The Weaponization of Details When Emulating the Past

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 This week in the archives my group spent much of our time together writing out the labels that will accompany our selections in the case. This was no easy task, as we quickly realized that we had limited space to write everything that we wanted to include in the cases. In the main description of our case there is a very limited number of words that we can use, so we spent a long time cutting sections and deciding what was most important to include for our audience. When writing this main description, I realized how important the framing of information was for displaying Kenyon's impact on the world. Some of the artifacts that we chose don't directly relate to Kenyon's campus, but they are still a piece of Kenyon's history, so when writing out the information it was difficult to teach our audience how they connect back to this campus. Through this writing, I realized that it would be very easy for us to over exaggerate Kenyon's involvement in some of these artifacts. I also realized how important details are in these write ups. When making the more specific captions, we noticed how much the inclusion or exclusion of details can change the focus and origins of the objects. Overall, the text labels taught me an important lesson in the framing of information for an audience.

In class this week we've been focusing on similar ideas in Robyn Autry's book, The Struggle for the People's King, about how different groups choose to focus on very specific aspects of Dr. King's legacy and teachings to align with their ideals. Autry opens the second chapter of her book by discussing how making a national holiday in King's memory "solidified the idea that the civil rights movement was a collective American accomplishment" (Autry 36). This means that most people in America feel that King's ideas related to them regardless of their political ideas and stances because King created national change. This then translated into many different groups using King's image and values for their own causes, even when he didn't necessarily align with those causes. They were able to do this by pulling at certain details of his identity, but ignoring his image as a whole. Autry discusses how this can become an issue, as all of these groups can tangle the collective memory of King, and writes, "Weaponized by those in power, revisionist memories take hold" (Autry 72). This demonstrates the fact that many groups can change the meaning of King's power to make their own memories of him for their specific audience.

Together, Autry's writing and our time in the archives this week point towards the power of details in the media and marketing of group ideas. When we write about each artifact, we have the power to convey certain aspects of their importance while leaving out others, just as Autry suggests these groups do. I've learned this week that it's increasingly important to represent the artifacts in our case with as much clarity as possible. If we leave certain aspects of our objects out, some people and even Kenyon itself may seem more influencial than they really are. On the other hand, Kenyon may seem less important for other objects if we don't make sure to frame them appropriately for our audience. Therefore, it is crucial to listening to Autry's writing so that we don't misrepresent our objects and Kenyon's past.


Autry, Robyn. 2023. The Struggle for the People's King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

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