Origins of Ryan's History obsession, Part 2

Last month I revealed my early interest in history. This month the two themes I wish to explore are Passion and Professionalism. Passion comes from passio- meaning 'to suffer' in Latin, and I am using it to describe the trials and tribulations through determined effort and enthusiasm on my journey until now, 'my journey' meaning how I transitioned from being an amateur enthusiast into a professional.

Remember 1998? I had been a reenactor

for a year that year as this old-school 

photograph illustrates. 

The first bit I want to share is when I started doing Civil War Living History. I talk about it a lot on this blog but it is important to understand why it is important to me. I had seen reenactors and living historians before on one of our trips. I saw my first Civil War Living History demonstration in Yorktown, VA, where a Confederate battalion demonstrated firing techniques. But I had not yet seen a battle reenactment and it would be years later before I would see one. It was when my father went to a Boy Scout leader meeting with other troop leaders and one of them mentioned going with his boys to a Civil War reenactment at Irvine Regional Park, in Irvine, CA, that day, and it would be there all weekend. My father and I went over there to see what we could see, and what we saw impressed us. At the time it was something fun to do that was appealing to me. As I got more and more into the hobby, the more I began to learn about it in fine detail. The truth was that it was given deeper interest by research and brought to life with imagination. I had previously experienced the Civil War in books and maps with red and blue arrows and sepia-toned photographs of frumpy men with beards. At a reenactment or Living History, history could be interacted with on a personal level. A curious public could ask a Living Historian the questions about why they were the way they were and receive a personal answer. Such learning fosters more learning while providing "customer service". Since joining, my interest in the shooting and running around part of the 'war' has waned, but new things take their place. Some of these new things included taking leadership of a unit and researching an officer's roles and responsibilities, civilian life, looking into 19th century past-times like Faro, and other similarly related topics. I've also branched out to other time periods like early 19th century mountain man as well as World War Two French Foreign Legion and Australian impressions. One of the elements that demonstrates passion is that this is all funded by myself. I own all my own gear; nobody bankrolls me and my impressions. I cannot calculate how much time and money I have invested in my gear. These experiences and interests remind me of a few things: we can learn to understand some of the past by walking in its shoes and that history is made up of people and not impersonal forces of nature.

My WWII Aussie Impression for the 50th
anniversary of the closing of the Kokoda
trail. The 39th Bn AIB was nearly nearly
destitute, threadbare, and starving but
saved New Guinea from the Japanese. 

Since I had a pretty good idea that I excelled at history, I decided to pursue it as a major course of study and become a teacher. I thought that if I could get kids excited in history that they would be more excited about school in general and be better, more wholesome people. Plus, I'd get summer vacations! So when I went to California State University Long Beach, I knew what I was going to major in. I attended a number of exceptional classes that challenged me academically and intellectually and all together were a fantastic experience. Once I neared the end of my undergrad, I got into the introduction to teaching classes. As I started doing my teacher training, I learned about classroom management, how to come up with lesson plans, and the education system. However, I realized that the teaching profession was not what I expected or what I wanted. Also, for years California had been clamoring for new teachers to replace the retirement aged teachers supposedly phasing out of employment and claimed there was a great need. Either the rush to retire was less than expected or the educational system had not anticipated such a response to the call and suddenly there were no teaching jobs, no funding, and a surplus of well qualified and trained teachers without jobs being dumped into the job market every May with graduation. So rather than go into teaching, I wrapped up my undergrad without the teaching credentials.  Without much direction after graduation, I went back to work at summer camp as I had done every summer of college. I had watched their outdoor education program change over a few years and I asked to join when summer was over. Steve, the program director, had been moving the program to be from a 'science camp' experience to a 'using history to teach science camp' and I liked the idea enough that I worked in this program for four seasons. The outdoor education teachers were called Trail Leaders and we led groups of 6th graders in week long camps. 

2006, it was a start.

We dressed as 'mountain men' to teach outdoor science like fire building and mammal biology in activities. We dressed as lumberjacks to teach tree ecology and geology, with activities like 'panning for gold'. Since I had experience in Living History culture, I was able to help made suggestions for costuming and curriculum corrections that helped with future programming. The informal structure of the classes really appealed to me because it was education that the student could engage in while doing an activity outside of the classroom and the strict eye of 'formal education'. I and my Trail Leader friends put in long hours for months on end to make the greatest experiences for the students, parents, and teachers. My experience with Outdoor Adventures further shaped the kind of educator I wanted to be and helped prompt me to go back to school to get my Masters degree from California State University Fullerton.

