This is an important question, and deserves discussion. It is no accident that the general level of historical knowledge in the US is extremely poor. When historical education consists of teaching a string of events that have no relation to the day-to-day reality of people's lives, people will naturally consider history to be trivia that really doesn't need to be bothered with. How many people know why Labor Day is celebrated in the US, rather than May Day? If you know the answer to this, you've gone a long way toward knowing why the average American's level of historical knowledge is so low. To quote Rosa Luxemburg, the famous German Marxist, "Historical consciousness is an essential component of class consciousness." The fact is, a great deal of history has been deliberately suppressed. Who knows about the uprising of 1877? Or the Seattle General Strike? Who has heard the names Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, or Walter Reuther? Until history is taught in a way that emphasizes class structure and relations, and that the contributions of ordinary people are important, rather than history as something that is made by "great men", there will continue to be a lack of interest in the general public in historical matters. Andrew Hempe, CA Archivist Houston Metropolitan Research Center Houston Public Library 500 McKinney St. Houston, TX 77002 832/393-1654 A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>