Public History Commons^™

Public History Service Learning In National Parks Campus-Community Partnerships For The Preservation Of Minidoka National Historic Site, Mia Russell

History Graduate Projects and Theses

This Master of Applied Historical Research project entailed the development and launch of an iOS-platform mobile application that provides an interpretive walking tour of Minidoka National Historic Site (Minidoka NHS). Established in 2001, Minidoka is a remotely located National Park Service unit which preserves one of the ten mainland United States WWII Japanese American concentration camps. With the Visitor Contact Station slated to open in 2019, the site has lacked in-depth interpretation of the history and landscape in a meaningful way, detracting from the typical visitor experience. The accompanying analytical essay situates the process of creating the Minidoka NHS mobile …

Interpreting Access: A History Of Accessibility And Disability Representations In The National Park Service, Perri Meldon

Masters Theses

This thesis illustrates the accomplishments and challenges of enhancing accessibility across the national parks, at the same time that great need to diversify the parks and their interpretation of American disability history remains. Chapters describe the administrative history of the NPS Accessibility Program (1979-present), exploring the decisions from both within and outside the federal agency, to break physical and programmatic barriers to make parks more inclusive for people with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities; and provide a case study of the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site (HOFR) in New York. The case study describes the creation of …

Springing Forth Anew: Progress, Preservation, And Park-Building At Roger Williams National Memorial, Sara E. Patton

Masters Theses

The process of local preservation, urban renewal, and national park building at Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, Rhode Island, reveals important facets of the urban park idea. In 1958, the Providence Preservation Society and the Providence City Plan Commission jointly released the College Hill Study, which called for renewal of the College Hill neighborhood through preservation of the architecturally significant homes, selective demolition, and the creation of a new National Park Unit dedicated to Providence’s founder, Roger Williams. The new park, established in 1965, went through a lengthy planning process before opening in 1984. The planning process revealed concerns …

"Of The Human Heart": Personal Significance And The Key To Interpretation, Alexandria J. Andrioli

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

About seven months ago, I was asked during an interview for my current internship what I thought the National Park Service could do to gain the interest of more millennials. This question was posed to me in light of the fact that I am a member of the millennial generation. And what was my incredibly insightful answer, you may ask? “I don’t know.” There were some rambling and incoherent sentences before I finally delivered that bombshell of a response, but that was my final answer, much to my embarrassment. Now that I am almost a month into my second National …

From Post To Park: The Fort Monroe National Monument, Kaylyn L. Sawyer

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The Civil War Institute will be celebrating the National Park Service Centennial this spring with its brand new “Find Your Park Friday” series. Inspired by the NPS #FindYourPark campaign, the series will challenge our fellows to share their experiences exploring America’s national historical, cultural, and natural resources through trips and internships with the NPS. In our sixth post, Kaylyn Sawyer takes a look at the history of her park. [excerpt]

Find Your Park Friday: For The Love Of Nature, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The Civil War Institute will be celebrating the National Park Service Centennial this spring with its brand new “Find Your Park Friday” series. Inspired by the NPS #FindYourPark campaign, the series will challenge our fellows to share their experiences exploring America’s national historical, cultural, and natural resources through trips and internships with the NPS. In our second post, Jeff Lauck discusses his passion for photography and the park that started it. [excerpt]

Find Your Park Friday: Meg And Megan Take Fredericksburg And Spotsylvania Nmp, Meg A. Sutter, Megan E. Mcnish

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The Civil War Institute will be celebrating the National Park Service Centennial this spring with its brand new “Find Your Park Friday” series. Inspired by the NPS #FindYourPark campaign, the series will challenge our fellows to share their experiences exploring America’s national historical, cultural, and natural resources through trips and internships with the NPS. In our first post, CWI Social Media Coordinators Meg and Megan discuss their time interning at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. [excerpt]

Dig Into Local Black History, John M. Rudy

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Introduction to Dr. Louis Eugene King, African-American anthropologist with the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service at Gettysburg

Clara Barton National Historic Site (Glen Echo, Maryland), Janet Butler Munch

Publications and Research

The home of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, is part of a national historic site managed by the National Park Service. This site interprets the contributions of Barton and the Red Cross.

What A Day With A Park Volunteer Can Do, Keith Muchowski

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Slavery And The Civil War: The Reflections Of A Yankee Intern In Appomattox, Jonathan G. Danchik

Student Publications

An overview of the "Lost Cause" and the resultant challenges faced by interpreters in Civil War parks.

