Interpreting Our Heritage
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Interpreting Our Heritage Interpreting Our Heritage Third Edition By FREEMAN TILDEN THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS CHAPEL HILL ¤ 1957, 1967, 1977 The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ISBN 0-8078-4016-5 Library of Congress Catalog Number 67-27763 05 04 03 22 21 20 19 Contents Foreword to the Third Edition ...................... xi Foreword to the Second Edition ..................... xiii Preface to the Second Edition ....................... xv PART ONE I. Principles of Interpretation .................... 3 II. The Visitor’s First Interest ..................... 11 III. Raw Material and Its Product ................... 18 IV. The Story’s the Thing ........................ 26 V. Not Instruction But Provocation ................. 32 VI. Toward a Perfect Whole ...................... 40 VII. For the Younger Mind ........................ 47 PART TWO VIII. The Written Word ........................... 57 IX. Past and Present ............................ 68 v vi CONTENTS X. Nothing in Excess ........................... 78 XI. The Mystery of Beauty ........................ 84 XII. The Priceless Ingredient ...................... 89 XIII. Of Gadgetry ............................... 95 XIV. The Happy Amateur ......................... 98 XV. Vistas of Beauty ............................106 Index ....................................... 117 Illustrations Between pages 6 and 7 Visible beehive, Rock Creek Nature Center, Washington, D.C. Ranger naturalist and small visitors, Acadia National Park, Maine Children’s nature walk in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California Ranger naturalist with children, Yosemite National Park, California Many interesting things in the meadow, Yosemite National Park, California Ranger naturalist and children examine sand, Yosemite National Park, California Nature story in a lodgepole-pine forest, Yosemite National Park, California Between pages 14 and 15 Visitor-information center, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho Multiple-use concept in interpretation, Ocala National Forest, Florida Two visitors use audio device, Superior National Forest, Minnesota Forest Service visitor-information specialist explains timber manage- ment in California Informal guided walk in Eldorado National Forest, California Reconstruction of Revolutionary War soldiers’ huts, Valley Forge State Park, Pennsylvania Between pages 22 and 23 Personal interaction with the resources in Acadia National Park, Maine ‘‘Graveyard of the Atlantic,’’ Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina Chesapeake and Ohio Canal through Georgetown, D.C. Liberty Bell, Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania vii viii ILLUSTRATIONS Creating a diorama in the National Park Service Museum Laboratory, Washington, D.C. Diorama depicting Elkhorn Ranch, Theodore Roosevelt National Park Memorial Park, North Dakota Between pages 34 and 35 Sand-cast moulding in Hopewell Village National Historic Site, Pennsylvania Firearms demonstrations in Morristown National Historical Park, New Jersey Life as it was lived on the frontier in Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Indiana Visitors discuss Civil War military life in Petersburg National Battle- field, Virginia Candle making demonstration in Hopewell Village National Historic Site, Pennsylvania The Colonial Kitchen operation in George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Virginia Between pages 42 and 43 Wayside exhibit in Colonial National Historic Park A model of Fort Sumter at the National Monument Hawaii’s Great Wall at City of Refuge National Historical Park Homes of pre-Columbian basketmakers, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Burials and artifacts, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Between pages 52 and 53 Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah-Colorado Fossil bones of extinct giant reptiles, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah-Colorado Careful research on excavated cliff face, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah-Colorado Inspecting ruins of prehistoric Indian apartment houses, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona ILLUSTRATIONS ix Between pages 60 and 61 Longs Peak from near Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Interpreter discusses activities with a group of campers, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Redwood forests of Muir Woods in northern California The underground world at Timpanogos Cave National Monument Between pages 70 and 71 A cow moose at Isle Royale National Park Guided walk in Yellowstone, Montana Overlook in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Evening in Campfire program, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Between pages 80 and 81 Visitor center information desk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Glacial erratic in Acadia National Park, Maine Looking into Yosemite Valley from Dewey Point Do-it-yourself interpretation, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia–North Carolina Between pages 86 and 87 Elevated Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park, Florida Underwater exploration in the Virgin Islands National Park Sorghum-cane grinding operation at Mabry Mill, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia Apple butter cooked in the old-fashioned way, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia–North Carolina Between pages 96 and 97 Wayside exhibit at Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee Furniture making demonstrated by a Cades Cove resident, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee Cannons in Fort Point National Historic Site, California x ILLUSTRATIONS A school class visiting the Frederick Douglass Home in Washington, D.C. Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. Between pages 102 and 103 Multi-storied Indian cliff dwellling at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado A swamp tromp in Everglades National Park A tram ride through the Shark Valley in Everglades National Park Ranger with children at Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods in northern California Foreword to the Third Edition ORMER Director of the National Park Service, Newton B. Drury, once observed that national parks are set aside not solely to preserveF scenic landscapes and historic places. Parks provide a greater dividend because of their unique value in ‘‘mininstering to the human mind and spirit.’’ In these perplexing times when more and more Americans seek to find in the parks leisure time alternatives to their everyday world, I believe this purpose and value is ever more significant. A guiding hand is often helpful to realize this purpose, and millions of park visitors over the years have needed help to translate that which is perceived into that which relates personally to them as individuals and to bring into focus the truths that lie beyond what the eye sees. The guiding hand is the park interpreter, and it was to this professional communicator of environmental awareness and understanding that Freeman Tilden addressed his concepts nearly a generation ago with the first edition of Interpreting Our Heritage. If this had been a book merely about the gadgetry and method- ology of interpretation, it long ago would have been obsolete. But Freeman Tilden wrote about fundamentals—the guiding principles and underlying philosophy of the interpreter’s art and craft. As pioneer of interpretive philosophy and recognized father of mod- ern park interpretation, Tilden, through Interpreting Our Heritage, has made a profound mark on the park conservation movement in America. It is no wonder that Interpreting Our Heritage has become an accepted classic in the literature of park management, read and reread by stu- dent and practitioner. His message remains as fresh as ever. xi xii FOREWORD Sigurd Olson, a contemporary of Tilden, wrote, ‘‘While we are born with curiosity and wonder and our early years full of the adventure they bring, I know such inherent joys are often lost. I also know that, being deep within us, their latent glow can be fanned to flame again by awareness and an open mind.’’ In this volume Freeman Tilden teaches us how to fan that flame in the minds of others. With eloquent wit and wry humor he leads us to the ‘‘priceless ingredient’’: love of beauty in all its forms. His chapter on ‘‘The Happy Amateur’’ speaks for all people in their quest for enriching leisure time pursuits. Park Service people have long considered Freeman a valued friend and associate, and it is a source of great pride that the National Park Service has collaborated with the author and publisher in all three editions of this book. I am personally delighted that Freeman Tilden’s words will continue to endure as inspiration and counsel to all who are concerned with the stewardship of our nation’s natural and cultural heritage. GARY EVERHARDT Director National Park Service Washington, D.C. July, 1976 Foreword to the Second Edition NATOLE France said, ‘‘Do not try to satisfy your vanity by teaching a great many things. Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enoughA to open minds; do not overload them. Put there just a spark. If there is some good inflammable stuff, it will catch fire. To excite curiosity, to open a person’s mind—there is challenge for anyone who seeks to communicate ideas. I know of no one more sensitive to the challenge than the interpreter, for he is a teacher in the purest sense of the word. He works with people who are at leisure, at the special places of beauty and history which have been dedicated and set aside. He seeks to translate, vividly, the language of the earth, and of the earth’s inhabitants. We consider interpretation to be one of the most important single activities of the National Park Service. And we are particularly proud of the contribution that