Review: Curating America’s Painful Past: Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination, by Tim Gruenewald

Abstract

On a road trip taken during a move from Atlanta to Seattle in 2001, Tim Gruenewald was struck by the brutal differences in the preservation and commemoration of two historic sites—the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre and Mount Rushmore, both in South Dakota and involving the Lakota. In 2015, Gruenewald released the film Sacred Ground, which “explores the contrasting memories and mythologies about the American past” (xi) concerning these two sites. He continues this exploration of memory and mythology in Curating America’s Painful Past: Memory, Museums, and the National Imagination in what he refers to as a “sequel” to the film (xii). In his book, Gruenewald examines four museums located on the National Mall in Washington, DC: the National Museum of American History (NMAH), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). His analysis of these museums aims to address how they display and discuss difficult histories and how that serves the ideological rhetoric of the United States. As a filmmaker, he employs film mechanics such as narrative structure and mise-en-scène in his analysis, a fresh and creative perspective that until now has been absent from the literature. He makes this connection because museums and films are both audiovisual spaces. With this framework, Gruenewald discusses how the museums bypass critical interpretation of painful pasts in favor of US military glorification and nationalism, and calls for these museums to sincerely engage with the social justice issues created by the nation’s dark histories.The book is organized into one chapter per museum (of which there are four discussed) and a conclusion chapter. The first chapter details the National Museum of American History, as the NMAH acts as a template for the other three museums and is the only museum about American history overall. This chapter is heavy in description, which is necessary to paint a clear picture for a reader who may have never been to the museum. Additionally, there are a few black and white photos of the exhibitions throughout the chapter. Gruenewald provides some brief historical background to fill in the gaps of the events presented in the exhibits. Although the analysis of the exhibitions felt brief and many of the criticisms made were not particularly unique, Gruenewald clearly draws together his descriptions, observations, and critiques to make his ultimate point that the narrative structure(s) of the NMAH is crucial to their delivery of complicated yet pro-nationalist histories.Focused on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the second chapter continues to explore museum narrative structure, although in the context of a museum whose mission is to address a history that did not take place on US soil. This chapter details the author’s compelling concept of narrative spaces versus non-narrative memorial spaces in museums and their effects—a key component of his argument throughout the book. Building on his analysis of museums through a filmic lens, he makes a point about the importance of visualization and imagery at the USHMM, citing Elie Wiesel, who was consulted during the construction of the museum. Gruenewald claims that “visual and textual displays of graphic depictions of violence…must be part of that effort,” meaning, the effort of visitors’ attempts to understand traumatic events (99). This is a common stance, and not necessarily a wrong one, as imagery is a highly effective way to elicit emotion. However, Gruenewald fails to elaborate on his statement about the necessity of graphic imagery. He does not consider the discourse surrounding the harmful effects of those images on survivor and descendant communities, nor does he discuss the objectification of the bodies in those images. This applies not only to the Holocaust and USHMM but also the graphic imagery in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian as well.The following two chapters, on NMAAHC and NMAI respectively, discuss their adherence to and deviance from the narrative structure of NMAH and USHMM. While NMAAHC continues to follow a similar narrative structure as the previously addressed museums, NMAI departs from that structure as it attempts to tell Native American history through an Indigenous lens, as opposed to a standard museological one. Gruenewald’s assertion that the narrative structures of these museums is rooted in maintaining the rhetoric of the National Mall celebrating US militarization and nationalism while marginalizing histories such as slavery and genocide is clearly evidenced through his descriptions and observations of exhibitions in these museums. His call to action for both NMAAHC and NMAI is that they should more accurately tell their respective painful histories, especially as the narrative of the National Mall as whole continues to censor them. In chapters 3, 4, and 5, Gruenewald suggests how those museums could improve their presentation of those pasts and better promote social justice.Although his suggestions are valid and warrant consideration, they fail to consider the burden it puts on the communities affected by dark histories. In chapter 5, Gruenewald does acknowledge that “the moral imperative to remember injustice is on the entire nation” (199) and that it would be ideal for the National Mall to add a memorial to the victims of genocide and slavery so as to “lift the burden” from NMAAHC and NMAI. However, he offers no proposals that would lift the burden from BIPOC communities. His argument does not recognize the constraints faced by Black and Indigenous peoples in the museum sector. There is no mention that the curators at these museums may be unable to employ his suggestions due to racial and structural obstacles nor does he suggest how to deal with those obstacles.Overall, Gruenewald offers a new and insightful way to interpret museums and understand how US collective memory is shaped by the National Mall. His argument is thorough, and his writing follows a logical flow. He often reiterates his main arguments and directs the reader to previous lines of evidence and observations so they can easily follow along. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone in the museum field and is accessibly written so that people in other fields and the general public would enjoy it as well. Although his call to action is a bit of an oversimplification, the arguments he makes in the book are thought-provoking, and well-supported. The clarity of his writing style and the relevance of the book topic would make this a beneficial read.