“To Pity the Plumage, and Forget the Dying Bird” truly hit home for this humble social scientist. The images J.B. Jackson portrayed in this selection embodied the exact reason why I developed an unbridled fascination with History, Historic Preservation, and the sociology of these objects and events that connect people to their past.
Growing up, I would always be fascinated by an old building. It didn’t matter if it was a factory, library, home, or warehouse; I wanted to know everything about it. This especially rang true for buildings that in their design or stature alone, the adage ‘if these walls could talk’ would repeat endlessly. I have been lucky enough to experience quite a bit in my brief 24 years, including traveling to 27 states and three countries. I have resided in suburbia, one of the largest cities in the world, as well as one of the last remaining rural regions with untouched natural beauty. In each of these different locations, the character of the city or town could easily be observed in the landscapes that surround you. The natural beauty that exists in agricultural areas is indescribable, however the dilapidated Main St. haunts the town with an overwhelming presence of poverty and struggle.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the commercialism and endless development of a major city removes any natural beauty that may have existed before. In addition to natural landscapes, structures of historical or sentimental significance are overshadowed and dwarfed by the sky-scraping monuments to capitalism. In either sense, the appreciation for what was, or always had been, is overtaken by the infinite demand to obtain, construct, and progress.
All too often the localities that are the heart of this nation and its essential services are long forgotten in the rustic natural beauty that surrounds them. The wonderful thing about the cultural landscape, is that it provides an abridged history of the town or city and its people, that may have otherwise been forgotten.
I appreciate these reflections. I, too, have lived in big cities (Long Beach, CA; Washington, D.C.), sprawling cities (Boise), mid-sized cities (Fredericksburg, Virginia; Iowa City, Iowa; and Davis, California), and a small town (Grinnell, Iowa). When I moved from Long Beach to Grinnell, I was astonished by how different small towns in Iowa are from their cousins in California. They are much as Jackson describes–grain elevators, crumbling buildings, abandoned storefronts, some homes with cars on the front lawn. And there are so many of them, all very similar.