And preachin\u27 from my chair : The Historian and the Interpreter

I\u27ve been thinking lately of titles. The new blog Emerging Civil War\u27s inaugural post touched off a powder-keg of thought for me. Looking down the list of contributors yields name after name listed as historian at.... But most of those folks appear to have the official job title of park ranger, interpreter, or visitor use assistant, and not historian. This got the wheels in my head turning. [excerpt

Standing Up by Sitting Down: Join the Student Sit-Ins at the Smithsonian

Continuing my review and discussion that I started last week of the NMAH\u27s historical theater programs, this week, I want to talk about the other program I attended on my most recent visit down to the mall: the Join the Student Sit-Ins program. Long story short, Join the Student Sit-Ins is another great interpretive offering from the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The program thrives on visitor involvement and reflection. It\u27s engaging, historically deep, emotional, and probing for answers, ultimately asking more questions than finding answers. [excerpt

Experience + Interaction

What do our historic sites and museums offer to visitors? More importantly, what should we strive to offer? Right now, I think many of our historic sites offer two different things: a variety of experiences and access to a wealth of information. Sites like Antietam offer a number of different experiences – from taking a tour over the battleground where so many fought and died, to driving through the battlefield at night seeing thousands of luminaries, each one representing a life. Our historic sites also offer access to knowledge and information – many times through those experiences they offer. Continuing to use Antietam as our guide, this access to information includes things such as a talk with a park ranger who has studied the battle for many years, to a movie that explains the battle complete with maps and reenactments in the park theater. [excerpt

Don\u27t Say Slave: Interpreting Slavery at NAI 2011

Slave, servant, fugitive, runaway, master, slave owner, and farm. What do all of these words have in common? Well, if you went to Angela Roberts-Burton\u27s NAI session, Overcoming the Obstacles of Interpreting Slavery, you would know that all of these are words that she urged interpreters not to use when interpreting slavery and slave life. Instead, you should use: enslaved, freedom seeker, fled bondage, slave holder, and slave plantation. [excerpt

Playing with Time and Contradictons: Warfield and Barksdale at Gettysburg

There is a small white farmhouse that sits a mile or so outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the time of the battle of Gettysburg, a blacksmith known as James Warfield owned it. Warfield, a 42 year old widower, had just moved to Gettysburg the year prior, 1862, from Maryland with his four daughters. Once in Gettysburg, he opened up a blacksmith shop adjoining his farm. In a county full of carriage makers, you could be assured that there was plenty of work for blacksmiths, and Warfield’s shop was touted as one of the best. [excerpt

Meet Mr. Everyman: Everyone His Own Interpreter

In 1931, Carl Becker, president of the American Historical Association, the largest professional organization of historians, gave a speech in which he tried to distill history to its very essence. In that address, “Everyman His Own Historian,” Becker declared that history reduced to its lowest terms was the “memory of things said and done.” Using that simple definition, Becker argued that everyone, no matter whether they had professional training or expertise, was in some way, at some point in time, an historian. Everyone at some time in their lives did as a historian does – asks a question about the past and researches it, using evidence to come up with the most logical conclusion. [excerpt

Falling Like Autumn Leaves: Cutler\u27s Brigade at Gettysburg

The 147th New York\u27s monument stands along Reynolds Avenue, silently (and incorrectly) marking where the regiment bravely fought and fell on that July day in 1863. The monument lists the brigade, division, and corps of the regiment, along with the various other battles that are part of the regiment\u27s story. It also lists the regimental losses as well - out of 380 men that started the fight on July 1, 212 men were killed and wounded. Placed by the veterans themselves, they knew what that monument represented. It represented the entire ordeal of their regiment and its brigade on the first day of Gettysburg. [excerpt

30 Minutes with John Brown at the Smithsonian

Last week, my folks were in town from Ohio visiting me and doing the \u27tourist thing\u27 in our nation\u27s capitol. On one of their days in town, I met them after work at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH). We saw the Great Garrison Flag and the gunboat Philadelphia. My mom saw the First Ladies\u27 dresses while my father and I went to the military exhibit instead (we\u27re not much for fancy dresses). And although they were tired, and by this time had had their fill of history, I convinced them to let me drag them along to see two of the Smithsonian\u27s interpretive programs. [excerpt

Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the NPS

Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service, a joint report between the NPS and the OAH was released a couple of weeks ago. Since then, it has been mentioned on Twitter, other blogs, on the OAH\u27s website, and it figures to be the topic of much discussion when the NCPH and OAH meet up in Milwaukee this weekend for their annual conference. I\u27ve read the report several times now, and I have been mulling over it for some weeks. I felt now would be a proper to time to throw a couple of my reactions out there as well

Slavery and Justice Today

\u27doubleshotcanister\u27 makes a great point about being ever mindful of our present connections to past historical atrocities, crimes against humanity, and the other not-so-shining moments of our country\u27s history. I agree with him. Not only do we have to come clean about our nation\u27s past history - equally laying out the bad and good to find a useable past, but also to be cognizant of our decisions and actions today. [excerpt