ABSTRACT
Mrs. Dahl is planning a unit on World War II for her 10th grade U.S. history classes. She recently visited Washington, DC and was moved by the National World War II Memorial that was constructed in 2004. She contemplates how she might have her students analyze the memorial as part of their study of the war. In her refl ection she realizes that a memorial is an unusual type of artifact, and not only because of its enormous size. Most artifacts are not created to be a source of historical information for future generations. They are often intentionally discarded, such as a fl awed brick or broken piece of pottery thrown into a garbage dump; are lost by accident, such as a coin or an arrowhead; or abandoned for various reasons, such as the ruins of an ancient village. Their use as historical evidence was not intended in their production or placement. A memorial, on the other hand, is built for the express purpose of helping future generations remember a historical character, event, or accomplishment. Memorials are artifacts that are produced as historical sources to help future generations remember or learn about the past. As such, they, like written or musical tributes to past events, are a source for learning not only about the event they celebrate, but about the people who produced them.
