Generational Memory

The Evander Childs High School Mural Project illustrates the changing nature of social memory and the ways in which art can promote community growth and public dialogue. In the mid-1930s, James Michael Newell created a 1400 square foot mural for the school, The Evolution of Western Civilization. Newell’s work reflected the ideals of progress and pluralism as viewed in the 1930s, offering a global view of the growth of art and science and including images of workers contributing to society by meeting shared needs.

However, public perceptions of the work changed over the next decades, leading to the need to explore the nature of the original work and find some way of making it meaningful to modern audiences. Due to what critics saw its Euro-centric view of history, the school considered destroying the entire work in 1967. Vandalism led administrators to install a curtain over part of the mural. The debate continued as Newell’s mural began to show its age. The school’s solution ultimately preserved the original mural while offering the community a chance to explore the context of its creation and a voice in the creation of social memory.

With funding from the Open Society Institute, the Conservation in Context project sought to preserve Newell’s WPA mural, help students explore the New Deal, and create a new mural to supplement Newell’s work–one exploring the same themes from a new perspective. Restorationists repaired the original mural while also replacing the old curtain rods in order to remind viewers of the level of controversy the piece of public art had inspired in the 1960s. To understand the New Deal and its connection to the school, students created an online archive of photographs, articles from the student paper, and works from the school’s literary magazine. Questionnaires exploring student perceptions of Newell’s work provided a foundation for the new mural, which was completed by students and artist Manny Vega.