Cover Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

Executive Summary

Interpretation of
the Civil War

Accomplishments
to Date

Review of Current Conditions

Future of Civil War Interpretation

Projected Future Work

Obstacles to Success

Addenda

Through its education mandate, anchored in the 1935 Historic Sites Act, the NPS has an obligation to present to the American public a history that promotes an understanding of the complexity of historical causation, the perils of historical stereotypes, and the relationship between past events and contemporary conditions. By exercising its appropriate role within the historical and educational professions, the NPS can promote a better public understanding of this country’s past.

54th Massachusetts Memorial, Boston
African American NHS

In the future interpretive materials must suggest a greater sense of the complexity of the past. History does not possess only one truth, but many truths--and we contribute to the public’s knowledge about history, and the special places we manage, by presenting a past with multiple voices, multiple views, and differing, even conflicting, interpretations. In addition, just as historical research should African-American NHS undergo rigorous peer review, so should interpretive

programs and products. The history needs to be based on solid and current research and the interpretation needs to accurately and sensitively reflect the research.

Parks provide a tangible resource where people can think about and communicate with meanings. Each park represents different things to different people. Visitors come to our parks on their own time; some on pilgrimages, others for educational entertainment, and many just for fun. All successful interpretation achieves meaning by linking specific tangible artifacts, buildings, places, etc., with intangible ideas, events, and concepts.

Regardless of the topic, the job of interpretation in all its forms, is to help people discover and understand parks. Interpreters must meet visitors on their own terms and be prepared to work with multiple points of view and meanings. When we succeed, we facilitate a connection between the interests of the visitor and the meanings of the park.

If visitors do not find personal value in parks, they will unlikely find them worthy of preservation. The interpreter creates the opportunity to find meaning...the visitor makes the connection. This idea was expressed in a “Washington Post” article written by a reporter from the “London Guardian” newspaper visiting Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. In his article he wrote, “I was amazed on a day trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to see an all-white group of cub scouts learning about how John Brown fought alongside African-American abolitionists and the legacy of Frederick Douglass. White kids learning about African-American history on a day out during the summer holidays. At the time I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Upon reflection it was much more like purgatory. I know that one reason Americans discuss race so much is that there is so much to talk about. Both the present— affirmative action, the demise of inner cities, poverty, church burnings— and the past— civil rights, slavery, segregation— offer no end of subjects that can and should be debated.”

The interpreter’s job is to create the opportunity where visitors, like the “London Guardian” reporter, can discover new meanings or insights that they never suspected were there which lead them on to further discoveries or revelations of their own. The goal is to help visitors move from simply enjoying parks to developing a personal stewardship ethic towards them.

United States Colored Troops

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/ICWS/icws_interp.htm