Independence Hall in American Memory

Abstract

Independence Hall in American Memory. By Charlene Mires. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002. Pp. xviii, 352. Cloth, $34.95.)During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, elite Philadelphians transformed the appearance and symbolic function of Independence Hall. Stripping away or deemphasizing the accoutrements associated with city council chamber meetings, federal courtroom proceedings, and the centennial celebrations of 1876, they presented a sanitized version of their most famous building. They also replaced nearby offices with arcades and wings reminiscent of eighteenth-century buildings. When Independence Hall reopened on July 4, 1898, it now served the public as a venerable historic site rather than a locus for contentious civic engagement.And yet Independence Hall could not escape cleanly into the comfortable fortress of history. Before renovations were finished, some construction workers apparently deposited inside one of the arcades a single fruit jar holding a firsthand description of laborers' working conditions and the advent of the Spanish-American War. Despite elite planners' efforts to separate past and present, the crafty bricklayers made clear that at Independence Hall would be continually made as well as preserved. Embedded within the very structure of the arcades was unmistakable evidence that historic buildings reflected not only selected tales of bygone years, but the multifaceted concerns of ongoing generations.Vignettes like this one go to the heart of Charlene Mires's provocative new book, Independence Hall in American Memory. In this recent contribution to the wave of studies devoted to popular historical memory, the author convincingly argues that the significance of Independence Hall lies not only in the history of the nation's founding, but in the ways that Americans have remembered that at its place of origin (viii). More specifically, the of Independence Hall reveals a complicated series of struggles over the very definition of American national identity.One of the strengths of Mires's work is the creativity and depth of her research. Because the book covers the entire career of Independence Hall-from its colonial origins as a monument of British imperial power to its current status as a sacred icon of American public memory-a wide net needed to be cast for evidence. Mires ably handles such a net, effectively employing newspapers, state and city legislative journals, court records, novels, promotional pamphlets, town histories, graphic images and maps, Fourth of July proceedings, diaries, architectural blueprints, television and radio transcripts, presidential speeches, and United Nations reports. In fact, it is a testament to the author's extensive research that the aforementioned tale about the bricklayers' fruit jar appears only in a footnote (309). Having done the legwork necessary to get a handle on the complex of Independence Hall, the author is afforded the chance to present her readers a wealth of interesting examples. And interesting examples Mires certainly provides. Readers of this book learn not only about mythical details like Benjamin Franklin's comments regarding the rising sun chair, but about less familiar elements like Jewish-American Frank Etting's post-Civil War attempts to turn Independence Hall into a national museum and novelist Shiba Shiro's appropriation of Independence Hall as an emblem of Japanese might.Another strong point of this work is the treatment of the Liberty Bell, which, curiously enough, is not mentioned in the title. According to Mires, the Liberty Bell first assumed prominence in the middle of the nineteenth century, when abolitionists began linking it to the cause of African-American freedom. However, unlike those who manipulated the symbolic ideals associated with Independence Hall, promulgators of the Liberty Bell felt free to disassociate it from its original Philadelphia environs. …