Historic Preservation & the Imagined West
Title | Historic Preservation & the Imagined West PDF eBook |
Author | Judy Mattivi Morley |
Publisher | |
Pages | 224 |
Release | 2006 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN |
She draws on extensive interviews, city council proceedings, and historic plats and photographs to construct a detailed picture of how these districts originally looked and were used, how they were renovated, and to what ends they were marketed."
Historic Preservation and the Imagined West
Title | Historic Preservation and the Imagined West PDF eBook |
Author | Judy Mattivi Morley |
Publisher | University Press of Kansas |
Pages | 215 |
Release | 2006-09-12 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0700617604 |
Stroll through Larimer Square in Denver or through Pioneer Square in Seattle and you feel that you're stepping into history while browsing the expensive boutiques and tourist shops. But are you? In this intriguing study of some of America's favorite places, Judy Morley takes a fresh look at adaptive reuse efforts in cities of the former frontier. Focusing on urban preservation resulting from the competing interests of architectural preservationists, city planners, chambers of commerce, and boosters, she shows how developers have often taken artistic license to refashion the western past into shopping centers and tourist traps-in ways that privilege an imagined "heritage" over a more complex history. Examining Old Town Albuquerque, Larimer Square and LoDo in Denver, and Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market in Seattle, Morley describes the creation and marketing of western heritage under the guise of historic preservation. She draws on extensive interviews, city council proceedings, and historic plats and photographs to construct a detailed picture of how these districts originally looked and were used, how they were renovated, and to what ends they were marketed. This is the first book to systematically address issues of historic preservation and western urban growth, examining the interplay of identity, preservation, and tourism. It identifies the economic, political, and social issues that transformed each historic district into a place that resonated with the popular imagination. Along the way, Morley exposes the ironies that have attracted criticism to historic districts, such as Old Town Albuquerque's celebration of Hispanic heritage-even though Hispanic residents were displaced during the renovation-or Larimer Square's hiding of its actual skid-row past beneath a veneer of more tourist-friendly history. But while critics charge that historic preservation often celebrates a sanitized past, Morley suggests that these locales offer both residents and visitors a window on a shared romantic history and a sense of belonging, serving as vital locations for community festivals, holiday events, and even public gatherings in times of tragedy. Historic Preservation and the Imagined West argues that, although these districts did not so much preserve history as create mythic identities for their cities, they have in their way reconciled the past with the needs of the future.
The Imagined Frontier
Title | The Imagined Frontier PDF eBook |
Author | Joshua K. Bodenweiser |
Publisher | |
Pages | |
Release | 2009 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
ABSTRACT: In the minds of many Americans there exists a romance with the Western frontier. When one thinks of The "West," images of cowboys and Indians, small towns with false fronts on buildings, or pioneers settling the wild frontier come to mind. Much of this is attributed to the influence of film and television on developing the American psyche in regards to history. The Western stories presented by visual media greatly impact how the early days of settlement in the West is interpreted. This paper examines how several sites in the American Old West have traditionally been interpreted and preserved and explores how sites of this era can use media as a means to interpret or re-interpret their history, increase the awareness of historic preservation issues, and serve as an educational tool for the public in the preservation of other historic sites. Employing mixed methods, the research for this study involved the exploration of myth and realism as written about by various authors, and careful examination of written histories concerning the Alamo in San Antonio, TX, Dodge City, KS, and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Hardin, MT. Research also included personal visitation to said sites with video documented interviews of curators and employees as well as the viewing and critique of numerous films and television programs on the subject. The research here illustrates the issues and challenges these three sites face in their interpretation and preservation of the various histories of events.
Giving Preservation a History
Title | Giving Preservation a History PDF eBook |
Author | Max Page |
Publisher | Psychology Press |
Pages | 356 |
Release | 2004 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN | 9780415934435 |
Table of contents
Preserving Western History
Title | Preserving Western History PDF eBook |
Author | Andrew Gulliford |
Publisher | UNM Press |
Pages | 428 |
Release | 2005 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780826333100 |
The first collection of essays on public history in the American West.
Domesticating History
Title | Domesticating History PDF eBook |
Author | Patricia West |
Publisher | Smithsonian Institution |
Pages | 313 |
Release | 2013-09-03 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 1588344258 |
Celebrating the lives of famous men and women, historic house museums showcase restored rooms and period furnishings, and portray in detail their former occupants' daily lives. But behind the gilded molding and curtain brocade lie the largely unknown, politically charged stories of how the homes were first established as museums. Focusing on George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and the Booker T. Washington National Monument, Patricia West shows how historic houses reflect less the lives and times of their famous inhabitants than the political pressures of the eras during which they were transformed into museums.
Histories of an Imagined West
Title | Histories of an Imagined West PDF eBook |
Author | Luis R. Rodriguez |
Publisher | |
Pages | 254 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | |
ISBN |