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Recent history-marking celebrations of co-ops by co-ops in
Davis prompt me to recall that this
is not the first time these groups have organized a major period of history
celebration. Davis co-ops seem, indeed, especially active in (and adept at) history celebration.
Having noticed this possibility, I began then to wonder if
groups in general might vary in the degree to which they “do history”--that is,
regularly celebrate their pasts.
1. With regard to Davis co-ops doing history,
in 1997-98 considerable effort was put into creating a “Davis Cooperative
Centennial.” There was a major exhibit at the Hattie Weber Museum of Davis. The
plaza in front of the Davis Food Co-op was outfitted with a symbolic reference
to the Toad Lane co-op founding location and a “Cooperative Century” clock was
installed. On the same day as the dedication of the 5th & G Federal
building, which drew high-level federal officials, these
same officials were
recruited to go up the street to participate in unveiling a plaque-commemorating
placement of that clock (images 1-6).
And, of course, we have recently seen another season of
calling attention to the longevity and other aspects of Davis co-ops (images
7-10).
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2. History is something all groups have,
but not all of them “do” equally. Some “do history” in the sense of organizing
activity to call attention to it much more than others. How might we account
for this variation? Here are a few suggestions.
----> Some
groups are blessed with history entrepreneurs
and some are not. By history entrepreneurs I mean one or more group members
who take it as their task to be knowleable about the group’s history and to promote
it. You obviously cannot do history if no one knows what it is--and such seems
to be the case for a fair number of groups.
----> Above a
certain group size, history gets done because there are resources sufficient to
assign staff to organize its expression. As is often and sometimes correctly
said, “thank goodness for staff.”
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----> Surveying
the sweep of groups and their variations in level of history activities, I get
the impression of a “u-shape” curve relation between the degree of history
activity and the degree to which a group is mainstream or not. Groups at the
margin of the mainstream and groups at the extreme conformist edge of the
mainstream both celebrate history more than groups between the two. So it is
that social movements--at the edge of the mainstream--and governments--official
definers of the mainstream--are the founts of history activities. Think
official government holidays and social movement occasions. Because most groups
are somewhere between these two extremes, there is relatively little history
celebration in general.
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----> Cross-cutting
all this is variation in the degree of morale and esprit de corps we find in a
group. Groups vary in the degree to which they are at any given time dispirited
or spirited. A group atmosphere of being dispirited can overcome the best
efforts of history entrepreneurs, professional history staffs, or the group’s
location relative to the mainstream.
Even something as seemingly major as a centennial year can
evoke only apathy in a sufficiently dispirited group, as seems to be case for
at least one Davis middle-mainstream group now approaching a centennial moment.
(Factors affecting level of group morale is of course an entirely different
topic.)
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