how to explain to existing and potential donors and the public at large why it is so important for
all of us to know our history. Frequently I meet people through NJHS who say,
"Oh I love history." I think what they mean by that is they love it sort of as a hobby, for example, reading David McCullough's biography of John Adams or watching the HBO adaptation. That's fine, but the problem is that it is a personal interest, it doesn't speak to why history is important to all of us.
I have come to think of this as the "so what" question. All this historical knowledge is fine, but so what - why or how is it important. The stock answer, of course, is that knowing our history will help to us do better in the future, at the very least to avoid the mistakes of the past. The classic quote in support of this argument is from the philosopher George Santayana, "Those who remain ignorant of the past are condemned to repeat it," or something like that.
I used to believe that, but my experience as a member of the Vietnam generation makes me somewhat less confident. I remember watching a television show after that war was over (and after I had returned home from my army service there) that said that those who made the decisions to get heavy involved there were doing so based on the idea of "no more Munichs." This refers, of course, to the failed policy of appeasement followed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and other British politicians. But as this television show noted after Vietnam, the motto was "no more Vietnams." The point being that simply knowing what happened before World War II and then applying it as a blanket policy may not have been the best approach. If so how important is it not to be "ignorant of the past."
Earlier this week, I was looking at the web sites of some different historical societies as part of thinking about the future of NJHS. On the web site of the New York Historical Society, I found the following quote from David McCullough, "History is who we are and why we are the way we are." The second part, history is "why we are the way we are" makes a huge amount of sense to me as the reason why history is so important.
One aspect of American life where this is clearly true is the area of race. Having read and thought so much recently about 19th century American it is obvious that the racist view point was the majority viewpoint well into the last quarter of the 20th century. Some may believe that it still is, I don't think so, but more importantly for this post, is how obvious it should be to all of us that racial issues are still serious issues because of that history. It is "why we are the way we are." On a more local basis there is a connection to the "What's Going on Exhibit?" at the New Jersey Historical Society - an exhibit about the civil disorders, riots, etc. that took place in Newark in the summer of 1967. Having lived in Essex County since within a decade of those events, I think it is more than fair to say that those events have a lot to do with "why we are the way we are."
I think this explanation of why history is so important makes sense because it can help to answer the "so what" question. The key, to me, is that we need to know the past to understand why we are the way we are in order to decide how best to move forward. Understanding how the past has shaped the present should increase the probability (not certainty) of creating a better world in the future. Perhaps this is part of what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, "My fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.
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