M.A. History with an emphasis in

public history, 2011.

It was there at California University Fullerton where I was introduced to public history as a discipline and historical interpretation as a vocation. At first the idea did not register with me; the term was unfamiliar to me and it was not explained very well at the time. As I spent more time in the History office (as a student office assistant) I got to know the professors better and understand a little bit more about what they did. I explained my background in Living History and Outdoor Adventure and someone asked,"Why don't you go talk to Dr. Rast about public history?" I did so and was soon enrolled in his Intro. to Public History seminar class. As we explored topics from Culture Resource Management, Archives, Historical Interpretation, Museum Curating, and all things in between, I realized that this was what I really wanted to do as an educator and a History enthusiast. I switched my emphasis as a Master to public history shortly afterward, but I needed to do an internship as part of my course of study for my Master's degree. I was blessed enough to be selected to go to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. The link describes what I did there and my thoughts about it. In preparation for my work at Harpers Ferry, the Rangers directed me to the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands website to take some online courses on the National Parks, the foundations of interpretation, and the federal government. Since then, I have taken additional interpretive courses to further my education and to make myself a better interpreter.

By the end of the internship, I knew that historical interpretation was for me and I have been working to getting a permanent position ever since. It has not been easy because while seasonal and part time positions are relatively available, the permanent jobs are few and the competition fierce. My experience at Harpers Ferry showed me what a great organization the National Park System is, and it has since been my goal to get in. I was warned beforehand that it was not easy to get into the Park system, but I failed to understand how hard it would be. Unfortunately for me, I made a number of mistakes. The first was probably leaving Harpers Ferry, but there has been no indication that I could stay. I had to finish my degree, after all. The next hindrance was the reorganization of the Pathways program. While Pathways makes getting a federal job easier if you are a college student, it was late in getting jobs ready for recent graduates. Even with an extended grace period from graduation, the amount of Park jobs available to recent graduates was practically non-existent. Consequently, that time ran out before I ever saw a Pathways opening for a Park Service position that I was qualified for. My only ways in were to be a veteran (which meant boot camp, uncertain futures, possible deployment, and years of service I simply don't have) or national service with the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps VISTA program.

Stationed interpretation at the Guard House

While I worked as a director of my own outdoor education program in 2012, I simultaneously applied to VISTA and the SCA. The SCA (Student Conservation Association) is attractive on a resume in pursuit to a National Park job since many of the positions partner with the National Parks. It is primarily a conservation program, the positions extended to cultural and historical conservation as well. While I am more history focused, a interpreter with a will to interpret the environment would also benefit from a term of service with the SCA as well.While Fort Scott National Historic Site selected me and I had a great time there as well. I was charged with putting together a 30 minute activity lesson on the Quartermaster Depot during the Civil War which ran about twice a week for a month. I created my own tour of the site at their behest. Since it is the only NPS site that includes the 'Bleeding Kansas' time period, I thought it was an excellent topic for my tour and I focused on the events in Fort Scott in 1858 when the town was directly involved in the conflict. This time on the old frontier helped hone my experience and training into something that was much more professional. The problem of it all was that the 3 month appointment would separate me from my wife since she had an excellent job and it would be a tough time for her to find a new job for just 3 months. So with a heavy heart I headed to Kansas without her in pursuit of my career.

As a VISTA, I managed the

Northeast Iowa Food Bank Garden

and recruited and trained volunteers

and quadrupled the production from

900 lbs. in 2014 to 3,896 lbs in 2015

After Fort Scott, my career started to take new turns. The summer after Fort Scott, I worked at Living History Farms in Iowa and really took my Living History game to another level. You can read about some of my experiences here on this blog. It was also during this time that I started this blog, which was originally supposed to be about my experiences at Living History farm and take each week as a lesson, but as I examined the vast internet further, I noticed a lack of historical interpretive websites that were really meaningful or explored the topic further, so I decided to gear this blog into that gap in a way that demonstrates my web-savvy, some of my technical skills, and creates more of an 'online presence' for me. As before, my time at Living History Farms meant another period of separation with my wife, this time it was for 8 long months. While in Iowa, I finally got into VISTA in August of 2014 at a Food Bank.  VISTA is a segment of the AmeriCorps that fights poverty in America by increasing program capacity rather than directly serving. I use this example to explain: If my task is to teach middle school students how to improve their reading abilities after school with them, that is direct service. If I recruit, train, place, and manage volunteers in a program that teaches middle

