National Park Service
Bronze relief of The Massachusetts 54th Regiment on Boston Commons by sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens
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CASE STUDIES

Civic engagement is being applied throughout the National Park Service. To help in better understanding how civic engagement is implemented, a series of case studies are being developed to demonstrate the concepts applied at diverse locations, under varying conditions, and through various disciplines including interpretation, education, resource preservation and planning.

Cane River Creole
National Historical Park

With an emphasis on scholarship and telling stories from many points of view, Cane River Creole NHP addresses the role of slavery in plantation life head on.
Visitors at Cane River Creole National Historic Park
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
Speaking Inside the Walls: Linking Past and Present through Art: Eastern State Penitentiary uses a range of innovative programs to present the still controversial issue of punishment and reform.
Eastern State Penitentiary
Gettysburg National Military Park
The interpretive challenges faced by the NPS and its partners center on providing a deeper understanding of historic events at Gettysburg NMP.
School group visiting Gettysburg National Military Park
Gulag Museum at Perm-36, Russia
The NPS is working with this labor camp site as they develop an ambitious interpretive program on the history of political repression in the former Soviet Union.
Gulag
Independence National Historical Park
and the National Constitution Center

We the People: The Decision to Excavate the James Dexter Site - The NPS reversed an earlier position, using civic engagement to reconnect a prominent black church with its historic roots.
Independence NHP
Manzanar National Historic Site
Conversations with the Japanese American community at Manzanar National Historic Site resulted in a decision by the NPS to reconstruct key elements of the camp.
Manzanar
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP - Education
Forest For Every Classroom: Learning to Make Choices for the Future An Educational Initiative Emphasizing Resource Stewardship, Citizenship and Civic Engagement
Student studying in a Vermont forest
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP - Walking Tour
Home Front Walking Tour of Civil War Woodstock: A Dialogue on the Cause and Consequences of the Civil War From One Community's Perspective
  Grave marker of George Hart in Woodstock, Vermont

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
Collaborating for the Future: Partners in the Park - The "Partners in the Park" initiative illustrates the power of cultivating a collective relationship with the park’s many stakeholders and communities of interest.

New Bedford Whaling

Sotterley Plantation, Hollywood, Maryland
Making Visible the Peculiar Institution: Sotterley Plantation has successfully used the principles of civic engagement to restructure its interpretive framework.

Sotterley Plantation

Valley Forge National Historic Park
Community conversations focus on developing a plan that can interpret the significance of the landscape and accommodate recreational users.

Valley Forge

Valley Forge National Historical Park- Planning
From Isolation to Integration: The General Management Planning Process - Valley Forge NHP used civic engagement and the general management planning process in a trans formative reimagining of the park.

Valley Forge

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site
Native American stakeholders and the NPS have found effective ways to collaborate on the interpretation of historic events and educating the public at Washita.

Washita Site

Wyckoff House, Brooklyn NY
Inviting the Neighbors In - The Rebirth of the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum is an example of an historic site reaching out to its neighbors and forging new connections between the site, its historical significance, and the community.

Wycoff House
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