Series: NPS Archeology Guide: Archeology Outreach

The NPS Archeology Guide: Archeology Outreach provides guidance to best practices, policies, and tools to assist NPS staff in outreach efforts that communicate the public benefits of archeology to a broad constituency. It is intended for NPS archeologists, Superintendents, managers, interpreters, rangers, educators, and all others who interact with the public.

• Article 1: Introduction to Module

  Archeology outreach encompasses a range of opportunities for the public's enjoyment, education, and personal reflection. Outreach activities take place for all ages and include excavations, communications, workshops, exhibits, websites, publications and handouts, ranger talks, volunteer programs, classroom visits, and more. Such programs engage the public with archeology and its significance. Read more

• Article 2: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities

  Not only is archeology outreach a way to maximize the public benefits of NPS archeology, it is a legal and an ethical responsibility. Archeology outreach invites the public to participate and learn from archeology, which makes more transparent the use and purpose of taxpayer funds for archeological work. Read more

• Article 3: Collaboration and Consultation

  Archeology outreach is at its best when it is a collaborative effort. This chapter discusses some possible people or groups to involve. Interpreters, educators, biologists, paleontologists, historians, and descendants -- among many others -- can contribute to and benefit from working with archeologists to engage the public. Read more

• Article 4: Volunteers, Youth, and Students

  Programs for volunteers, youth, and students are an important component of archeology outreach. For the public, these opportunities provide experiences to learn more about a field of interest. For archeologists, volunteers, youth and students can support responsible resource management in a variety of ways, from fieldwork to collections management to site monitoring and protection. Seasonal employees may qualify as youth or students, but are not the focus of this guidance. Read more

• Article 5: Civic Engagement and Public Involvement

  In the NPS, Civic Engagement refers to a long-term effort to build and sustain relationships with communities of stakeholders. It includes interpretive and educational programming as well as the planning process and many other activities. Archeology has a role to play, particularly as archeological projects increasingly involve surrounding communities. Read more

• Article 6: Media and Social Media

  Use media to promote your project, cast a net for volunteers, and report on the benefits of archeology for the public. It is always a best practice to coordinate communications through or with your public information officer. Read more

• Article 7: Citizen Science and Service Learning

  Citizen science and service learning have long been part of NPS archeology outreach. Field schools, public excavation and artifact processing days, and site stewardship programs engage the public in collecting and managing archeological data. Other projects support archeology, such as background research (such as collecting newspaper data into a database or identifying elements in photographs), oral history, and experimenting with traditional materials. Read more

• Article 8: Training

  Training is available in-person and online in topics related to archeology outreach. Courses are frequently held in topics such as visitor services, volunteer programs, archeological resource protection, interpreting climate change, and more. Read more

• Article 9: Templates and Handouts

  The NPS has templates available for printed matter. Read more