Websideofhistory is a space dedicated to reflection and discussion – a point of departure, but also a gateway leading to a place where stories and experiences (of men and women, places and institutions) may be shared. An entryway rich in symbolic meanings, like the gate open to the endless prairie, at the beginning of The Searchers when Ethan (John Wayne) is seen returning from the Civil War; at the end he leaves from that same gate, a solitary figure who fades from sight, yet conscious that he has achieved what he set out to do in his troubled journey.
Websideofhistory has appropriated these two cult images from one of John Ford’s best and most emblematic films, as the emblem of a space dedicated to exploring and confronting certain themes existing in a historic context, which none the less have a special significance peculiar to the problems of the present. It is no coincidence that this is idea was born and nurtured in a university setting, where teaching is inseparable from research. Our intention is to use the web to project our work from the university to the outside world, to stimulate interest, curiosity and all the various types of knowledge that are part of the social and institutional structures we hope to reach.
Websideofhistory welcomes all those whose motivations may differ widely, but who join others in seeking to confront issues and deepen their knowledge, in the full awareness that culture is formed from a multiplicity of existences and ideas: there are no gaps between the past and the present. Only the concept of continuity can offer a gateway opening out into the past.