Interpretation, Museums, and Historic Preservation

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Interpretation, Museums, and Historic Preservation

Wooden shoe maker, Tulip Festival, Ottawa County. (Photo courtesy of the Michigan Travel Bureau.)

Gail A. Vander Stoep

Garth McHattie6

This chapter encompasses three interrelated fields—interpretation, museums, and historic

preservation. These fields are closely related to environmental education (see chapter 14).

6 Garth McHattie was responsible for the Historic Preservation sections and related materials.

Interpretation

So what is this thing called interpretation? Interpretation is a process, a process of communicating about nature, history and/or culture. Rather than simply communicating “facts,” interpretation attempts to reveal meanings and relationships about issues, objects or concepts, with a focus on making the information relevant to people. Information that does not have meaning to individuals is not effective interpretation.

Interpretation can be applied in many different settings, such as museums, nature centers, parks, historic sites, zoos, aquaria, environmental centers associated with schools, living history farms, arboretums, cultural centers, and planetariums. Effective interpretation uses many different techniques, both personal and non-personal, including tours, exploration activities, talks, slides or film or video productions, exhibits, audio messages, publications, theater, storytelling, music, puppets, interactive displays, computers, multimedia-media productions, and others.

While interpretive techniques, approaches and locations may change as demographics, technology and social structures change, there are some basic principles which remain consistent. Freeman Tilden (1977), sometimes called the “Father of Interpretation,” has identified six.

1. Interpretation must somehow relate what is being displayed or described or explored to something within the personality or experience of individuals participating; it must be relevant to them and their lives.

2. Information, while providing the basis for interpretation, is not interpretation by itself. Rather, interpretation should facilitate revelation (sort of the ah-ha! or light bulb idea) in the participants based on the information.

3. Interpretation, as an art, taps into a variety of media and methods which, when combined with the message, effectively communicates ideas.

4. The purpose of interpretation is to provoke, not simply to instruct or teach. This implies that the process is participant-oriented rather than instructor/interpreter-oriented.

5. Interpretation should present “whole” stories rather than lots of unconnected, irrelevant facts. These “whole” stories should focus on systems, interrelationships between objects, and relationships between the stories and the people.

6. Interpretation for children should be presented in ways appropriate for their learning styles and experience repertoires as well as their physical, social, cognitive and emotional development levels. It should not be simply a “watered down” version of adult interpretation.

Tilden’s principles provide guidelines for the interpretive process. The magic of learning and discovery should be the result. Do you have an interest in helping create opportunities for this magic to happen? Do you have an interest in sharing things that are fascinating to you with others? Do you like to help others (children or adults) discover new things? Do you have a passion for history, or culture, or the natural world that you would like to share with others? Are you interested in writing, or graphic design, or exhibit planning, or theater, or storytelling, or music? If so, then perhaps the field of interpretation, may be a career option for you.

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Museums

Museums, while often involved with interpretive media and program development, have additional functions and responsibilities. They provide places where art objects, artifacts (e.g., cultural objects, historic objects, equipment), specimens (e.g., plants, animals, insects), documents, photographs and other objects are catalogued and stored safely. Museum collections provide not only archives of objects and records, but a storehouse of objects and information that can be used for all kinds of research. Consequently, they become repositories of history and culture. Museum interpretation (sometimes called public service or education), whether presented on-site or through outreach channels, provides the link between what is archived and people in the community. Media, methods and message topics are just as diverse for museums as they are for “interpretation.” Often, and mistakenly, museums are stereotyped as places where “lots of old things are crammed in glass cases, marked with yellowing labels,” that visitors can look at. But today many museums are much more vibrant and alive, responding to changes in museum philosophy that place increasing emphasis on education and public service, while maintaining intellectual rigor. Museum exhibits are designed to involve the visitors, to relate issues and information to people’s lives, to encourage personal exploration of ideas, and to facilitate dialogue among people about ideas and issues. Outreach programs—to schools, shopping malls, county and state fairs, community groups—extend the reach of museum messages. Additionally, many museums and cultural centers are involved with celebrating and sharing current culture, again making the messages come alive and have relevance for people and their communities.

