From personal memories to public histories of education: a challenge for the historian

ABSTRACT

This article explores the possibilities that the study of personal memories offers to historians of education. All the arguments revolve around three questions: (1) What is your first memory? From this starting point we explore research dealing with autobiographical memories, both earliest and school memories, as well as future possibilities in educational historiography. (2) How would I like to be remembered? This question is related to the memories and archives of ‘the forgotten’ – in this case, schoolteachers ‒ and the role of historians as ‘heirs’ to these memories, in line with Walter Benjamin’s metaphor. (3) What happens when personal memories become public? This question leads us to reflect on the processes that convert academic narratives into public discourse. When this occurs, the historian loses control of these narratives and is confronted with a dilemma: to become a public intellectual or to go back to the privacy of his/her archives.

KEYWORDS:

• Personal memories
• first memories
• school memories
• personal archives
• public histories of education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Halbwachs was not the first author to use this concept, which was the Austrian novelist and essayist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who introduced it in 1902 when he spoke about ‘the dammed up force of our mysterious ancestors within us’ and of ‘piled up layers of accumulated collective memory’. Quoted in Theodor Schieder, ‘The Role of Historical Consciousness in Political Action’, History and Theory 17, no. 4 (1978): 2.

² Jeffrey K. Olick and Joyce Robbins, ‘Social Memory Studies: From “Collective Memory” to the Historical Sociology of Mnemonic Practices’, Annual Review of Sociology 24 (1998): 109.

³ Dalia Gavriely-Nury, ‘Collective Memory as a Metaphor: The Case of Speeches by Israeli Prime Ministers 2001–2009’, Memory Studies 7, no. 1 (2014): 47 (emphasis in the original).

⁴ William Hirst and David Manier, ‘Towards a Psychology of Collective Memory’, Memory 16, no. 3 (2008): 196.

⁵ William Hirst and Alin Coman, ‘Building a Collective Memory: The Case for Collective Forgetting’, Current Opinion in Psychology 23, no. 5 (2018): 88.

⁶ William Hirst, Jeremy K. Yamashiro and Alin Coman, ‘Collective Memory from a Psychological Perspective’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22, no. 5 (2018): 439.

⁷ Javier Corredor, Maria Emma Wills-Obregon and Mikel Asensio-Brouard, ‘Historical Memory Education for Peace and Justice: Definition of a Field’, Journal of Peace Education 15, no. 2 (2018): 173.

⁸ Pierre Nora, ‘La aventura de Les lieux de mémoire’, Ayer 32, no. 4 (1998): 22.

⁹ Berthold Molden, ‘Resistant Pasts Versus Mnemonic Hegemony: On the Power Relations of Collective Memory’, Memory Studies 9, no. 2 (2016): 129.

¹⁰ Cynthia E. Milton, ‘Curating Memories of Armed State Actors in Peru’s Era of Transitional Justice’, Memory Studies 8, no. 3 (2015): 361.

¹¹ Félix Krawatzek and George Soroka, ‘Circulation, Conditions, Claims: Examining the Politics of Historical Memory in Eastern Europe’, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 36, no. 1 (2022): 208. As an example for Latin America, see the Colombian case, Juan Carlos Arboleda-Ariza, Isabel Piper-Shafir and Gabriel Prosser Bravo, ‘Reparation Policies in Colombia: Memory as a Repertoire’, Memory Studies (2020), https://doi-org.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1750698020982036. And as a case study for the East Asia region, see Ñusta Carranza Ko, ‘South Korea’s Collective Memory on Past Human Rights Abuses’, Memory Studies 13, no. 6 (2020): 1113–28.

¹² Tzvetan Todorov, Hope and Memory Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 132.

¹³ David Rieff, ‘… And if There Was also a Duty to Forget, How Would We Think About History Then?’ International Review of the Red Cross 101, no. 1 (2019): 60.

¹⁴ David Rieff, In Praise of Forgetting: Historical Memory and Its Ironies (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 111.

¹⁵ Ibid., 54.

¹⁶ Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003), 85–6.

¹⁷ Aleida Assmann, ‘Transformations Between History and Memory’, Social Research 75, no. 1 (2008): 53.

¹⁸ Manuel L. de la Mata, Andrés Santamaría, Tia G.B. Hansen and Lucía Ruiz, ‘Earliest Autobiographical Memories in College Students from Three Countries: Towards a Situated View’, Memory Studies 8, no. 2 (2015): 152.

