Records Of The Office Of Public Buildings And Public Parks Of The National Capital

The vision, controversy and political rivalries that shaped America’s capital are examined in this fascinating history of Washington, D.C. When America’s first congress declared that a national capital was to be built along the Potomac, President Washington was given complete control over its design and construction. Eager to establish a federal city worthy of a powerful and rapidly expanding empire, Washington recruited commissioners, surveyors, architects, and craftsmen. But there were many—including Thomas Jefferson—who opposed Washington’s vision for a grand American metropolis. In the fiercely partisan environment of the early republic, the construction, development, and oversight of the District of Colombia became a symbolic pawn in the contest between rival political groups. George Washington’s Washington traces the president’s original plan for the capital over the course of decades, through its formation, abandonment, and eventual revival in the Jacksonian era. It is not simply a history of the city during Washington’s life but a history of his vision for the national capital and of the local and national conflicts surrounding this vision’s acceptance and implementation.

American nationalism, patriotism and citizenship are proudly on display at historical sites across America—but they are also contested and reshaped by visitors and their engagement with those places. In Exhibiting Patriotism, Bergman analyzes exhibits, interpretive materials, and orientation films at major US sites, from Mt. Rushmore and to the USS Arizona Memorial, where controversy has erupted over the stories they tell about the past. She shows how historic narratives are the result of dynamic relationships between institutions and the public, and how these relationships are changing in an era when museums are becoming more visitor-centered, seeing visitors as partners in historical interpretation. Drawing on film theory, memory studies, visual communication, and visitor studies, Bergman offers an important analysis for scholars and professionals in American studies, museum studies, public history, and communication and media studies.