Why is Traffic at National Historical Sites Down


The number showing up to tour famous national historical sites is down, in some cases below levels back in the 1970's. While none of us knows for sure why this might be, it is fun to do some speculation.

The answer might be simply one about economics. Maybe people are working more hours and have less discretion in their time and budgets for diversions and vacations of all kinds.

Another goes into what story line is at the sites  and how that story is being accepted by contemporary society. Perhaps there is more cynicism about the our national narrative about how we  became a great nation. Was it about white male heroes of U. S. history or about killing natives and owning slaves?

It seems inevitable the same cultural change keeping young people from staying with their traditional church is also why people are less interested in the orthodox narrative of our history. They have been exposed to so much propaganda they are not interested in hearing more of it.

I went to an academic workshop near Boston several years ago which was about challenging the orthodox reading required of students in traditional history, literature and philosophy courses. The theme of the week was a challenge to "the classics" written by white men of European heritage. We read and discussed several black and female writers who were regularly not included in these reading assignments and considered why they were absent. Perhaps by now the "old" reading list is not used as much and the new used more. An entirely different narrative about history, literature and philosophy may be in place that reflects changes in society.

I'm not saying the decline in traffic at historical sites is a good thing, but it must be about something important.

Comments

  1. Ardy BJuly 6, 2019 at 8:03 AM

    Jon, below is a link to a New York Times opinion piece by David Brooks where he describes four American narratives; Libertarian, Globalized America, Multicultural America, and the America First narrative. This array of American narratives may shed some light on the fall in attendance at the traditional national historic sites. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/the-four-american-narratives.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenJuly 6, 2019 at 9:59 AM

    Good post, Ardy. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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