Pennsylvania in Public Memory

“This is a fascinating book that will make a major original contribution to the overlapping fields of public history, deindustrialization, and tourism studies.” —Steven High, Concordia University, author of Industrial Sunset

“Pennsylvania is widely known for being at the center of the nation’s industrial rise, and upon its fall, factories once devoted to the production of goods turned to issuing memories. Carolyn Kitch opens readers' eyes to the profound, intriguing questions, conflicts, and implications raised by this move to heritage. Her account has insightful narratives of destinations such as Hershey's theme-park replica of a factory experience, a harrowing descent into a defunct coal mine, and Keystone State Park, which frames an industrial landscape as a recreational site. She provides a needed panorama of the messages and meanings with which communities, and the nation, wrestle in a postindustrial age.” —Simon J. Bronner, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, editor of the Encyclopedia of American Folklife