This talk explores how societies remember the past, from monuments to memorials to museums. It tries to understand how and why we remember the past through public displays and argues that ‘history’ is not as objective as we may think. Joe McMenamin is a history teacher at SRDS. He’s giving a TED talk as a faculty contributor on the history of museums and monuments. These things are commonplace and greatly influence the way we view the past. But they also obscure the past. He has taught world history since 2011 and is currently getting a Master’s in Global and Comparative History from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. He enjoys running, painting, traveling, and reading. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx