I think this work is difficult.
I think it can be scary and it's never comfortable
to look at some of the worst things in our past.
My feeling was always, you know, will UW really invest in this?
Is this something that we boldly want
to claim as ours to own, to do something about?
I was a little surprised by how much people loved it
because it's not
uncontroversial work.
I think is very difficult work.
This very first step of bringing awareness
to a lot of the things that we talk about in Sifting And Reckoning
is getting people to think of how they want to change campus.
Even though this is really just scratching the surface of thinking about the ways
campus should change or needs to change or has changed.
We looked at 175 years of history.
We were very intentional to not only look at racial and ethnic discrimination,
but also look at discrimination against LGBTQ folks, folks
with disabilities, religious discrimination, gender discrimination.
So it was a research challenge as much as it was a curation challenge.
Looking through old documents is fun to me, but
sometimes it’s not always fun, depending on what the subject matter is.
So it's okay to just stop and take a deep breath
and do something else until you feel called to do the work.
As long as our community finds it valuable and impactful
and can utilize it to make their lives materially
and emotionally better, then I feel like it is worth it in the end.
The Public History Project started as a temporary endeavor.
We started out as a four year project and our goal was was to do this
right, to do the exhibit and the digital website.
We created curricular materials, We had an event and lecture series.
But I'm excited that the Chancellor and the university has decided to continue
investing in the Public History Project and to really institutionalize
these histories.
And so we're excited that we'll be able to continue doing the work,
not only making the histories in Sifting And Reckoning more available across
campus, in courses and in events and in decision making on campus.
But we'll also be able to do more research to uncover new stories
and to really just keep expanding our understanding of UW—Madison's past.
The fact that people are talking through it and talking about it
and are finding it useful and helpful that makes
me feel proud.