The
dramatic
shift
of
presentation
between
the
Progressive
era
and
the
1990s
matches
the
historian
Michael
Kammen
has
projected
for
the
role
of
tradition
in
American
culture
.
Since
1870
,
has
out
,
the
most
significant
role
the
deliberate
Americanization
of
folk
heritage
through
collected
and
presented
narrative
,
speech
,
and
song
.
Broadly
speaking
,
what
followed
was
an
imperfect
democratization
in
regions
and
occupations
,
and
later
pluralization
in
groupings
of
ethnicity
,
race
,
gender
,
age
,
sexuality
,
appearance
,
and
class
,
to
name
some
in
the
ever
-
growing
list
.
Kammen
also
noted
the
influence
of
tourism
on
later
uses
of
tradition
,
and
Pennsylvania
,
with
its
whopping
fifty
-
one
separate
tourist
agencies
,
certainly
to
that
trend
in
the
state
.
Even
more
than
tourism
,
heritage
-
writing
?
indeed
,
a
whole
heritage
industry
?
is
being
called
on
for
purposes
of
"
economic
development
,
"
to
promote
pride
and
image
.
Judging
from
the
increase
in
museums
,
magazines
,
and
films
on
heritage
during
the
1980s
and
1990s
,
and
the
leveling
-
off
of
American
studies
programs
in
universities
,
the
production
of
American
heritage
knowledge
comes
increasingly
from
media
and
public
agencies
.
If
the
1980s
reports
on
higher
education
are
to
be
believed
,
the
role
for
public
agencies
may
be
heightened
by
the
diminishing
cultural
authority
of
the
academy
.
At
the
same
time
,
American
cultural
education
by
many
public
agencies
in
the
1990s
is
a
target
of
conservative
criticism
in
an
effort
to
scale
back
or
re
-
devise
governmental
programs
.
One
might
now
a
period
in
which
American
folk
tradition
is
geared
toward
emotional
community
-
building
in
order
to
deal
with
the
role
of
individuals
in
a
global
mass
culture
,
where
electronic
communication
and
constant
create
a
need
for
organizing
belonging
.
That
opens
up
the
kinds
of
traditions
?
the
kinds
of
communities
and
organizations
,
identities
and
rituals
?
representing
the
American
memory
of
the
past
,
the
American
perception
of
the
present
,
to
a
tremendously
wide
array
of
possibilities
for
a
mobile
and
electronically
society
.
Muse
-
ums
,
books
,
films
,
and
schools
are
scrambling
to
keep
up
.
It
used
to
be
that
Americans
were
preoccupied
with
the
ways
in
which
such
institutions
and
the
media
reflected
society's
traditions
.
Now
,
and
building
of
the
Pennsylvania
is
a
example
,
Americans
have
a
view
in
which
they
see
themselves
as
shaping
traditions
,
or
at
least
as
defining
what's
important
.
Therefore
,
history
is
more
than
recorded
;
it
is
constructed
.
And
folklore
is
more
than
collected
;
it
is
projected
.
In
Pennsylvania
,
much
of
the
mystique
-
building
through
and
history
of
the
highland
paradise
seems
to
have
off
(
and
probably
so
has
American
romantic
regionalism
generally
)
.
Nevertheless
,
Shoemaker
would
be
to
know
that
Pennsylvanians
have
retained
their
woods
and
their
traditions
.
Crear