It has long been demonstrated that increased appreciation of place initiates stewardship and responsible management of the land. Interpretative design possesses the potential to generate this stewardship through recovering the connections between place and the people that inhabit it. It is essential that interpretation be integrated into the everyday landscape to deepen one's respect of the past and one's commitment to its future. This vision of an interpretive trail in Mission, British Columbia, explores techniques of illuminating place history to inspire and challenge cognitive participation with the landscape. The format of this project begins with a discussion of the values and limits of interpretative methods. Secondly, the study area is introduced through site reconnaissance with special emphasis on historical morphology and social history. Next, interpretive design strategies are explored in conjunction with significant landscape precedents, culminating in a design approach for an interpretive trail on Mission Flats. Six nodes along the trail serve as keystones for this approach, with individual nodes revealing historical processes, both natural and cultural, through design. Akin to Mission Flats, every place is intimately bound to the people and events that have shaped it. Illumination of this connection is the goal of interpretive design. The planning and design phases of development are incomplete without the inclusion of this holistic vision of place. It is therefore imperative that we further explore interpretive design, so that it may be integrated into the oft-impersonal contemporary landscape, for the generation of authentic place identity.

It has long been demonstrated that increased appreciation of place initiates stewardship and responsible management of the land. Interpretative design possesses the potential to generate this stewardship through recovering the connections between place and the people that inhabit it. It is essential that interpretation be integrated into the everyday landscape to deepen one's respect of the past and one's commitment to its future. This vision of an interpretive trail in Mission, British Columbia, explores techniques of illuminating place history to inspire and challenge cognitive participation with the landscape. The format of this project begins with a discussion of the values and limits of interpretative methods. Secondly, the study area is introduced through site reconnaissance with special emphasis on historical morphology and social history. Next, interpretive design strategies are explored in conjunction with significant landscape precedents, culminating in a design approach for an interpretive trail on Mission Flats. Six nodes along the trail serve as keystones for this approach, with individual nodes revealing historical processes, both natural and cultural, through design. Akin to Mission Flats, every place is intimately bound to the people and events that have shaped it. Illumination of this connection is the goal of interpretive design. The planning and design phases of development are incomplete without the inclusion of this holistic vision of place. It is therefore imperative that we further explore interpretive design, so that it may be integrated into the oft-impersonal contemporary landscape, for the generation of authentic place identity. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The Workers' Row House is a three-unit row house, circa 1850, that the Greater Corktown Development Corporation acquired for use as a community museum in 2002. This document provides a starting point and a framework for the rehabilitation and programmatic work that will occur. This plan strives to answer the following questions: (1) What is the site about? (2) Who is the interpretation for? (3) How will the museum go about communicating what the site is about while meeting the needs of the audiences? Using Detroit city directories beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Detroit Sanborn fire insurance maps, and both primary and secondary sources, the past tenants of this house and their historic contexts were compiled to reveal this site's story. Themes and a storyline were developed, and interpretive objectives were extracted. The plan recommends a guided tour through two restored units, and self-guided, interactive exhibits in the third unit. It is understood that any interpretive plan evolves as the research continues. / Department of Architecture

xiii, 124 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / While the field of historic preservation has successfully preserved numerous significant buildings and sites throughout the United States, the field would benefit from stronger interpretation of these resources. Because many of the preserved buildings and sites function as public destinations, interpretation has the opportunity to provoke new learning experiences. In this project I examined the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill as a case study for interpretive methods of industrial historic architecture. Through reviewing current interpretive methods, describing a broad historical context, conducting interviews with Salem residents who took part in the work at the mill between the 1930s and the 1960s, and researching specific mill workers' housing in Salem, I found that the inclusion of human stories can benefit the interpretation of the architecture. By offering a specific human narrative against the background of a wider history, an exhibit can challenge the visitor to see the building in a new way. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Leland M. Roth, Chair; Dr. Alice Parman; Keni Sturgeon, curator Mission Mill Museum

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The landscape of James A. Garfield’s Mentor, Ohio home (now preserved at James A. Garfield National Historic Site) contains multiple layers of historical meanings and values. The landscape as portrayed in political biographies, political cartoons, and other ephemera during Garfield’s 1880 presidential campaign reveals the existence of the dual cultural values of agrarian tradition and agricultural progress in the late nineteenth century. Although Garfield did not depend on farming exclusively for his livelihood, he, like many agriculturalists of this era participated in a process of mediation between these dual values. The function of the landscape of Garfield’s farm between 1876 and 1880 is a reflection of this process of mediation. After President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, his wife and children returned to their Mentor home. Between 1885 and c. 1905, Garfield’s widow Lucretia made numerous changes to the agricultural landscape, facilitating the evolution of the home from farm to country estate. Despite the rich history of this landscape, its cultural complexity and evolution over time makes it difficult to interpret for public audiences. Additionally, the landscape is currently interpreted exclusively through indoor museum exhibits and outdoor wayside panels, two formats with severe limitations. I propose the integration of deep mapping into interpretation at James A. Garfield National historic site in order to more effectively represent the multi-layered qualities of its historic landscape.