¹⁹ Avril Thorne, ‘Personal Memory Telling and Personality Development’, Personality and Social Psychology Review 4, no. 1 (2000): 45.

²⁰ Andrés Santamaría, Manuel de la Mata, Mercedes Cubero and Tia G. B. Hansen, ‘What Are Our Personal Memories for? Effects of Gender and Country in Perceived Functions of Everyday Memories in Danish and Spanish College Students’, Cross-Cultural Research 5, no. 4 (2017): 361.

²¹ Tzvetan Todorov, The Morals of History (Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 32.

²² Kendall R. Phillips, ‘Introduction’, in Framing Public Memory, ed. Kendall R. Phillips (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004), 6.

²³ Luis Martín-Estudillo and Nicholas Spadaccini, ‘Introduction. Memory and Its Discontents: A Central Debate in Contemporary Spanish Culture’, Hispanic Issues On-Line 11, no. 3 (2012): 2.

²⁴ Eric J. Hobsbawm, Interesting Times: A Twentieth-Century Life (New York: Pantheon Books, 2002), xiii.

²⁵ María del Mar del Pozo Andrés, ‘Conversación con Richard Aldrich, catedrático emérito de Historia de la Educación’, Historia de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria 27 (2008): 481.

²⁶ Sara Y. Choi, James H. Liu, Silvia Mari and Ilya E. Garber, ‘Content Analysis of Living Historical Memory Around the World: Terrorization of the Anglosphere, and National Foundations of Hope in Developing Societies’, Memory Studies 16, no. 2 (2023): 334–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698021995974.

²⁷ Elaine Reese and Robyn Fivush, ‘The Development of Collective Remembering’, Memory 16, no. 3 (2008): 204.

²⁸ María Corona Andrés Muñoz, ‘Estudio Experimental del Primer Recuerdo’, Revista Española de Pedagogía 10, no. 39 (1952): 393–409.

²⁹ Michael Richards, ‘From War Culture to Civil Society: Francoism, Social Change and Memories of the Spanish Civil War’, History & Memory 14, no. 1–2 (2002): 110.

³⁰ Caroline Miles, ‘Minor Studies from the Psychological Laboratory of Clark University, VIII: A Study of Individual Psychology’, American Journal of Psychology 6, no. 4 (1895): 535.

³¹ Ibid., 554.

³² Carole Peterson, ‘What Is Your Earliest Memory? It Depends’, Memory 29, no. 6 (2021): 811.

³³ Shazia Akhtar, Lucy V. Justice, Catriana M. Morrison and Martin A. Conway, ‘Fictional First Memories’, Psychological Science 29, no. 10 (2018): 1612–19.

³⁴ Patricia J. Bauer, Lynne Baker-Ward, Peter Krøjgaard, Carole Peterson and Qi Wang, ‘Evidence Against Depiction as Fiction: A Comment on “Fictional First Memories”‘ (Akhtar, Justice, Morrison, & Conway, 2018)’, Psychological Science 30, no. 9 (2019): 1399.

³⁵ Ineke Wessel, Theresa Schweig and Rafaële J. C. Huntjens, ‘Manipulating the Reported Age in Earliest Memories’, Memory 27, no. 1 (2019): 14.

³⁶ Tiamoyo Peterson, Suzzanne O. Kaasa and Elizabeth F. Loftus, ‘Me Too!: Social Modelling Influences on Early Autobiographical Memories’, Applied Cognitive Psychology 23, no. 2 (2009): 267.

³⁷ Wessel et al., ‘Manipulating’, 15.

³⁸ Victor Henri and Catherine Henri, ‘Enquête sur les premiers souvenirs de l’enfance’, L’Année psychologique 3 (1896): 187; Serge Nicolas, Yannick Gounden and Pascale Piolino, ‘Victor and Catherine Henri on Earliest Recollections’, L’Année psychologique 113, no. 3 (2013): 366 (English version).

³⁹ Juri Meda and Antonio Viñao, ‘School Memory: Historiographical Balance and Heuristics Perspectives’, in School Memories: New Trends in the History of Education, ed. Cristina Yanes-Cabrera, Juri Meda and Antonio Viñao (Cham: Springer, 2017), 2.

⁴⁰ Tuija A. Turunen, Sue Dockett and Bob Perry, ‘Researching Memories About Starting School: Autobiographical Narratives as a Methodological Approach’, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 23, no. 5 (2015): 635–44.

⁴¹ Tuija Anneli Turunen, ‘Memories About Starting School: What Is Remembered After Decades?’, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 56, no. 1 (2012): 71.

