Telling the Story of the Daily Life of the Nineteenth Century Army Fort's Soldiers, Women, and Children Through 25 Objects
This quarter, the 2013 Public History Field School project will be researching, designing, and writing content for a NPS digital publication that will highlight 25 material culture items in the park's Archives & Reference Collection (ARC) and use them to help readers:
- Understand and connect on a personal level to the daily life of soldiers, civilians, and families at the nineteenth century Army post known as Fort Vancouver and Vancouver Barracks;
- Understand the national significance of the site as a unit of the national park system;
- Recognize the value of tangible items in historical archives, museum collections, and archaeology in understanding our collective past.
The 25 objects selected for inclusion in this publication will:
- Reflect the scope of the park's collections ( including artifacts, photographs, documents, textiles, etc.);
- Connect visitors to the park purpose and one or more of the park's interpretive themes;
- Creatively illustrate the story of daily life at the Army's Fort Vancouver for its many inhabitants (soldiers, civilians, families), comparing and contrasting these with other locations (other regions, cities, and/or western posts) or narratives;
- Help illustrate the site's national significance.
