Why do we watch history programs? Why do we spend so much protecting and preserving historic buildings and landscapes? In short, why do we both have history at all? It’s in the past and gone. Why dwell on it? Yet we still do. We like LED lights that look like candles, we want a wonderful Vintage Style Sofa to sit as the centrepiece of our living room, we love a good period drama and there are entire TV channels devoted to history programmes. Should we not be looking forward to the future?
The answer is not as hard as it may seem. One historian, Davd Lowenthal, believed that he had the answer. We have absolutely no idea what the future may hold. There are plenty of sayings that show this to be true. “The future is unwritten” or “the future is a blank page” and “don’t read history, make it” being some of the most popular. This means that the future is also scary and unknowable. However, the past is known and it is comfortable.
Whether we are given the true or realistic version of that past is the subject of lots of debate, Dr Lowenthal being one of the many people to continue it. It also explains the massive rise in personal family history research and programs like “Who do you think you are?” Perhaps we just want to be sure we’re headed on the right path and making those ancestors proud of us.
