Connections to
Public Place and Memory

When examining the public memory and legacy that is John Corbett, there has to be an emphasis on Corbett's legacy and how physical spaces can hold public memory. More importantly, a lens on how public memory can shift and transform over a period of time. Sometimes, a type of forgetting often referred to as “structural amnesia” can occur with the temporal perception of a public space. “Structural Amnesia” is defined as what happens when a society or culture claims a physical space. Over time, these spaces fall from societal consciousness and hierarchy. In simpler terms, when something is not culturally or socially relevant anymore, the physical space that holds memories associated with moments in time that have forged these memories is forgotten from the collective experience and consciousness.

 

There are many different ways that this type of forgetting can occur within a physical space like Corbett Pool. For example, students, faculty, and citizens of Laramie, over time, may not have experienced Corbett in any capacity that would allow them to form an emotional bond with the physical space that is the pool. This type of forgetting and erasure is not malicious in nature, but it represents an organic lack of acknowledgment for the existence and importance of physical spaces.

 

The forgetting and shift from public memory is a representation of a cultural shift within society. In addition to this type of forgetting, a new identity on campus and in Laramie forms within the scope of a cultural shift of public spaces. While Corbett remains known and respected in some public memories with swimmers, divers, students, and other individuals who visit Corbett as a multipurpose vessel of learning and physical exercise, over time, it has naturally become less significant within the broad range of campus consciousness.