school students to improve their reading ability, that is increasing the capacity. What I did was recruit, train, and manage volunteers in a garden program for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. I talk about that experience a little bit here. Rather with be separated with my wife for a whole year on top of 8 months, my wife and I decided that she would join me in Iowa and live on my 'living stipend' until she was able to secure work. Now that my term of service is done, I now have the much sought after thing I need to finally get my way into the National Parks: Noncompetitive Appointment Eligibility with the Federal Government.

Within the Federal hiring system there are several special hiring authorities that essentially 'short-list' job candidates into a separate pool from the average U.S. citizen. Some of these special hiring authorities include Veterans' Recruitment Appointment (VRA), 30% Disabled Vets, Schedule A (persons with disabilities), and Peace Corps and VISTAs. These are usually in separate categories or have jobs especially open for these candidates. To date, I have not been selected for a status candidate job or other related hiring path, but am working seasonally for the Park Service now. Hopefully, I will continue to get some more phone call offer from some great parks, as I know they would love having me and I think that I would have a lot to contribute based on some of the things I have outlined here and hopefully get into a permanent position. If you are interested in trying to get into the National Parks or other parts of the Federal government, all their open jobs can be found at usajobs.gov.

Professional but fun-loving

The culmination of my experiences in college and teaching formally and informally helped define where I wanted to use my training, talent, and experiences in order to share my excitement about history and help shape visitor's experiences into meaningful memories. My work experience with two National Parks, and a historical interpretation site gave my practical lessons on working with the visiting public and an appreciation for the craft of interpretation. My time in VISTA helped me to become more empathetic with other people in situations similar to mine. It also opened my eyes to the poverty and need embedded deeply in America and that while I have suffered separation, low wages, long hours, long drives, and pressing need, I have seen the suffering of others in people lacking the ability to get enough resources as to be able to feed themselves. While I talk about passion as my intense drive and willingness to to go to places for low wages for my future, I interacted with people who have to suffer limited or no choices in how they live and whether they can afford to eat in true passion.

It has been a long road to here. As this new year is already underway I hope that the time, money, learning, and passion will produce a good result in a site that can recognize that I am a truly devoted and unique person who wants to live and love my passion for history and is willing to go long and far for what I love to do.

Origins of Ryan's History obsession, Part 1

Everybody has a story. Some are more interesting than others, some don't want to share their stories, but we all have them. Our story is our own, unique to each person. My story is different than my brother's story and my sister's story as well, even though we grew up in the same household. These stories are shaped by outside forces, our own natures, and the collection of choices we made actively and passively that brought us to the here and now. Because, after all, isn't history a story that is well researched and documented? Excellent story-telling makes for a better experience than a recitation of dates, facts, and supporting documentary evidence. In order to demonstrate a little of what I mean, I have decided to talk a little bit about my story in two parts and the journey to being a historical interpreter.

Coloring books were the best! Although

the Dimetrodon was extinct long before

 the Pterodacyl came about in the Jurassic 

period. Just sayin'.

It started with dinosaurs. Like a lot of little boys growing up in the 1980s, I had a fascination with dinosaurs. I probably had a every published children's book on dinosaurs and knew all the major species and subspecies classified by what era. I can still do this, but to a much lesser degree now. I could say 'paleontologist' before most other 'hard' vocabulary words. Nearly all the books said that the dinosaurs lived ages ago, but you could still find their skeletons today. When you are a youngster, that is all the motivation you need to hear to start tearing up your backyard looking for dinosaur bones so you could name one yourself! I never did find any dinosaur bones, but I did have my first interest in historical things. My focus shifted to human history very soon.

Yes, it was a dumb movie, but if it

inspired me to take a path to understand

history better and to help others understand

it by making it real, does it matter that it

was dumb?  

