“The ‘historian’ adores the past,” British philosopher Michael Oakeshott once wrote, “but the world today has perhaps less place for those who love the past than ever before.” I have to wonder what Oakeshott, who wrote these words in 1958, would think about the world today? Is there even less room today for those who appreciate the past than there was 65 years ago?
It’s easy to think that at least in America, the answer is yes. We seem to have less respect for, and certainly less knowledge of, our own history than ever before. But for my own part, the answer isn’t completely clear, and that’s because there are some interesting paradoxes here.
We live in a time in which we are largely preoccupied with ourselves and our current lives—one look at social media makes that case. Yet both government and Americans themselves seem to have a greater interest in the way we preserve our history than we have in quite some time—from the way students are taught history to the items and sites from our past we choose to keep. This interest can partially be explained by the increasingly outsized influence of political battles on our society, but also partially by a renewed love for the past and for old things that tell us about where we came from.
Because of both politics and passion, the debate over what our history is has become particularly heated in the last decade. And so it’s a perfect time to reflect on why we preserve our history, which aspects we should and shouldn’t preserve, and how we should go about preserving it. The answers are far from clear-cut, but this lack of clarity creates an opportunity for robust discussion about the fundamental question of what American history is—and ought to be—about.
The Past Isn’t Really Past
While the term “historic preservation” typically refers to preserving buildings, monuments and sites from the past, it’s really much bigger than that. After all, what is “historic preservation” but the very preservation of our history itself—our stories, actions, customs and perspectives? It can stretch far beyond an appreciation of history into an appreciation of the aesthetic. We preserve certain buildings, monuments, art and even literature not just because they’re old or connected with important people or events, but because they are beautiful. And this can hold true for everything from paintings and sculptures to neon signs.