⁴² Helle Bjerg and Lisa Rosén Rasmussen, ‘Enacting Subjectivities in Educational History: Methodological Reflections on the Use of Qualitative Interviews for History Writing’, Paedagogica Historica 44, no. 6 (2008): 726–7.

⁴³ Krystian Barzykowski, Marta Riess, Sabina Hajdas and Agnieszka Niedzwienska, ‘School in Our Memory: Do We Remember Our Time in Middle and High School Differently?’ Journal of Cognitive Psychology 31, no. 4 (2019): 439.

⁴⁴ Richard T. Walls, Rayne A. Sperling and Keith D. Weber, ‘Autobiographical Memory of School’, Journal of Educational Research 95, no. 2 (2001): 126.

⁴⁵ Barzykowski et al., ‘School in Our Memory’, 441.

⁴⁶ Renée de Palma, Pedro Membiela and Mercedes Suárez Pazos, ‘Teachers’ Memories of Disciplinary Control Strategies from Their Own School Days’, British Journal of Sociology of Education 32, no. 1 (2011): 78–89.

⁴⁷ Cheryl W. Van Hook, ‘Preservice Teachers Reflect on Memories from Early Childhood’, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 23, no. 2 (2002): 144; Kate Rousmaniere, ‘From Memory to Curriculum’, Teaching Education 11, no. 1 (2000): 87–98.

⁴⁸ Minna Uitto and Leena Syrjälä, ‘Body, Caring and Power in Teacher Pupil Relationships: Encounters in Former Pupils’ Memories’, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 52, no. 4 (2008): 355.

⁴⁹ James Calderhead, ‘Images of Teaching: Student Teachers’ Early Conceptions of Classroom Practice’, Teaching & Teacher Education 7, no. 1 (1991): 4.

⁵⁰ Lisa Rosén Rasmussen, ‘Touching Materiality: Presenting the Past of Everyday School Life’, Memory Studies 5, no. 2 (2012): 114.

⁵¹ Julia J. Rothenberg, ‘Memories of Schooling’, Teaching & Teacher Education 10, no. 4 (1994): 377.

⁵² Lene Tanggaard and Klaus Nielsen, ‘School Memories Situating School’, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 57, no. 1 (2013): 82–83.

⁵³ Philippe Artières and Gilles Cugnon, ‘Sida-mémoires. Naissance d’un fonds d’archives autobiographiques’, Genesis 10, no. 16 (2001): 205–8; Philippe Artières and Janine Pierret, Mémoires du sida. Récit des personnes atteintes. France, 1981–2012 (Paris: Bayard, 2012).

⁵⁴ Philippe Artières, ‘Arquivar a Própia Vida’, Estudos Históricos 11, no. 21 (1998): 10–11.

⁵⁵ Jennifer Douglas and Heather MacNeil, ‘Arranging the Self: Literary and Archival Perspectives on Writers’ Archives’, Archivaria 35, no. 67 (2009): 35; Jennifer Douglas, ‘The Archiving “I”: A Closer Look in the Archives of Writers’, Archivaria 41, no. 79 (2015): 55.

⁵⁶ Maria Joấo Mogarro, ‘Archives and Education: The Construction of Educational Memory’, Sísifo 1, no. 1 (2006): 71–84; Audrey Ceselli, ‘La politique de mise en accès des archives scolaires parisiennes: l’exemple des archives des écoles primaires’, Gazette des archives 76, no. 243 (2016): 29–38.

⁵⁷ Terry Cook, ‘“We are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are”: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 32, no. 2 (2011): 173.

⁵⁸ Kira Mahamud and María José Martínez Ruiz-Funes, ‘Reconstructing the Life Histories of Spanish Primary School Teachers: A Novel Approach for the Study of the Teaching Profession and School Culture’, History of Education 43, no. 6 (2014): 793–819.

⁵⁹ François Dosse, ‘Michel de Certeau y el archivo’, La torre del Virrey. Revista de Estudios Culturales 17, no. 1 (2015): 110.

⁶⁰ Jacques Ozouf, Nous, les maîtres d’école. Autobiographies d’instituteurs de la Belle Époque (Paris: Julliard, 1967).

⁶¹ Mona Ozouf and Jacques Ozouf, ‘Retour sur une enquête’, Les Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques no. 8 (1991): 2, https://doi.org/10.4000/ccrh.2817.