As I got a little older, my father brought home a VHS movie rental of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Before you moan and groan, appreciate the magic of movies and a young person's mind. When we were young, we saw the people on screen for what they are, Luke Skywalker, Marty McFly, and Bill S. Preston, Esq. not as Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, etc. We saw the character, not the actor. But back to Bill and Ted, why did these two clowns pass their history class? What turned them around from confusing Joan of Arc with Noah's wife? A personal experience with Joan herself. What we could learn if we could talk to the real thing and cut out all the academic and revisionist baloney that comes with study! Mr. Lincoln, when you said this, what did you really mean? Sure it was a goofy comedy about time travel and history, but it excited something within me that wanted to know what it was really like. Bill and Ted made history come alive for me because the past was not even really the past if it could step out of a time travelling telephone booth. Would not history be like it actually was? Or as Leopold von Ranke, one of the modern shapers of the discipline of history wrote wie es eigentlich gewesen (how it actually was)? With this idea that history could be made alive came the seeds of a fascination with history and learning from it and making it meaningful. It also started a slow fascination with Living History, or interpreting the time period while wearing the clothing styles of the time period I am interpreting.To present oneself as a historical character was to connect with a person who thinks and acts differently than we do today and perhaps understand them and therefore ourselves in the process.While the film has not aged very gracefully over the years, it was an inspiration that history is an important thing.

The Petersen house was where Abraham Lincoln died after his

assassination in 1865. It is presently administered by the NPS.

My father works for Delta Airlines. One of the great employee benefits was cheap travel. So we never did long car rides, just long plane rides. As I grew up, one of the incentives for doing well in school was to get 4 out of 6 grades to be A's, then we could fly to anywhere in the US, except Florida or Hawai'i. My mother insisted that it be educational, and not amusement parks. I loved to travel and explore new places and so that incentive worked well for me. As a result, we went to many places. Our family went to Boston, Gettysburg, Washington DC a few times, and all over Virginia more times than I can remember. As I look back, I realized that the places I went to were innately historical in nature. I wanted to see battlefields, monuments, and places where important things happened. I didn't want to go see nationally recognized aquariums, for example. But I understood the power of This is where it happened. Abraham Lincoln, who was depicted in that silly movie, his real blood is on that pillow on that bed that he died upon across the street from Ford's Theater. Having that opportunity to be able to go and be at those places helped form me further into the kind of historian that I am today. I soon began to understand the power of place even if I did not understand what it was. Being there on the very spot has power when connecting with visitors.

My journey began with dinosaurs, Bill and Ted, and travel and these early influences are critical in guiding me on my path today. Without them and their influence in my life, I would be a totally different person in terms of my interests, education, and chosen profession. This post is about inspiration and interest. The next segment is going to be about training and passion.

Whatever holiday you are celebrating this year, I hope it is pleasant and enjoyable and I hope that you have a happy new year, 2016!

Demonstration Animal Butchering and Dressing for Consumption: a Quandry

--This topic may be controversial and may include some pictures that some people might object to. If you feel you can handle it, read on.--

Oct 17 and 19, 1781, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington

A white flag of truce held aloft. A simple symbol that meant so much on that 17th of October. It was 1781 and it had been six hard years of fighting since Lexington and Concord. With the flag of truce, the Continental Army had a decisive victory over Cornwallis' army pinned against the James River in Yorktown using a coalition of French troops and navy with the Continental Army. The 18th was a day of negotiations and deliberations. A thrill of victory elated the spirits of the victorious as they watched their British foes march away with arms reversed on October 19th when the terms of surrender were agreed upon; however, their feeling was temporary. The fighting was not over. Indeed, it would not be over until the peace brought by the treaty made it ashore and into the farthest frontier places of the British Empire and the new American nation. This happened nearly two years later because of difficulties in traveling around the world to inform everyone that the war was finally over. But at that time and place they had a significant victory, and to the British, it was a significant enough of a victory to realize that it was useless to continue. It was only later that Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown was viewed as the final battle of the Revolutionary War.

The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis is an oil painting by John Trumbull. The painting was completed in 1820, and hangs in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. - From Wikipedia

Some might recognize July 4th, 1776, as the most significant date in the history of the United States, since that is the date most associated with our national independence. But July 4th would only be a vague date of a piece of trivia had not Lord Cornwallis given the order to surrender. Nor would it be remembered had the war ended badly for Washington. As October 17th and 19th come and go this year, it is easy to not remember their significance. They will probably pass without much media or social comment since 2015 is not a significant anniversary year (The 234th anniversary). Still, without that surrender, the war could have dragged on. The United States, for all it's worth, good or bad, would not have existed if the British held out. Because of that surrender, our national history began, our independence was validated, and the separation from Britain was complete.

