Independence Hall in American memory / Charlene Mires ; with a new preface by the author.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mires, Charlene

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Independence Hall (Philadelphia, Pa.)--History.

Independence Hall (Philadelphia, Pa.).

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Buildings, structures, etc.

Philadelphia (Pa.).

Philadelphia (Pa.)--History.

Memory--Social aspects--United States.

Memory.

Public history--United States.

Public history.

Historic sites--Social aspects--United States.

Historic sites.

National characteristics, American.

Buildings.

Historic sites--Social aspects.

Memory--Social aspects.

Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

United States.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 350 pages) : illustrations, map.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2026]

Summary:

"A chronicle of the lost history of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, reissued on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, with a new preface updating the constantly evolving public perception of Independence HallIndependence Hall is a place Americans think they know well. Within its walls the Continental Congress declared independence in 1776, and in 1787 the Founding Fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution there. Painstakingly restored to evoke these momentous events, the building appears to have passed through time unscathed, from the heady days of the American Revolution to today. But Independence Hall is more than a symbol of the young nation. Beyond this, according to Charlene Mires, it has a long and varied history of changing uses in an urban environment, almost all of which have been forgotten.During its existence, Independence Hall has functioned as a civic and cultural center, a political arena and courtroom, and a magnet for public celebrations and demonstrations. Artists such as Thomas Sully frequented Independence Square when Philadelphia served as the nation's capital during the 1790s, and portraitist Charles Willson Peale merged the arts, sciences, and public interest when he transformed a portion of the hall into a center for natural science in 1802.In the 1850s, hearings for accused fugitive slaves who faced the loss of freedom were held, ironically, in this famous birthplace of American independence. Over the years Philadelphians have used the old state house and its public square in a multitude of ways that have transformed it into an arena of conflict: labor grievances have echoed regularly in Independence Square since the 1830s, while civil rights protesters exercised their right to free speech in the turbulent 1960s. As much as the Founding Fathers, these people and events illuminate the building's significance as a cultural symbol.In Independence Hall, Mires rediscovers and chronicles the lost history of Independence Hall, in the process exploring the shifting perceptions of this most important building in America's popular imagination. According to Mires, the significance of Independence Hall cannot be fully appreciated without assessing the full range of political, cultural, and social history that has swirled about it for nearly three centuries. This timely reissue of the book features a new preface that brings the story up to the present, including the creation of the President's House site, and updates the constantly evolving public perception of Independence Hall"-- De Gruyter Brill.

Contents:

Landmark : a British home for the American Revolution

Workshop : building a nation

Relic : survival in the city

Shrine : slavery, nativism, and the forgotten history of the nineteenth century

Legacy : staking claims to the past through preservation

Place and symbol : the Liberty Bell ascendant

Treasure : eighteenth-century building, twentieth-century city

Anchor : a secure past for Cold War America

Prism : redefining independence for a third century

Memory : the truths we hold to be self-evident.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-327) and index.

Print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Mires, Charlene. Independence Hall in American memory.

ISBN:

9781512829228

1512829226

OCLC:

1564162114

Publisher Number:

CIPO000327590

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license