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Taking Possession: The Politics of Memory in a St. Louis Town House

Taking Possession: The Politics of Memory in a St. Louis Town House Historic houses rank among the most ubiquitous type of museum in the United States, and they bear multiple responsibilities and expectations. Heidi Aronson Kolk explores the history of the Campbell House Museum (Chm) in St. Louis, Missouri. Kolk argues that the Campbell house is a palimpsest for St. Louis elites’ belief in a living downtown that reflects the positive heritage of the city. She contends that the property's historical experience represents an important touchstone in the city's collective memory. She traces the varied symbols of urban growth and the aspirations the house's supporters have placed on it during the last century. Over the course of her study, she examines the changing fortunes of a particular family and neighborhood, the institutionalization of a racialized landscape, and efforts to revitalize the central city core. For Chm stakeholders, the house has been a heritage prop that captures a sense of prior urban glory and represents a base for future visions. Kolk begins her study with an account of the 2012 burglary of the Campbell house. She uses this event as the platform to set the scene and launch her discussion of the house's historical experience. She discusses the family and its role in St. Louis history. She chronicles the drive to save and then restore the house and its material goods. She explores the meanings ascribed to it by those active in its preservation and identifies interpretative challenges the site has faced through the years. This engaging story provides a window onto the problems facing St. Louis and reveals the way that residents have used the house as a canvas to paint various visions of the past or sketch future opportunities. All house museums grapple with the following questions: How does one understand the house as part of a community rather than as a mausoleum? Is it possible to tell the history of both the house and its community? In what ways can the discussion of the site shift from viewing an individual family's life to understanding the site's life during a period in the life of the community? How does the house interact with the larger community? Is it embraced, and how is that demonstrated? How does a house serve as a memory site? These questions are central to the Campbell House Museum's story but, in Kolk's study, they are seen primarily as singular to the museum. Her story does not engage the larger context of house museums. Kolk suggests that “the Chm remains a largely self-contained and self-referential site” (p. 14). In many respects, that can also be said of her study. She makes reference to historic house literature and select notions of collective memory but never engages that literature contextually. Additionally, she provides little information about visitation, so her suggestion that the Chm projects the notion of home and holds a place of identity for residents of St. Louis is difficult to assess. Kolk's study offers a tantalizing glimpse into historical site creation but particularizes its meaning so that its contribution to the fields of memory or historic house museums is limited. © The Author 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Organization of American Historians. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of American History Oxford University Press

Taking Possession: The Politics of Memory in a St. Louis Town House

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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Organization of American Historians. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
ISSN
0021-8723
eISSN
1945-2314
DOI
10.1093/jahist/jaaa040
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Historic houses rank among the most ubiquitous type of museum in the United States, and they bear multiple responsibilities and expectations. Heidi Aronson Kolk explores the history of the Campbell House Museum (Chm) in St. Louis, Missouri. Kolk argues that the Campbell house is a palimpsest for St. Louis elites’ belief in a living downtown that reflects the positive heritage of the city. She contends that the property's historical experience represents an important touchstone in the city's collective memory. She traces the varied symbols of urban growth and the aspirations the house's supporters have placed on it during the last century. Over the course of her study, she examines the changing fortunes of a particular family and neighborhood, the institutionalization of a racialized landscape, and efforts to revitalize the central city core. For Chm stakeholders, the house has been a heritage prop that captures a sense of prior urban glory and represents a base for future visions. Kolk begins her study with an account of the 2012 burglary of the Campbell house. She uses this event as the platform to set the scene and launch her discussion of the house's historical experience. She discusses the family and its role in St. Louis history. She chronicles the drive to save and then restore the house and its material goods. She explores the meanings ascribed to it by those active in its preservation and identifies interpretative challenges the site has faced through the years. This engaging story provides a window onto the problems facing St. Louis and reveals the way that residents have used the house as a canvas to paint various visions of the past or sketch future opportunities. All house museums grapple with the following questions: How does one understand the house as part of a community rather than as a mausoleum? Is it possible to tell the history of both the house and its community? In what ways can the discussion of the site shift from viewing an individual family's life to understanding the site's life during a period in the life of the community? How does the house interact with the larger community? Is it embraced, and how is that demonstrated? How does a house serve as a memory site? These questions are central to the Campbell House Museum's story but, in Kolk's study, they are seen primarily as singular to the museum. Her story does not engage the larger context of house museums. Kolk suggests that “the Chm remains a largely self-contained and self-referential site” (p. 14). In many respects, that can also be said of her study. She makes reference to historic house literature and select notions of collective memory but never engages that literature contextually. Additionally, she provides little information about visitation, so her suggestion that the Chm projects the notion of home and holds a place of identity for residents of St. Louis is difficult to assess. Kolk's study offers a tantalizing glimpse into historical site creation but particularizes its meaning so that its contribution to the fields of memory or historic house museums is limited. © The Author 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Organization of American Historians. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)

Journal

The Journal of American HistoryOxford University Press

Published: Jun 1, 2020

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