An assessment of the constraints under which the producers of public history operate focusing on the debate surrounding the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Enola Gay 50th anniversary
Description
This is to be an assessment of the constraints that surrounded the Smithsonian Enola Gay 50th anniversary exhibit. The piece explained the competing historical and political interests and perspectives that transformed an exhibit on the end of World War II into the quintessential public history controversy. This is for a module on Public History so that needs to be referred to often.
The main point of the essay should show the inherent difficulties and constraints public historians and organisations(Smithsonian) face when trying to question, bring up debates about, or bring nuance to a publicly accepted narrative, such as the Hiroshima atomic bombing.
Other points you can use throughout the essay, to backup the main point, should include the backlash created by the exhibit from both from the public, historians and other associations i.e. veteran groups, defence of the exhibit, why it was made, what it tried to achieve and its aftermath etc etc.
Make sure to read and reference many of the essay historians produced about the exhibit should be helpful, though also make sure to do the same with those who opposed the exhibit.
