For your first significant assignment / blog post, I would like you to share your summer “field trip” with your classmates, and consider your experience in connection with historical memory, American ideals, and American identity. The guidelines for this assignment are as follows:
- In total, your post should be approximately 350-400 words.
- Include a photograph of you at the site you visited and others if desired.
- Briefly (3-4 sentences) describe the site that you visited.
- In addition to the background info above, your entry should consider the following questions (use 8-12 sentences to answer them):
- What was / is the intended narrative of the place you visited? Or, what historical memory does it convey?
- How might the intended narrative of the place you visited influence the memory of the historical event, person, movement, etc. being depicted?
- In what ways does your site represent American identity, intentionally or not, and what does it have to say about it? Consider class, culture, economics, ethnicity, gender, geography, history, politics, race, religion, and values.
- On the topic of values, which ones were present at your site and in what ways?
- Over the course of your entry, raise two questions sparked by something encountered at your site.
As you address the above questions use our class discussions on memory, ideals, and identity to help you formulate your thoughts. Also, be sure to cite any sources that you use beyond the site itself. You are free to choose how you organize your entry, as you will be graded on how well you reflect on the questions and how well you support your assertions with examples. Note that the only summary in your entry should be in those first 3-4 sentences.
For examples, check out any of these three blog entries from my summer 2017 travels: Lillie’s Victorian Establishment, New England Air Museum, NYC Vietnam Memorial, or Zucotti Park.
Here is a link to the assignment RUBRIC.
LC Public History Blog 
British Tea Party Museum
By: David Paluch
Thursday, 14,2017
This past summer I was fortunate enough to visit one of many America’s great historical sites, the “Boston Tea Party Ships & Museums.” The historical event happened in Boston, Massachusetts along the Boston Harbor. This historical site exists to commemorate the brave colonists who dumped 342 chests of British tea into the water as a rebellious act towards Britain. For over 200 years, the” Boston Tea Party” museum has educated millions of about the event on December 16,1773, which ignited a fire on the fight for American independence.
After visiting the “ Boston Tea Party Ships& Museums,” I felt the main purpose was to educate and re live a key moment in Americas fight for independence. In my opinion, the intended narrative of the museum is honoring those American colonists who not only participated in the dumping of the tea, but who fought for separation from Britain. However, I do feel the intended narrative does slightly miss portray the fight for a free country as the site leaves out the struggles Americans went through in order to achieve independence. The museum has many displays from the historical event. The displays of different journal’s and artifacts allow you to foresee the culture, politics, and architecture in the 1700’s. The “Boston Tea Party” is a great representation of America’s true identity. The historical site shows how American’s are not willing to back down from anything despite them being the underdogs in the movement. American’s were angry and aware that Britain was using their tax money to re pay their war debts. Politics at the time revolved around British representatives therefore American colonists had to take stand and revolt against the mother country. The American value I felt that was present is unity. A main theme throughout the museum was the coming together of Americans to fight against the mother country and achieve complete independence. Another value within the historical memory was freedom. The colonists felt like lower class citizens trapped in scope of British authority and laws. The rebellious act of the colonists on that day displays one of many efforts for American freedom. I had two questions after I visited the site. First, who orchestrated the revolt against Britain? Second, what was the after math of the dumping of British tea?
To summarize, I felt my site represented American unity as the events following the tea party were ignited because of this act of courageousness. Moreover, this historic event sends a message of American pride and strength in numbers. The “Boston Tea Party” museum commemorates the movements from the Americans’ to push for total independence.
Cite Used: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-tea-party
Picutre of the Boston Tea Party Ship:
/Users/DavidPaluch/Pictures/bostone tea aprty.png
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