ABSTRACT
Four key terms—early America, race, heritage tourism, and public memory—ground this collection and form the focus of this introduction. These central concepts are defined, unpacked, and contextualized for a wide, interdisciplinary audience. Additionally, recent research in critical heritage studies and current gaps in tourism studies are identified to establish the primary theoretical and methodological contributions of this collection: bringing the perspectives of diverse humanities scholars to deepen understanding of the cultural significance of heritage travel, particularly in relation to public remembering and forgetting at a range of early America sites.