How Did These Fields Develop?

Interpretation and Visitor Services

Informal movies and campfire programs were first conducted by Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) park rangers in the early 1950s. The first permanent interpreters (historians and naturalists) were hired in the late 1950s. In the 1970s, the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) was quite active in Michigan. This program involved youth in many different projects to protect the environment and provide facilities for outdoor recreation activities (e.g., trail building). An integral component of the program was environmental and conservation education.

Also in the 1970s, the State Parks joined hands with the 4-H program to hire youth activity leaders to conduct a variety of nature and outdoor activity programs with children. The Visitor Services Program peaked in the late 1970s, employing a total of 30 permanent and seasonal interpreters in parks throughout the state. Budget cuts in the early 1980s forced closure of most of the interpretive programs and facilities. Since that time, using the Sand Dune Visitor Center in P.J. Hoffmaster State Park as the core natural resource center, the State Parks and Recreation Division has been building a system of themed natural resource centers. These centers include: Sand Dune Visitor Center (Hoffmaster S.P.), Wilderness Visitor Center (Porcupine Mountains S.P.), Michigan Forestry Center (Hartwick Pines S.P.), Great Lakes Visitor Center (Ludington S.P.), Geology Center (Waterloo S.P.), Hunting and Fishing Visitor Center (Mitchell S.P.), the Saginaw Bay Visitor Center (Bay City S.P.). Under an operating agreement between the DNR and the Department of State’s Bureau of History, several historic sites provide tours, living

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history programs, exhibits and other interpretive programs. The types of collaborative arrangements and contributions of each agency vary from site to site.

Around 1960, the Association of Interpretive Naturalists (AIN) was established to provide a forum for interpretive training and sharing. Regions provided more local opportunities for Michigan interpreters. The Michiana (Michigan and Indiana) region was one of the strongest. In 1989, AIN merged with the Western Interpreters Association (WIA) to form a new organization, the National Association for Interpretation (NAI). Slightly more than 100 individuals in Michigan are members of NAI.

Museums

Museums have existed for a long time. Even many small communities have their own museums, most of them historical museums that collect and archive objects and artifacts of “town fathers” and residents throughout the area’s history. However, historic museums did not develop all at once. The Historical Society of Michigan in 1879 was given two rooms in the new capital building to display their collections. These two rooms were the birthplace of the Historical Museum of Michigan.

The history of museums in Michigan reflects the history of museum philosophy across the United States. Perhaps the easiest way to track changes in the philosophy of museums is to look at the language in the mission statements of the Michigan Historical Museums System. With the formation of the Bureau of History in 1913, the mission of the museums was to “collect, arrange, and preserve” historic objects, artifacts and documents. Museums became places where thousands of artifacts were collected, then placed on shelves or in display cases, leading to the stereotype of museums as only collections. Visitors could look at the collections, but no efforts were made to educate the public or make the artifacts and their stories relevant. By the middle of the 20th century, the mission statement dropped the word “arrange” and inserted “collect, protect and preserve.” The emphasis still was on collecting, researching and protecting objects. By the mid-1970s, the word “interpret” was added to the mission statement. At this time, museums began to organize information differently and to interpret the objects and their meanings to the public (still probably a relatively elite public). In the early 1990s, the mission statement was changed again to reflect an expanded philosophy for museums. The unique mission is to “preserve, interpret and help people discover, enjoy and find inspiration in their heritage.” The education and interpretation function is now solidly established. Emphasis now is on expanding outreach activities, creating connections with communities, and meeting the needs of (and telling the stories of) diverse cultural groups.

While many well-established museums are expanding their missions, and small museums previously operated by volunteers are hiring professional staff, new local museums operated by volunteers continue to “spring up” across the state. Each of them probably will follow a pattern of development and program offerings in their own growth stages that parallel development of museums throughout the 20th century.