Just some thoughts I have on this date.

Interpretive writing piece about my present exploits in national service

This summer I took an online class on Interpretive Writing. As a result of my completion of this course, I decided to write a brief interpretive piece on my present work that I have been at for the last year as a way of both informing my readership of my present activities and of starting to use the knowledge I have gained from this course.

***

Gardening is a dirty business. As we develop new gadgets and technologies that keep us happy indoors in our sanitized little worlds, there are those of us who are still outside getting dirty, because food just does not appear without some work. Though, most of the time, it's fun. It takes time, planning, planting, and tending to get a seed to sprout, mature, and begin to produce a product that we can eat. Think about some of your favorite foods for a second. Which ones are fruits or vegetables? What foods are meat or dairy? Do not the animals that meat and dairy come from eat vegetables? Food is a very important topic to many of us. We are born hungry and will be hungry in a matter of time, so it is important to have food to eat. The sweat on our brow, muddy boots, dirt under out nails, and full baskets proclaim our good work in making that happen for some people.

Last year when I worked at Living History Farms, the gardens were an important part of the exhibits there. Gardening was important for healthy lives in the past just as eating healthy is today. I learned a lot about growing and resources to use from Living History Farms and I was able to apply them to what I do now at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. I am an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) and I give a year of my life in national service. I recruit, train, and manage volunteers for the Food Bank's quarter acre garden. I choose the growing strategy for the garden and thus selected to plant fruits and vegetables that the Food Bank does not get a lot of donations for, and pick a wide variety for people to enjoy once the produce is harvested and sent to the onsite pantry. Bright tomatoes, supple beans, hearty peppers, brightly colored Swiss Chard, leafy kale, spicy radishes, petite peas, prolific squash, and heavy watermelons are some of the things we grow.

Why do we grow a garden at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank? 

We grow a garden because we care about people. 1 in 5 children are food insecure in Northeast Iowa; that means that you probably know someone's child that does not know when they will next eat a meal (if you are living here in Iowa). Also 10% of senior citizens in the Northeast use the Food Bank. Some have difficulty living on a a fixed income; others are shut-ins and cannot provide for themselves. At a time in our history that we have the most amount of food in America, people cannot get enough to eat in some communities, or have access to healthy foods. Something must be done to help these people.

Ryan with some of the produce; Georgia 

collard greens in the foreground, Toscano 

kale behind me, and Bright Lights 

Swiss Chard after and Marigolds beyond.

Hunger affects us all, for we all get hungry. Perhaps you can recall a time when you were hungry. Were you agitated? Weak? Unfocused? Image being like that for a week or more. This is the reality of some people not just here in Northeast Iowa, but all over the United States, and all over the world. We all hunger, which is one of the traits that unites all living things, yet there are things that we can do to help. September is Hunger Action Month. Orange is the color that we wear to raise awareness to bring the cause of fighting food insecurity. I garden to fight this, to provide nutritious food, but I also teach students how to grow their own food, and next year I intend to prompt the next Garden Coordinator to teach classes for our pantry clients. You may have heard a phrase,"Give a man a fish and he will eat for the day, but teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a life-time." I can do that same thing, but with growing food. But that is what I can do; there are ways that you can help too if growing food is not what you do. As I am nearing the end of my term of service with AmeriCorps VISTA, I can see how I have grown as a gardener, and as a person who cares for people. What I can say is this: find out how to help others, and maybe it will grow on you.  

Produce from the Garden

***

Break down

Categories for structure and content are in blue, my answers are in red.

Possible Audience: Diverse adult audience

Great interpretive stories include three things:

• Memorable character development of a tangible resource at the site.
• The intangible meanings and/or universal concepts related to the tangible resource.
• Some degree of conflict or tension.

Outline of interpretive concepts:
Gardening, food, work - tangible
Hunger Action Month - intangible
Hunger/eating and helping others - universal
Food insecurity - conflict

To identify the good stories at your site, consider answering the following questions about the resources at your site:

• Is there conflict between people and natural systems? Yes, unequal access or ability to obtain proper amounts of food.
• Is there a resolution or non-resolution of conflict? Non-resolution, the problem continues.
• Are there consequences of action or in-action? Implied consequences of inaction, positive consequences for action.

Interpretive writing should have Goals and should do the following:

• Describe broad desired outcomes.
• Connect to the website's purpose and significance.
• Connect to the interests of the visitor.

Goal of the the Interpretive piece: To inform readers as to my recent activities, display interpretive writing techniques and concerns, and raise awareness to a great cause.

Objective statements should:

• Clearly describe what you hope the reader will be able to know, do or feel as a result of the writing.
• Use action verbs.
• Allow you to get a sense of whether you are accomplishing your goals.
• Include specific, measurable outcomes that could be evaluated.
• Objectives for interpretive products should include specific measures of the interpretive outcomes.
• When writing your objectives, be sure to include interpretive outcomes instead of purely knowledge based objectives.

Objectives of this interpretive piece:

The reader will be able to identify where I have been working for the last year.

The reader will be able to state some of the produce grown in the garden.

The reader will be able to state some reasons why gardening is important.

The reader will be provoked into making a decision about food insecurity.

Themes: Themes reveal the topic's relevance to the audience. Themes examine something meaningful about the resource, are relevant to the audience, and provide opportunities for the reader to find their own meanings in the topic of the writing. Your theme will be relevant to your readers if you include a universal concept and answer the questions "So what?" and "What's in it for them?"

"Ryan's experience gardening for the Food Bank has helped him see how gardening helps the hungry, food insecure people of Northeast Iowa, and wants others see this too."

***

By breaking down an interpretive piece, the main basic components of interpretive writing can be seen and examined. I hope that you can see now what I did and how I did it and why it is important to answer some of the tougher questions, like, "So what?" Making a topic relevant and meaningful is not easy, but is essential for making it worthwhile. I cannot write to inform people and expect those people to care if it does not touch them or appeal to them. I hoped you liked this brief interpretive piece and I may spend some time to make a few more here and there.

150th Commemoration - Home Sweet Home at Fort Snelling

We, as a human race, would like to think ourselves and our actions significant. We ascribe meaning and value to our actions and efforts. When one of us does something powerfully extraordinary, we note it, save it, clip out the newspaper headline, or give trophies and honor. We remember and honor our losses as well. Birthdays are a great example of this. We mark the date on our calendars to commemorate the delivery of a baby and to celebrate how that person has grown and what they have accomplished on that date. We gather and celebrate them. Even after their death, we celebrate their life even in our grief and memory. Commemoration, the celebration of beginnings, endings, life, struggle, death, or loss, is a powerful force in our social lives.

I bring up commemoration because I recently commemorated the end of the Civil War in a very unique way. This post is about the mustering out of the 2nd Minnesota reenacted and commemorated at Fort Snelling. The 2nd Minnesota had an impressive record, not as famous as the 1st Minnesota of Gettysburg, but perhaps more so. They defended Snodgrass Hill with Gen. George Thomas "The Rock of Chickamauga", stormed up and overran Missionary Ridge, fought through Atlanta and to the sea, up through the Carolinas, took the surrender of Johnston's army, and marched through the streets of Washington City in the Grand Review. Now they were coming home to where most of the veterans had mustered in and our job was to portray them. 

Unintentional posing by the sign

Shared from Friends of Fort Snelling

What drew me to this event was how unique it was. The event included arrival by paddle-wheel boat, marching to the fort, barrack life and displays, welcome home celebration meals, pay and final discharge from the army, and it was not a far drive for a 150th commemorative event. I registered early and through a fortuitous acquaintance I managed to secure a spot with Co. K, the unit designation for the campaigner group "the Hairy Nation Boys". The Hairy Nation typically does a first-person interpretation, so I had to create a backstory for myself for this event. It was my first time doing a solid first person impression for a weekend and I think I did well. I had an opportunity to meet some of the members of the Hairy Nation before we went to this event at a training march in April and that helped smooth the transition coming into a company without knowing anyone.

