CURATED GROUND: PUBLIC HISTORY, MILITARY MEMORY, AND SHARED AUTHORITY AT BATTLE SITES IN NORTH AMERICA

Abstract

This thesis is a synthesis of two separate research projects conducted in the summer of 2018 and the spring of 2020. The first project was conducted in conjunction with the Fort Ticonderoga Association as a means of exploring the memory and legacy of a historic military landmark in written history, interpretation, and public memory. The second project was conducted in conjunction with the National Park Service (NPS) and the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Instead of focusing on a single site, this second study looked at a collection of federal, state, local, and private battlefields in order to catalog the administrative histories, the boundary expansions, and the preservation priorities that have occurred both at the individual sites as well as collectively over time. The scope of the NEH grant was meant to evaluate the role that the NPS, ABPP, and the Department of the Interior have played in developing and refining preservation standards used by federal and non-federal sites. This thesis integrates the two studies in order to examine the correlation between public memory and battle sites in North America.