ABSTRACT
Collective memory work at arm’s length greatly enriches the possibilities in terms of assigning meaning to the past. It also presents us with some unique analytical challenges. Precisely because so much can be done by the intermediaries, focusing on “texts” alone may be a self-defeating strategy, especially when studying the works’ claims to truth and authenticity. The putting together of a book on municipal history, the use of original stills in films, or in mixed-media educational tools—these are all instances of memory intermediaries acquiring a priority role in the framing sequence. In a sense, writers of such guides are memory interpreters par excellence, as they synthesize and translate one culture’s memory into universal terms. A careful study of their efforts would be of more than passing interest to students of framing remembrance; what it is likely to reveal are different “ownership claims,” for one, as buildings are placed within the varying boundaries of cultural heritage.