The weekend of the event, we carpooled to the event site. There we finished our
paperwork, were given our corps badges, and were given the location of which barracks rooms we were to occupy for the weekend. We made bedsacks (mattresses bags) beforehand that we stuffed with hay, rather than sleep on the hard and uneven floor. That was another thing that does not happen at every event: sleeping in buildings and mattresses. At the evening formation we practiced the parade-ground maneuver that we were to perform for the crowds tomorrow. Soon the mosquitoes and the sunlight were out and I went to bed, because the next morning was going to be an early start so we could get breakfast and our gear prepared for the boat trip and our grand entrance.

Boat ride! Preparing to disembark

Shared from Here

Here we see the recreated 2nd Minnesota Infantry marching to Fort Snelling. What a grand sight.
Posted by Historic Fort Snelling on Saturday, August 15, 2015

Our arrival at the dockside Saturday morning was exciting to ourselves and curious onlookers. Once aboard, we made our way down river enjoying the breeze, a cookie or two, and the pleasant conversation about what we will do once we are discharged. We arrived at the shoreline after some skillful maneuvering by the ship's pilot, the gangplank was lowered, and we carefully made our way into the interior shaded area. There we assembled, reformed, called roll, inspected arms, and got our one blank round for a firing demonstration. We marched up the steep incline with our martial music, took a break to collect our stragglers, and marched toward the gates of the fort and the cheering crowds. It was a emotional and moving sight to behold.

There we were 'speechified' and dismissed to the barracks and soon to the chow line. From there our act was boredom, anxiously waiting for pay and to go home. The next day was more formations for the crowd. We lined up for pay call and filled out paperwork regarding our final discharge. It was a surreal moment signing my name to sheet. We had to leave early so I was not part of the formal dismissal, which disappointed me, but the cool parts were already behind us.

While there are a number of ways to mark the end of the Civil War and the close of the 150th anniversary series, I felt this was a fitting end. When I held my salute at Appomattox Court House back in April, it was the end of a chapter in American history as another chapter quickly took its place. Too often we see the troops and the battles and the gore and we lose sight of what matters most of all to us. I think that is the personal stories of people living in their historical context. I think in seeing the war and large movements, we lose the individual soldier and their story.

Boat ride! Preparing to disembark

Shared from Here

It is because of these things that we commemorate. Real live breathing, dreaming, flawed people wanted to make their lives meaningful and so they commemorated their lives in to a shared understanding of their experience; in this case, we commemorated the individual soldiers coming home after long years of hardship, trial, and danger and their lives mattered to them, each other, and their families. We remember their lives in history as a whole, in things like regimental histories or in large battle, but the families keep the memories of their individual soldiers. Because if you examine, memory is a root word for commemorate; memory is essential to commemorations. We mark the years that have passed since then; the old veterans met and recollected, their families

Glad that the war is over, but seeing papa alive and well

means more to individuals

Shared with Historic Fort Snelling

heard their stories, and they carried on those traditions and stories in their own ways and passed them to their children, and so on. So when the Civil War Centennial anniversaries started back in the 60s, the stories of family members long gone and the impact of the Civil War, both good and bad, struck a chord in our collective understanding to commemorate the 100 years that had passed since then. That chord strike reverberates to today 150 years later and in all sorts of ways.

I loved this event because it was about regaining the story of the individual soldier; about people moving on in their lives. It was about people who had done some extraordinary things becoming citizens that created the rich fabric of our reintegrated nation. As the 150th anniversaries close, we choose to remember and commemorate the efforts, sacrifices, and lives of the soldiers who fought this war and to do them justice in our portrayal of them so that others can learn from them.

Parade - rest

Shared from Friends of Fort Snelling

Interpreting Our Heritage by Freeman Tilden

It was going to happen sooner or later. One probably cannot have a blog on interpretation and not talk about Freeman Tilden's Interpreting Our Heritage at some point. I've already referred to it previously and we also had an introduction to Freeman Tilden by guest blogger, Hilary Grabowska, but I felt it needed a full post to do it justice.

From the NPS website

Interpreting Our Heritage is one of first documents on interpretation, regardless of it being environmental or historical. It is the first book of its kind to lay out a basic definition of interpretation and is the first book the National Parks use to train ranger interpreters. I first read Interpreting Our Heritage in grad school where it was part of the Introduction to Public History class taught by Dr. Raymond Rast at Cal State University Fullerton. When I accepted an internship at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in summer of 2010, this book was one of the books I brought with me, and was part of my reading requirement.

