Historymaking in Heritage Tourism

The 8th Grade Trip to Washington, DC


Lauren Rever


Each year, hundreds of thousands of US-American students visit the nation’s capital on a school trip. Though not a universal experience, the practice is nonetheless a common and institutionalized part of both American life and Washington, DC’s heritage tourism industry. Bringing students to Washington is usually agreed upon as a constructive experience, even as polarized debates about history education unfold in the media and in students’ hometowns. Despite its popularity, there are few histories and analyses of the school trip to Washington, DC. My project uses travel itineraries, archives, and contemporary data visualization to capture the authoritative dynamics and meanings of this heritage practice as it unfolds across the historical institutions in and around Washington, DC.

The research project contains two lines of study. The first is a novel history of student field trips in Washington, DC. The second is a contemporary assessment of the school trip as a heritage practice, an interdisciplinary analysis which examines the authorities of the city, historical institutions, the history profession, students, tour leaders, and travel operators. As debates about history curriculums, the role of national museums, and who is “allowed” to tell history persist, studying the travel routes, memories, and heritage performances of school groups in Washington, DC can show how history is produced and practiced in place.