Striking The Balance: Bringing Peace To The Battlefield Of Preservation, Matthew D. Laroche

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Most Gettysburg residents took note this past winter when the Appalachian Brewing Company’s branch restaurant near the Lutheran Seminary closed. The Civil War Trust bought the land for its historical value; the structure and an adjacent hotel surround the Mary Thompson House, General Lee’s Headquarters during the battle. From the moment of purchase, the plan had been to demolish the buildings, sow grass, and transfer the four-acre lot to the National Park Service as a prized addition to the park. Most onlookers probably think that the tale is told as soon as the land is bought, cleared, and promised to …

Business, Education, And Enjoyment: Stakeholder Interpretations Of The Gettysburg Museum And Visitors Center, Ava M. Muhr

Student Publications

An anthropological study of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center undertaken to understand the ways in which the visitor experience is conditioned by their own personal background, as well as filtered through the carefully constructed historical narrative created by museum historians, National Park Service rangers, and administrators. The Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center is a site in which multiple stakeholders contend to ensure that their interpretations of the museum’s purpose is being upheld. This paper will examine the ways in which these various stakeholders – primarily NPS rangers, Civil War historians, and history buffs – interpret the catalyst(s) for constructing …

Reflections On Implementing Innovative And Collaborative History From The Nation’S First National Historic Site, Margo Shea, Maryann Zujewski, Jonathan Parker

Margo Shea

Dan Sickles, William H. Tipton, And The Birth Of Battlefield Preservation, John M. Rudy

Adams County History

Thirty years after the battle of Gettysburg, the small Pennsylvania town was once again besieged—only this time, the invaders were not rebels, but entrepreneurs with an unquenchable thirst for profit. The most visible sign of their voracious commercialism was an electric trolley line (“from which the shouts and songs of revelry may arise to drown the screams of the suffering”) belting the battlefield. The Gettysburg Electric Railway Company’s venture raised a host of new questions regarding the importance of battlefield preservation. Most significantly, it prompted Americans to ask if they had any obligation to set aside for posterity the land …

Adams County History 2014

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

Facts, Damned Lies And Statistics: A 55 Year Stumbling Block, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I have to admit something: when it comes to interpretation, I'm making this all up as I go along. I don't have some magical cache of best practices stored up, waiting to deposit them week after week in posts here on the blog. Most of what I know about interpretation I've stumbled upon, either in the thoughts of others shamelessly stolen and added to my toolbox or as rough experiments based on my so-called common sense. [excerpt]

M'Er F'Ing History: Speaking In Our Audience's Language, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I was talking to Jake the other night about Cookie Monster. Really, we were talking about the theory behind Cookie Monster's latest strategic move and how we could all learn a thing or two from him. Which move was that? The short, furry blue monster's brilliant foray into pop culture with "Share It Maybe," the music video parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's song "Call Me Maybe." In one day, Cookie has racked up 2.3 million hits on the less-than-four-minute video. [excerpt]

Imperiled Promise: The State Of History In The Nps, Jacob Dinkelaker

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

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's 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've 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 …

How To Sap The Romance: America's National Killingfield Parks, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

"Maybe they should call them Killingfields instead of Battlefields..." [excerpt]

The Gettysburg Battlefield, One Century Ago, Benjamin Y. Dixon

Adams County History

In the fall of 1899, Colonel John Nicholson reported on the recent changes being made to the Gettysburg National Military park. The park held a dedication ceremony that July for a new equestrian statue to General John Reynolds erected northwest of town. It was a shiny goldenbrown, polished-bronze statue sculpted by Henry Kirke Bush-Brown (his second equestrian statue at Gettysburg in three years). The horse and rider, balancing on two legs stood on a large pedestal near the new avenue in his name. Reynolds Avenue and adjoining Wadsworth, Doubleday, and Robinson Avenues were new to the battlefield as well. These …

The History Of The Stream Preservation Movement In Arkansas, Rex Moreland Terry

Honors Theses

The history of Arkansas' Stream Preservation movement is not a long one, because only in the recent past have Arkansans taken a serious look at the long term effects of such things as damming streams and clearing land.

The core of the movement for stream preservation centers around the Buffalo River, in the Northwest Arkansas Ozarks. Because of this, the bulk of this paper will be devoted to the Buffalo.