the apartments that the sweat-shop worker or the immigrant would have lived in, or the Chinese laundry industry in the urbanized areas.

    Her point and purpose in the first section is to discuss the power that a building or an invented environment has on the memory of people. It is the purpose of public historians to access this sense of memory through physical objects as opposed to doing it through a verbal or social experience. She talks about how art has a unique way of bringing out this physical memory. It can serve as a reminder of where we have come from and where we are going as a society.

     Physical structures have meaning and purpose in history. It is difficult to know what is important when you are living the history, but it is crucial to preserve the things that we have from a past time so that we may see what past generations have experienced.