Since my September arrival in Chile, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights has become a common ground for my historical work, with handfuls of visits to its Center of Documentation for conversations and conferences, and the permanent exhibit. Although not a physical or recovered site connected to human rights violations, it sits squarely in the memory landscape of Chile, a barely-born institution that has made waves since its 2010 inauguration under then-President Michele Bachalet. Read More
We have an ever-growing body of scholarship about how and why historic sites are created, but a panel today focuses on what happens when they close. Chaired by NPS Ranger Chuck Arning of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and featuring panelists Barbara Franco (Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum), Bob Beatty (American Association for State & Local History), Sheila Kirshbaum, Tsongas Industry History Center), and Bruce Beesley (Indiana State Museum & Historic Sites), the panel will offer ideas and best practices for making the best out of bad times. Read More
In Chile between 1973 and 1990, according to the 2004 National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (The Valech Report), 1,132 sites were utilized as centers of detention, torture, and extermination. They ranged from hospitals and soccer stadiums to police precincts and private houses. Read More
What is the best way of conveying information to an audience? This question is a perennial favorite among academics, who regularly debate the efficacy of lectures as a teaching tool. It’s an increasingly common question in the museum setting too, as more museums embrace participatory projects and initiatives. Read More
Raúl Lazo liked to ride horses. Luis Gaete worked with his hands in the fields. Juan Leiva believed rural education was a right. José Castro had a red tractor. Juan Leonardo, president of the Association of the Relatives of the Disappeared and Executed Detainees of Paine (AFDD-Paine), explained on a sunny countryside morning that this was a principal point of Memorial Paine: to (re)humanize those community members who fell victim to Pinochet’s repression in the rural region for which the memorial is named. Read More
Horns honk, people push, patience is short; Santiago is teeming with activity, a modern metropolis in the throes of summer heat. But 45 minutes from the city’s center sits a quiet place of rest, respite, and reflection, filled with the pleasant sounds of birds in birch trees and the smell of roses and bougainvillea. Read More
Bike culture in Santiago de Chile has boomed in recent years, and today bicycles are veritable mainstays throughout the city. The reasons are many: an uptick in Chileans’ environmental consciousness, skyrocketing public transport prices and the slashing of services, and most importantly, according to the folks at Bicicultura, the cultural dissociation between bicycles and poverty. Read More
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Zachary McKiernan, a doctoral student in public history at the University of California/Santa Barbara and a regular reviewer for “Off the Wall,” is working on a series of “Letters from Chile,” based on his current dissertation research. Read More
The Smithsonian is, of course, not the only institution associated with the federal government that maintains an archive about its own history. The National Park Service, for example, has made a substantial investment in documenting the histories of its parks. Read More
The summer TV season is just around the corner, and I can’t wait. It’s a guilty pleasure that I don’t usually brag about to my academic colleagues, but I adore summer TV. Summer television, like beach reading, is supposed to be entertaining – romance and intrigue without the burden of a challenging plotline. Read More
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Since my September arrival in Chile, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights has become a common ground for my historical work, with handfuls of visits to its Center of Documentation for conversations and conferences, and the permanent exhibit. Although not a physical or recovered site connected to human rights violations, it sits squarely in the memory landscape of Chile, a barely-born institution that has made waves since its 2010 inauguration under then-President Michele Bachalet. Read More 
