A Place to Remember

Using History to Build Community

By (author) Robert R. Archibald

Publication date:

07 July 1999

Length of book:

200 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780761989424

Well-known public historian Robert Archibald's personal exploration of the intersections of history, memory, and community reveals how we participate in the making and sustaining of community as well as how we remember the community that shaped us. Writing in a rich literary narrative, Archibald blends local history, personal reminiscence, and an analysis of the changing meaning of community with a passionate call for more effective public history. A Place to Remember poetically illustrates how we are active participants in the past and the role and importance of history in contemporary life.

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 1 Facing the Past
Chapter 3 2 Remembrance
Chapter 4 3 Somewhere in Time
Chapter 5 4 Speaking with the Past
Chapter 6 5 Common Ground
Chapter 7 6 Values at the Core
Chapter 8 7 Intersections
Chapter 9 8 Friends and Colleagues
Chapter 10 9 Everybody's Business
Chapter 11 10 Facing the Future
Chapter 12 A Brief Booklist
Chapter 13 About the Author

Archibald thinks that the time has come when public history organizations will be asked to take more responsibility in facilitating methods of doing public business. The skills needed to achieve consensus must inevitably take into account those experiences in the collective past which further understanding. His book is worth reading and studying by museum staffs and historical society boards, and I would urge that they circulate a copy and discuss it.