Gettysburg National Military Park
General Management Plan 1999 History
NEWS RELEASE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
LEADING HISTORIANS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR GETTYSBURG PLAN
Gettysburg, PA, September 29, 1998: Three prominent Civil War historians have expressed their support for Gettysburg National Military Park's draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP) in a report issued by the Organization of American Historians. Historians Eric Foner, James McPherson, and Nina Silber visited Gettysburg on August 18 and 19 for the Organization of American Historians to evaluate interpretive programs in the park as well as park development plans for new exhibits and programs.
"Our team of historians enthusiastically endorses the proposals in this draft General Management Plan, specifically the goal of implementing Alternative C which calls for extensive changes to the battlefield landscape, so that visitors can appreciate the battle in its 1863 context, and for a new Visitor Center that can better convey the Gettysburg story," said Dr. Nina Silber of Boston University. Silber is the author of Yankee Correspondence: Civil War Letters Between New England Soldiers and the Homefront and other works on the social history of the American Civil War.
James McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War Era, stated that on the battlefield itself, the NPS preferred alternative in the GMP "would vastly improve the visitor's ability to understand the battle."
The historians stated that Gettysburg "without question" needs a new Visitor Center and Museum complex to replace its outdated and inadequate facilities. McPherson stated further that "more must be done to explain the causes and consequences of the war."
The group also expressed support for the six interpretive themes outlined by the NPS in the GMP and the proposal to build a new museum.
"Without slighting tactics, strategy, and movement of regiments or the courage of soldiers on either side, the museum ought to place the battle of Gettysburg in context - or rather in a series of contexts, military, political, and social," said Dr. Eric Foner of Columbia University, author of Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. "The six themes proposed as a framework for the new museum are an excellent starting point."
"We're very pleased with the tremendous response and enthusiasm for our plans as expressed in the report," said park Superintendent John Latschar. "These are the leading historians in the nation on the subject of the Civil War. It's an honor to have them evaluate Gettysburg National Military Park and our future plans and tell us we're on the right track."
The draft General Management Plan presents and analyzes four alternatives for future management of the Gettysburg battlefield and sets the basic philosophy and broad guidance for management decisions that affect the park's resources and the visitor's experience. Also included is the proposed new Visitor Center and Museum to be developed in partnership with the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation. Since May 1997, through a series of public meetings, open houses, and newsletters sent to 3,800 interested members of the public on a nationwide mailing list, NPS has been involved in a process of gathering public comment on the park's General Management Plan, including the Visitor Center and Museum proposal.
As recommended in the historians' report, upon successful completion of the planning process, the NPS and the Foundation would enlist a group of historical advisors to develop in detailhow the six interpretive themes will be elaborated in the new museum.
-NPS-
1999 General Management Plan History
National Park Service
Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325