Masterfully written by Freeman Tilden, it lays out what interpretation is, what it isn't, and how it works. Freeman had worked at a number of National Parks and talked to many visitors about why they wanted to go to National Parks, what they expected to see, and what they were enticed into learning. At its basic core, interpretation is an elective education. As such, a visitor could simply walk away whenever they are inclined to, for whatever reason. Because of this, the methods used by interpreters work to try to find subtle means of captivating the audience into enjoying themselves unexpectedly. It is used by the National Parks as the basis for their interpretation programs, but other state, local, municipal, and private locations use the principles as well.

Freeman Tilden, from Npshistory.com

Tilden developed 6 principles of interpretation. He knew he would miss a few and admitted that the 6 are probably not the only ones, but set them forth as a starting point for others to build on. The 6 principles are:
1. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile. This means knowing the audience or finding universal truths that resonate with them. If it is something that doesn't excite them, can you find something that will? Because they will not engage, participate, understand, or care if you can not reach them personally.

2. Information, as such, is not interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based on information. But they are entirely different things. However, all interpretation includes information. Compare a novel and a dictionary. A dictionary has information and facts. A novel has information and facts too, but the information and facts tell a story. Which one is more engaging? The revelation of facts and information is part of the interpretation as well as it is the discovery (and sometimes mutual discovery) that leads to a greater experience.

3. Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are scientific, historical, or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable. Interpretation is an art because it is an interpersonal skill, like public speaking, haggling, and story-telling. Interpretation covers a wide variety of content. I like the historical stuff. Others get excited about geology. I am not excited about geology. But if I find the right interpreter who can make geology less boring, I will stick around to listen or participate. Because it is a skill, it can be taught. If it can be taught, it can therefore be learned.

4. The chief aim of interpretation is not instruction, but provocation. This is the most important lesson right here. It is hard to get to successfully, but to provoke a listener by your interpretation into some kind of action is the result of a successful interpretive lesson. This provocation can be mentally stimulation, physical action, or spiritual contemplation or any combination.

5.  Interpretation should aim to present the whole rather than a part, and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase. Presenting the whole means using the example to apply to the larger, general, universal themes. Not just the trees, but the forest, and even forests everywhere. The tricky part is addressing the whole person rather than any phase. This also has to do with reaching out to the visitor and grasping a hold of something that interests them, whether something specific or universal.

6. Interpretation addressed to children (say up to the age of twelve) should not be a

Interpreting to students takes patience, skill, and

personality, but it takes an intense love to be a

good interpreter.

dilution of the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it will require a separate program. This is a fight against the infamous "dumb-ing down" approach. Kids can be very smart; you just have to explain things differently to them, even if you have to have a separate program to develop so that they can understand what is going on.

Perhaps the most impressive chapter he wrote was on the "Priceless Ingredient." There, he addressed a topic that he does not put forth into a principle, but is essential to interpretation, and that is love. Yes, you read that right; love. A love for people and for your work as a interpreter. He goes so far to state that if his principles could be summed up into a single principle, that principle would be love. Because if you love people, then you will try to reach them where they are without being intrusive to their lives and step toward their understanding. A love for the content, craft, learning, or place makes it all worthwhile for a visitor. People are attracted to people who are alive with their vibrancy. If you get into a conversation with any enthusiast, the conversation will turn to their pursuits will be only be a matter of time, if not right away! For a book that tends to be long winded and dated and full of archaic quotations, this single chapter was pure gold to me.

Talking to people about history is what I do.

Tilden's writing style is out of vogue with today's styles of writing. I am afraid to say that many people I know find it difficult to read. He reminds me much of the writer C.S. Lewis, in that he has a lot to say, takes a long time saying it, and you are not quite sure what you understood when you heard it, but it only made sense after you have digested it much later. In this sense, the text is dated. So it may be a difficult read for someone who is not used to - or have the patience for - reading older styles of writing, but if you are a history major, this kind of writing should not be too difficult for you.

The NPS holds Tilden in a very high reverence, such that I know no other book on interpretation other than Interpreting Our Heritage, even though it was written well over 60 years ago. I feel that in many ways, the NPS has not moved on from this book or that there is no follow through (that I am aware of) to a more modern and expanded understanding of this craft. I'm sure some of you know of a few contenders that are great books to follow up from Tilden's classic. I think it would be a good idea to post some further suggestions for reading material in the comments and I will see if I can review those at a later date.