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

This report is submitted in response to a Congressional request that the National Park Service (NPS) prepare an assessment of the educational information currently conveyed at Civil War sites related to the causes of the American Civil War, including the role that the institution of slavery played in initiating that conflict. This direction from Congress comes at an auspicious time, for the NPS has been reviewing its approach to interpreting the Civil War for the past several years as part of an educational strategy endorsed by the National Park Service in 1997 which specified that “programs and materials developed by the NPS, be made more useful by expanding their context and increasing the ways that they are made available to the educational community and the general public.”

The interpretation of Civil War sites has also been influenced by recommendations from a general conference of NPS battlefield managers during August 1998 in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference considered topics that included roads, adjacent land use, interpretation, and managing and interpreting multiple layers of historic resources at Civil War sites The conference report titled, “Holding the High Ground,” concluded that a primary challenge to interpreting Civil War battlefields can be found in the question: “How do we go about expanding the scope of interpretation on Civil War battlefields giving visitors the opportunity to explore the fundamental contexts and meanings of the resources that comprise Civil War battlefields?”

In response, the assembled managers established a guiding principle that stated, “Battlefield interpretation must establish the site’s particular place in the continuum of war; illuminate the social, economic, and cultural issues that caused or were affected by the war; illustrate the breadth of human experience during the period; and establish the relevance of the war to people today.” The NPS can meet this challenge. Even before the Nashville conference, the NPS had initiated a process to broaden its scope of interpretation at individual parks. This report provides a description of those efforts and suggests additional directions for history and interpretation at Civil War sites.

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