To be able to learn from the past, we need to preserve it. But what happens when preservation keeps us from improving?
Most people are familiar with preservation, at least in basic form. If you live in a historic city or area, you are likely familiar with one or more buildings that have been designated a historical landmark.
Similarly, important historical figures often donate their papers and effects to a library. For instance, the Boston University’s Mugar Library has the papers, correspondence, and effects that belonged to noted author Isaac Asimov. They are preserved for historians to study.
Of course, preservation doesn’t have to be limited to famous people. You’ve probably thought about how you might preserve your own belongings. Perhaps you have a photo album, or keep postcards or letters you have received. Maybe you have a home safe or special location to store important documents. These might include the deed to a home, a wedding certificate, high school and/or college diploma, social security card, passport, and so on.
And yet, knowing what to keep and what to get rid of can be very difficult. Your email inbox, for instance, likely gets some important documents that you’d like to keep. Probably, it also gets flooded with unimportant messages of all kinds. Do you bother to sift through the contents to keep the wheat and eliminate the chaff? If not, is it because you don’t think it is worth your time?
Also, sometimes you have to tear down the old in order to build the new. Can we reconcile the need to save the past as well as make a better future?
Related questions: What possessions of yours will someone want when you die? What advice would you give your past self? Is life today better than in the past?
Historically, preservation is essential. It’s hard to learn from the past when historical records, artifacts, and some structures have been discarded or kept from public view. The era of Trump is giving us a firsthand picture of this. The president and many of his followers think that things like African-American history pay too much attention to slavery and lynchings. Instead, our history — including a variety of histories that challenge America’s celebration and myth —he believes, should be toned down or tuned out completely. To further this improper sanitization, states and localities are banning books and altering curricula. This purging of histories not only hides a fuller truth, but it also tells those who experienced this past or have ancestry who did that they don’t matter. Of course, keeping the past alive depends significantly on how you tell it. For instance, preserving celebratory statues of our Civil War’s southern generals fails to recognize that they were, in fact, traitors. Telling history this way perpetuates lies and, again, inappropriately, puts African-Americans “in their place.”
While I’ve focused on the tuning out of African-American history, the same obfuscation has and is happening with other histories (e.g, Native American, women, LGBTQ) that challenge America’s myth.
I was a professional photographer for the last 20 or so of my working years. I sometimes would think about how people are relying on digital for photography and what will they think when the digital files don’t exist or the format of the files can’t be looked at because they are too old and won’t work on their computer. I hope they had some prints made.