COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Expanding Roles: Bringing Presidential Museums into the Modern Era
Creator:
Kushman, Emma
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"The mission statements of many presidential libraries and museums align to a core message of preserving and encouraging research on the documents and collections reflecting the visual cultures of former American presidents. The exhibits on display within these institutions have the monumental task of crafting not only an interpretation that allies of the president would approve of but also that aligns with what the public knew of the politician. The Nixon Library's long process of settling on a Watergate exhibit since its first interpretation in 1990 to the 2010 redesign, the shift to a narrative of slavery at Mount Vernon's Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington; the Obama Presidential Center's groundbreaking in 2021, with its focus on digital materials and private funding rather than collaboration with the National Archives; and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's reliance on visual memorialization through photography show the multifaceted ways in which presidential museums must tackle the narrative of an administration. Critical response to these institutions at times amounts to insinuating that they are not even required, but reform should always be encouraged. Presidential museums and libraries are at the intersection of research archives, art museums, and historical sites, all under the added pressure of interpreting a history that many people already feel they already understand." -- Abstract
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2022-03
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 47 pages, color illustrations, map)