ABSTRACT
In 1976, the Eakins Press Foundation published The American Monument, an oversize volume featuring 213 photographs taken by Lee Friedlander of the commemorative landscape of the United States: the memorials, statues, and shrines occupying America’s parks, squares, cemeteries, and public spaces. While many of Friedlander’s images of Pilgrim mothers, town fathers, Sons of Liberty, U.S. presidents, Civil War heroes, and volunteer fireman were sly and even humorous – with some of his shots of lonely statues and cluttered urban landscapes revealing the neglect of posterity, the litter of modernity – The American Monument largely reflected the faith that Americans place in material culture to mediate their histories and memories. Memorials ‘embody the idea of excellences worthy of permanence,’ the book’s editor concluded, adding: ‘Monuments are metaphors for human values, persistent values that survive despite notice or neglect, unaccounted for by computers, cynicism, or professions of piety.’ 1