⁶² ‘Archivalisation’ is a concept coined by Eric Ketelaar, which means ‘the conscious or unconscious choice to consider something worth archiving’: Eric Ketelaar, ‘Archivalisation and Archiving’, Archives & Manuscripts 27, no. 1 (1999): 57.

⁶³ Pierre Nora, ‘Travailler avec Jacques Ozouf’, Les Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques no. 43 (2009): 2, https://doi.org/10.4000/ccrh.3499.

⁶⁴ Jacques Ozouf and Mona Ozouf, in cooperation with Véronique Aubert and Claire Steindecker, La République des instituteurs (Paris: Gallimard/Le Seuil, 1992).

⁶⁵ Jennifer Douglas, ‘A Call to Rethink Archival Creation: Exploring Types of Creation in Personal Archives’, Archival Science 18, no. 1 (2018): 33.

⁶⁶ Paloma Aguilar and Clara Ramírez-Barat, ‘Generational Dynamics in Spain: Memory Transmission of a Turbulent Past’, Memory Studies 12, no. 2 (2019): 220.

⁶⁷ Madeleine Davis, ‘Is Spain Recovering Its Memory? Breaking the Pacto del Olvido’, Human Rights Quarterly 27, no. 3 (2005): 867.

⁶⁸ Walter Benjamin, ‘The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Lukov’, in The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900–2000, ed. Dorothy Hale (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006), 371.

⁶⁹ See a very interesting example of this narrative in the recent work of Christopher M. Span. The author suggests reading it in two layers: the text, ‘written in the storytelling tradition of the African American past’, as if the protagonists of the article and their family would be the main audience; and the extensive footnotes, ‘written for the author’s profession and discipline’: Christopher M. Span, ‘Presidential Address: Sam’s Cottonfield Blues’, History of Education Quarterly 62, no. 1 (2022): 1–2.

⁷⁰ María del Mar del Pozo Andrés, ‘Public Voices and Teachers Identities: Exploring the Visitors’ Book of a School Memory Exhibition’, in Exhibiting the Past: Public Histories of Education, ed. Frederik Herman, Sjaak Braster and María del Mar del Pozo Andrés (Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2022), 125.

⁷¹ José Colmeiro, ‘Unraveling Memories in Spain’, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 19, no. 4 (2018): 482.

⁷² Alejandro Baer and Natan Sznaider, ‘Ghosts of the Holocaust in Franco’s Mass Graves: Cosmopolitan Memories and the Politics of “Never Again”’, Memory Studies 8, no. 3 (2015): 330.

⁷³ Alison Ribeiro de Menezes and Stewart King, ‘Introduction: The Future of Memory in Spain’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 94, no. 8 (2017): 796.

⁷⁴ María Antonia Iglesias, Maestros de la República. Los otros santos, los otros mártires (Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros, 2006).

⁷⁵ Las Maestras de la República, ed. Elena Sánchez de Madariaga (Madrid: La Catarata, 2012).

⁷⁶ Las Maestras de la República, directed by Pilar Pérez Solano (Madrid: Transit Productora, 2013).

⁷⁷ María del Mar del Pozo Andrés, Justa Freire o la pasión de educar. Biografía de una maestra atrapada en la historia de España (1896–1965) (Barcelona: Octaedro, 2013).

⁷⁸ Xavier Martín-Rubió and Maricel Oró-Piqueras, ‘Is Manuela Carmena a Politician? Spanish Journalists and Politicians in the Spotlight’, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 19, no. 2 (2018): 247.

⁷⁹ Ulrike Capdepón, ‘Challenging the Symbolic Representation of the Franco Dictatorship: The Street Name Controversy in Madrid’, History & Memory 32, no. 1 (2020): 103.

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 [I+D+i PID2020-113677GB-I00].

Notes on contributors

María del Mar del Pozo Andrés

María del Mar del Pozo Andrés has been a lecturer in Theory and History of Education at the University of Alcalá (UAH) where she became a full professor in 2011. Since 2021 she is Director of the Antonio Molero Museum of Education (UAH). In 2021 she was elected as President of the Spanish Society for the History of Education (SEDHE). She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) (2006–2012). Her lines of research are history of urban education, reception and transfer of international educational currents (especially the New Education movement), the role of education in the construction of national identities, visual studies in education, history of women’s education, and history of school culture. Her most recent book is: Frederik Herman, Sjaak Braster and Ma M. del Pozo Andrés (eds.), Exhibiting the Past. Public Histories of Education (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2022).