Larry Beck Ted T. Cable Douglas M. Knudson Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage For A Better World https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage For A Better World Larry Beck Ted T. Cable Douglas M. Knudson https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world ©2018 Sagamore-Venture Publishing LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher. Publishers: Joseph J. Bannon/Peter Bannon Sales and Marketing Manager: Misti Gilles Marketing Assistant: Kimberly Vecchio Director of Development and Production: Susan M. Davis Graphic Designer: Marissa Willison Technology Manager: Mark Atkinson Cover painting, “Old Point Loma Lighthouse,” by Tina Christiansen Library of Congress Control Number: 2017961081 ISBN print edition: 978-1-57167-865-2 ISBN ebook: 978-1-57167-866-9 Printed in the United States. 1807 N. Federal Dr. Urbana, IL 61801 www.sagamorepublishing.com https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world For interpreters of our cultural and natural heritage, champions of human integrity and natural beauty, who make the world a better place. https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world Contents Frontispiece .................................................................................................................. vii Foreword ......................................................................................................................... ix About the Cover and Artist ......................................................................................... xi Preface .......................................................................................................................... xiii Section I: Introduction 1. What Is Interpretation? .................................................................................... 3 2. Who Offers Interpretation? .......................................................................... 17 Section II: Why Interpret? 3. Values to Individuals and Society .............................................................. 41 4. Values of Interpretation for Management ................................................ 59 Section III: What Guides Us? 5. Guiding Principles of Interpretation ........................................................... 81 6. How People Learn ......................................................................................... 105 7. Serving Diverse Audiences ........................................................................ 127 Section IV: How To Interpret 8. Interpreting to the Masses........................................................................ 165 9. Personal Interpretation .............................................................................. 185 10. Arts in Interpretation ................................................................................ 215 11. Museums and Visitor Centers ................................................................ 233 12. Exhibits ........................................................................................................ 259 13. Trails and Byways........................................................................................ 283 14. Interpretation and the Written Word ..................................................... 303 15. Interpreting History ................................................................................... 325 Section V: Managing Interpretation 16. A Business Approach to Interpretation ................................................. 347 17. Training and Professional Growth ........................................................... 377 18. Interpretive Planning ................................................................................. 395 19. Evaluating Interpretation ......................................................................... 417 v https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world Section VI: Growth of the Profession 20. Global Interpretation ................................................................................. 435 21. The Bright Future of Interpretation ........................................................ 457 Appendix A................................................................................................................. 479 Acknowledgments................................................................................................... 480 About the Contributors .......................................................................................... 481 Photography Credits Key ....................................................................................... 484 Index ........................................................................................................................... 485 vi https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world Finding beauty in a broken world… is the work of daring contemplation that inspires action. -Terry Tempest Williams This is a new book, with a new title, and with a shift in authorship responsibilities, but with a foundation in two earlier versions of a text titled Interpretation of Cultural and Natural Resources. The new title reflects interpretation as a more deliberate process of communication and one that focuses on our heritage, rather than on resources. We have included a subtitle that we feel is critical for identifying why interpretation is offered at all—and at the most profound level. That purpose is something that most everyone could agree on, that interpreting cultural and natural heritage lends itself to a better world but is rarely put out front and center. In the title and throughout the book we have emphasized what we believe is at the root of interpretation: to make this world a better place through greater understanding, appreciation, and sense of stewardship for culture and nature. This seems to become increasingly important at this point in our history. We are aware, as readers are aware, that problems exist throughout the world. The list is long. Yet the places interpretation takes place provide refuges where people can learn and be inspired about humanity in all its diversity, the landscape, and myriad other species we share the planet with. These places, and the people who interpret there, serve as beacons of hope. Barry Lopez wrote, in the Introduction to a poem titled, I, Snow Leopard, by Jidi Majia, “We regularly forget what we want our lives to mean…We repeatedly lose touch with what we intend our lives to stand for. To protect us, the elders must constantly reacquaint us with our ideals.” Those who interpret our cultural and natural heritage help us regain touch with what we intend our lives to stand for, by seeking to appeal to the better angels of our nature and reacquainting us with our ideals. vii https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world Foreword By Eric Blehm As a young man, my aspirations for what I wished to contribute to the world were limited. Back in the mid-80s, my dream was to become a professional snowboarder at a time when snowboarding was considered a renegade “activity,” not even a sport. To better my chances of reaching stardom, I moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, a year after high school. One day, a man riding the chairlift with me began asking me all sorts of questions about the local scene. He explained that he was a journalist on assignment for a story about the area—and was actually getting paid for it. This seemed like a pretty good deal to me, making money off of travel adventures. I had discovered a new calling, and when the season ended, I headed to San Diego State University to pursue a major in journalism and a minor in outdoor resource management Eventually I was able to combine aspects of my major and minor for my book, The Last Season, about Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Service Ranger Randy Morgenson. Although Morgenson was a search-and-rescue specialist, at heart he was a naturalist philosopher—an interpreter. Having grown up in Yosemite with mentors by the likes of Ansel Adams and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner, he both loved the mountains and knew the mountains. He was enchanted by everything from the towering spires to the tiniest wildflowers, and he conveyed the magic of the Sierra mountains—through his knowledge, his passion, his experiences—to others. These are fundamental aspects of interpretation: to be an expert on the topic, to care deeply for the subject and those you share it with, and to be fully immersed in the place you work. SDSU was where I first met the lead author of Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage: For A Better World. My former professor, Larry Beck, and his colleagues, Ted Cable and Doug Knudson, have devoted their long careers to not only learning as much as possible about our cultural heritage and the wonders of our natural world, but also how these things can be communicated to others in ways that will educate them, inspire them, and move them to new ways of thinking and doing. Interpreting Cultural