What is Public Memory?

By Al Preston

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            When you hear the name Betsy Ross, what comes to mind? For me, I think about a little old lady in a rocking chair sewing the United States’ first flag all on her own, the flag cascading from her lap and covering the floor of the room she is in. I can imagine, for a lot of people, that’s the image they had as well. So, what? Isn’t that the truth? Since we all share such a similar memory, isn’t that the truth?

            Well, not necessarily.

            The image we all shared--or even if you have a different image that image is most certainly also shared--is a public memory. In actuality, Betsy Ross was commissioned by the Continental Congress to make the flag designed by one of their members, not Ross. Other than a receipt from the Continental Congress to Ross and her upholstery shop for making the flag, we don’t know that much about her. She wasn’t a grandmother when they hired her, and she certainly didn’t make the flag alone.

            So, how did we all get similar images? Public memory. In schools we were shown similar images, told similar stories to the point that we all have the same memory of Betsy Ross. Like all things, that story didn’t come out of nowhere. Ross’s grandson popularized the story we are all familiar with. He claimed that it was the story she would tell him, and he published pamphlets and books with that story.

            We have no way of confirming what he claimed, but we can gather context from other historical sources. However, Ross’s grandson spread his story so far that it has become ingrained into the American identity. Making this image of Ross a public memory.

            Why am I talking about this? Why does this matter?

            Public memory is something historians have to complete with when studying history or presenting it to the public. It’s how a society as a whole remembers a historic moment or period. It can be influenced by what the public is told by people in authority, public history installments like memorials, monuments, and museums, and the media like newspapers, books, and film.

            As much as we want the public memory of something to match what was actually happening, sadly, it very often does not. For example, the Vietnam war was full of propaganda that we are still fighting to untangle. US citizens thought US soldiers were monsters, killing innocent people and children. They campaigned to stop the war running ads with that message and belief. While false, the narrative really helped bring people out to protest the war.

            The reality, however, was that the soldiers were doing their best in the terrible conditions they were in. Many times, enemy soldiers disguised themselves as innocent civilians to get close to them. In others, innocents were used by the enemy as meat shields. That public perception of the war and the soldiers affected how the soldiers were treated when they came home. Many of them had memories of being spit on upon returning, which historians thought was also a public memory for some time.

            The reason we are able to deconstruct those memories now is because historical institutions have done a lot of work to untangle the memories we all share. As much as historical institutions can make public memories, they can also be instrumental in undoing them.

            There’s so much about the history of queerness in the US that has been shaped by public memory. Even the belief that queerness is something that appeared overnight with the Stonewall riots is a public memory that queer historians have been fighting against.

            Nothing in this world comes from nowhere. We don’t live in a vacuum. Even internet memes have a history that goes further back than one would expect. Nothing about the past, present, or future comes from nowhere. Cause and effect, chain reactions, everything we humans have, do, and make have and will be influenced by something else in the wider world.

            Even public memory itself has a reason forged in history. It can be easier to accomplish a collective action against a disliked war if everyone believes, in general, the same things about it. Creating a simpler, nation building story can be easier than explaining the complicated truth.

            We cannot know the full truth about history because of public memory, but we can come close. It takes a critical eye to sort through what is remembered and what happened. Everyone should think critically about what they’re told about historic events.

            As an institution of public history about queer history, we at The Holiday Pride will try out best to dispel public memories that exist about the queer community and their history, good and bad. The truth is often far more complicated than we would want. However! Don’t take our word alone! There’s a world of information out there and we cannot see all of it. You just have to be willing to be open minded and ready to be wrong and ready to learn.

            So, I—as always—welcome you to kindly and safely critic us. Sometimes the best conversations come from the best intentions.