Historic Preservation

In the realm of historic preservation, prior to 1966 most preservation work was being carried out by volunteers—people who had a special connection with a certain site, period of history, or artifacts. Preservation of Mount Vernon in the mid-l9th century may be perhaps one of the earliest, best-known historic buildings preserved in the United States. Despite scattered, private efforts to preserve this and similar structures, historic preservation was slow to “catch on.” In 1966, however, the United States Conference of Mayors produced a report entitled

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With Heritage So Rich, which expressed the importance of preserving history as an important part of our national heritage. Shortly thereafter, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was passed and the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation was established (Fitch, 1990).

Development of the automobile in the early 20th century allowed people to travel more easily and greater distances than ever before. Travel for pleasure became a leisure pursuit, allowing people to travel to natural and cultural resource sites, often just out of curiosity. In Michigan, auto travelers became curious about the old buildings of Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor. As in many other places, these curiosity seekers prompted furnishing of the buildings’ interiors and mounting of signs to identify the sites. Another Michigan historic site receiving tourist visitation as early as the 1920s was the popular Walker Tavern, located in Lenawee County. At that time, this site was an intriguing combination of antique shop and tourist “trap.” Collected within the buildings was a variety of objects, complete with accompanying stories, about anyone famous who had lived or visited in the area. Since then the philosophy for historic preservation and dissemination of historic information to visitors has changed greatly.

Michigan Today

Michigan is full of places where interpretive opportunities abound. Check out any “what’s happening this week” section of your local newspaper and you will find a plethora of opportunities listed: museums, nature centers, folklife festivals, cultural celebrations, special displays at the mall, theme or seasonal programs at the local zoo or planetarium, special events at nature centers or parks, historic re-enactments, farm days, industrial tours (factories, microbreweries, hydropower plants, etc.), historic home tours. Many of the sites and/or services are owned, operated or managed by the public sector (local, county, state or federal government) or private non-profit organizations, or some combination of the two. While some private collections exist in Michigan, very few, if any, museums are commercial enterprises. Some institutions are small, such as most local nature centers (Chippewa Nature Center and Kalamazoo Nature Center) or county museums (Muskegon County Museum); others are large, with multiple divisions and profit centers (Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village). Still others are units of larger management systems, such as Sleeping Bear Dunes (National Park Service), Hartwick Pines Logging Camp Museum (Michigan Historical Museums Section of the Bureau of History and the State Parks and Recreation Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources), and the Gerald E. Eddy Geology Center (State Parks and Recreation Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources).

Many historic sites and organizations celebrate periods of history, military influence or specific industries that have shaped lifestyles and Michigan’s course of history. Examples include:

· the mining industry (Michigan Iron Industry Museum, Iron Mountain Iron Mine, Coppertown USA Mining Museum, Arcadian Copper Mine Tours, Fayette Historic State Park),

· the lumbering industry (Mill Creek Sawmill, White Pine Village, Hartwick Pines Lumbering Museum),

· the importance of Great Lakes shipping and fishing (Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Maritime and Harbor Museum, Lake Michigan Maritime Museum),

· native cultures (Marquette Mission Park and Museum of O]ibwa Culture, Luckhard Indian Museum, Sanilac Petroglyphs),

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· military history (Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, Fort Wilkins Historic Complex),

· the auto industry (Henry Ford Estate, Henry Ford Museum, R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, Gilmore-Classic Car Club Museums), and

· agriculture (Selinsky-Green Farmhouse Museum, Kensington Farm Park).

Numerous historic homes and local historic museums, located across Michigan, supplement the historic and cultural stories of the state and personalize history for local residents. As local residents become involved with their history, a frequent result is growth of a sense of community and pride in their community.

Numerous local nature centers and several children’s museums (incorporating science, culture, music and theater topics) and science museums provide numerous opportunities for natural history interpretation and environmental education. Zoos, botanical gardens, planetariums, arboretums, outdoor education centers, camps and free lance interpreters provide additional types of nature-based recreation and learning opportunities. Many sites and free lance interpreters combine natural, historic and cultural messages, weaving the influence of many variables in people’s lives.