Historians have been absorbed with questions of historical memory and commemoration over the past two decades. Historian Pierre Nora’s influential analysis of history and memory has spawned an entire subfield of historical studies of commemoration.

Commemorating historical episodes of violence such as the Holocaust and the dropping of the atomic bombs have been especially controversial.

Today, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, historians and journalists are grappling with the difficulties of commemorating an act of political violence.

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, offers a permanent collection and temporary exhibits on President Kennedy and the assassination at the site Lee Harvey Oswald used as his firing platform.

The BBC provides an essay on the museum and current attempts to commemorate the 1963 assassination. The Washington Post has published a series of commemorative stories, videos, and photo galleries.