Date of Award
1-26-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Heritage Studies, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Brady Banta
Committee Members
Deborah Chappel-Traylor; Joseph Key
Call Number
LD251.A566d 2016 P67
Abstract
Public understanding of the Civil War is a product of various sources that sometimes offer competing interpretations of the conflict and its meaning. Among these sources are Civil War sites that can offer connections to the past through the tangible element of place. Questions arise regarding the nature of the interpretation offered and the mechanisms historic sites use to relate their narrative to the public. Porter examines the issue through a study of six Civil War-related sites in Arkansas, assessing the scope and presentation of each site’s story. The initial part of the study examines the nature of historic memory and the origins of the conciliatory view of the war common in the early era of commemoration and memorialization. Porter then provides six case studies of Civil War interpretation in Arkansas, exploring the nature of the story related to the public and the means by which that narrative is conveyed. This includes an examination of special interpretive mechanisms utilized at the various sites during the Civil War sesquicentennial. The sites include the Pea Ridge National Military Park, the Prairie Grove State Battlefield Park, the Arkansas Post National Memorial, the Delta Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, and the Historic Washington State Park. The final portion of the study offers an evaluation of the nature of interpretation across the various sites.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Porter, Walter Wright, "Place, Memory, and the Civil War: Historic Memory and the Mechanisms of Interpretation at Civil War Sites in Arkansas" (2017). Student Theses and Dissertations. 608.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/608
