A statue, a building, a much beloved children's illustration are objects and evidence-snapshots of a place in time and who we were and what we believed in in that place in time; as such they are part of a bigger story, they are not the story and, in and of themselves, they are not History. History is not the objects & events, but the interpretation, narrative and knowledge that grows out of the objects used and left behind by those who came before us. Our understanding and interpretation of the past is limited to the objects and facts known to us and changes every time we learn something new. People no longer believe the world is flat, tomatoes are poisonous, and that T Rex ran upright. In a changing world it is comforting to believe that there is no need to rethink the history we learned in school. But that history, that narrative, is a snapshot of the standards, beliefs and limited knowledge of the time in which it was written and does not necessarily reflect the beliefs and knowledge we hold today. Just as we are not the same people we were in those snapshots of us at age 8, or age 20. Changing how we define ourselves in the present, and how we want the future to view and judge us, by changing the icons erected in our public spaces or using an authors updated illustration rather one that references outdated stereotypes is not erasing, whitewashing or rewriting history. It is the result of the intellectual growth and deeper understanding that comes with the acquisition of knowledge. [It is] a commitment to be better, smarter and kinder than we were in the past and to have that reflected in the monuments standing in the communities in which we live and the stories by which we, as Nation, choose to define ourselves.
Curator of the New Britain Industrial Museum
