BEYOND THE BICENTENNIAL
Why do we have commemorations? If you're on
a Bicentennial planning committee, you may be asking yourself that! And you'll
be glad to know that historians are asking the same question - all over the
world. For a good answer, go to Robin McLachlan's tutorial on "Commemorations"
at Charles Sturt University, Australia, and browse his extensive public history
Also see how other towns and institutions have
worked to make their anniversaries meaningful and to preserve the historical
significance of the day for future generations.
| Here are two
history-orientated Bicentenial celebrations we helped celebrate last year:|
University of Georgia
Bicentennials can be the pretext (and catalyst)
for legislating major civic improvements, commissioning public monuments, and
creating communal works of art that display traditional skills for future generations.
Here are some Bicentennial-inspired public works you'll want to see on the WWW
and, if possible, in person:
- The State of Tennessee built a 19-acre
Bicentennial Mall State Park in downtown Nashville.
- For the 1997 bicentennial of the original Friendship,
a 3-masted Salem East Indiaman, the Salem Partnership built a faithful reconstruction.
The new Friendship, the largest wooden, Coast Guard certified, sailing
vessel to be built in New England in more than a century, is moored at the
NPS Salem Maritime National Historic Site.
- Lancaster - Fairfield County, Ohio celebrated its bicentennial in 2000 by
unveiling a statue
of William Tecumseh Sherman, the town's most famous citizen. Even more
ambitious was the revitalization
of downtown Lancaster and the grand opening of the Decorative
Arts Center of Ohio.
- Take a ride to the top of Erie, Pennsylvania's Bicentennial
Tower for breathtaking views of Presque Isle and Lake Erie.