Privatizing Public Memory: The Price of Patriotic Philanthropy and the Post-9/11 Politics of Display

This essay examines the relationships between historical memory, representations of war and the private funding of exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institute. The Price of Freedom: Americans at War is the latest blockbuster exhibition at the National Museum of American History, Behring Center. A permanent exhibition on U.S. military history, The Price of Freedom interprets history through the traumatized lens of 9/11, while glorifying patriotic sacrifice to a benevolent imperial nation. Underwritten by an $80 million donation from Kenneth E. Behring, the exhibition raises questions about the influence of private donors on "public" museums charged with preserving national memory.

Like the Enola Gay controversy at the Smithsonian, The Price of Freedom has generated lively debate about the museum's historical methodology and curatorial practices. However, unlike the public campaign mounted by veteran's groups and conservative politicians to cancel that exhibition, this time criticism largely stems from internal concerns about The Price of Freedom's celebratory history, its treatment of the war in Iraq, and the delicate matter of donor control. This article explores the exhibition and its dissent from a perspective critical of "the post-9/11 politics of display," in which patriotic visions of history are promoted by evacuating the past of its potential to challenge—rather than justify—the politics of violence in the present.