Born in the U.S.A.: Birth, Commemoration, and American Public Memory

Acknowledgments

P vii Acknowledgments Every edited collection relies for its success on the countless lifelines that buoy each of its contributors, and so I reserve these acknowledgments for those folks who helped our shared enterprise along. First thanks on that account go to Brian Horrigan of the Minnesota Historical Society whose session at the 2007 meeting of the National Council on Public History in Santa Fe got me thinking that a book about birthplaces might not be a bad idea. Next up, of course, are the contributors . I’m grateful to all of them for sharing their wisdom and enduring my constant fussing. In particular, I thank Kris Myers for managing an impossible deadline. Paul Lewis wrote a fantastic essay and helped offset production costs. Pat West and David Glassberg deserve special thanks too for lending their time and their considerable presence to this project. A number of people filled gaps along the way in my understanding of birthplace commemoration. At Temple University, Wilbert L. Jenkins helped me plumb the problem of Barak Obama’s birthplace controversy , and Travis Glason reminded me early on that people are born in Britain too. Devin Thomas, of Temple’s public history program, spent long hours on the phone surveying birthplace stewards about visitation numbers and funding sources. I want to thank the Alice Paul Institute’s Barbara Irvine too for keeping this project on track at the last minute, and for giving us an opportunity to recognize her important work. I count myself incredibly fortunate that Marla Miller, who edits the University of Massachusetts Press’s Public History in Perspective series, agreed that a birthplace book might be interesting and, better yet, worthy of her series. Her close reading and careful guidance makes us all seem a lot smarter. I am grateful too for support from the rest of the UMass team, including Clark Dougan, Kay Scheuer, Bruce Wilcox, and everyone else including our anonymous reviewers who have a hand in getting books made. The making of this one also benefited from a generous gift from Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts Research Council. viii P Acknowledgments It’s wholly a matter of happenstance that while writing about birthplaces , I’ve had cause to dwell on one in particular. My daughter, Juniata Gladys Bruggeman, was born just as this volume went to press. Although I’ve refrained from erecting a monument, I can’t help but think that this place will always hold special meanings for both of us. Born in the U.S.A. Actress Claire Luce, photographed by Bob Landry in 1945, stands beside a sign that directs tourists to the birthplace of William Shakespeare on Henley Street, Stratfordupon -Avon, Warwickshire, England. Photo courtesy of Getty Images. ...