Join us for K.L.H. Wells' Book Talk

How did Americans from different regions, classes, and ethnicities learn to identify with the early history of the United States as their own heritage? In this talk, K.L.H. Wells argues that colonial revivalist projects of the 1930s and 1940s used uncanny, immersive design to shape the national and racial identity of White Americans. Focusing on the Index of American Design, a WPA Federal Art Project now housed at the National Gallery of Art, Wells examines how the uncanniness of colonial revivalism encouraged White Americans from a variety of backgrounds to subjectively identify with the nation’s “founders” and “pioneers.” By exploring how the Index made American history accessible to new audiences while reinforcing White national identity, Wells suggests that uncanny revivals can help us understand some of the contradictions of our own political moment.