Redefining Historical Significance: Toward New Possibilities for Preservation at Madison’s Sugar Castle
Abstract
In this thesis, I claim that the National Register of Historic Place’s current criteria for
historical significance, which are models for most state- and city-level landmark designation
criteria, can limit understanding of the past. By constraining what historical significance means,
these criteria affect how official histories are written. As a result, official histories often do not align with the stories and values that local people attach to historic places. They ignore the
meanings associated with the land surrounding historic buildings and with personal experiences
that persist in memory. I argue that the national criteria must be amended to include cultural
landscapes and collective memory. These additional criteria for significance would let
preservationists choose from a wider range of stories about places like Garver in order to convey
more meaningful official histories and propose new, creative approaches to preservation.
Subject
Factory
Madison, Wisconsin
Historic landmarks
Sugar
Garver
Preservation
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/74971Description
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