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Commemoration reveals the present
Every era thinks it's central
Mortal people tend to think the period of time in which they live is the most distinctive, the most important, the one that will be absolutely critical. That is not necessarily the case. Fifty years from now, historians will look back at the 250th anniversary and talk about what these people thought and how wrong they were about some of it.
Commemoration as mirror
They will have their own issues too. When a country gets into the commemoration business, the commemoration is not about what happened in the past. It is about what it says about the people commemorating.
Looking from 2076
The moment of the 250th may look like one more wrinkle in history. The historians of 2076 may say things were a bit fractured then, and look at where the country is now.
How did 1876 celebrate the centennial?
The Centennial Exposition ran in Philadelphia from May to November 1876. Exposition records put attendance at about ten million visitors. Exhibits included the giant Corliss steam engine, which powered the machinery in the main hall. Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his telephone there that summer, and Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil listened to it.
Why was the 1926 anniversary fair a disappointment?
The Sesquicentennial Exposition ran in South Philadelphia in 1926 and drew fewer visitors than organizers had hoped, partly because of rain and unfinished buildings. Newspapers and critics of the time called it a failure. The fair's stadium did host one major event. Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey there for the heavyweight title on September 23, 1926.
Why do historians study how nations remember?
French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs argued in the 1920s that memory is shaped by the groups people belong to. Historian Pierre Nora, beginning in the 1980s, edited a multivolume study of French sites of memory. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger argued in The Invention of Tradition that many practices presented as ancient were created recently. Their book appeared in 1983.
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