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6 A young family stands outside of a tar paper shack in Topaz, Utah, circa 1942–1945 —
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Living in Sugar House for more than a decade now, I’ve enjoyed many runs in Sugar House Park. When I’m out there alone with my thoughts, I often come back to the question, “what makes this a place?” If you are seeking answers at the park, you have to really look to get them, because they’re hidden. A plaque on a monument is hidden in a grove of evergreen trees, and while it’s nice and shady under there, the recognition that Sugar House Park was once home to the first Utah State Penitentiary is completely obscured. Maybe there was purpose behind the monument’s site selection and landscape plan, one that was part let’s put a plaque up to remember and part let’s hide it in a grove of trees because we don’t want to celebrate the prison. Today, penitentiaries are among the significant historic sites associated with the international movement known as sites of conscience.1 This movement aims to connect past to present by fostering thoughtful civic discussion about the thorny social topics associated with historic places. There are many examples of how untold and challenging stories can be spotlighted at places of newly understood or recognized significance. While the stories may be difficult to approach in interpretation, promoting healing and reconciliation go far beyond the events or architecture alone. Successful examples of sites that are effectively interpreting the many layers of difficult pasts, telling painful narratives in sensitive and informed ways, include Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. As they are places that have deep meaning and connection, sites of conscience are among the spots that represent the future of historic preservation in the United States and Utah.
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Utah’s Sites of Conscience
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Becoming More Conscientious of
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