This study focuses on how cultural heritage interpretation can effectively be planned and operated as an integral part of preservation process. The ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites, which was initiated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), offers professional principles for effectively interpreting cultural heritage sites. This study apply these principles as analysis and evaluation criteria of the case study. The Charter principles include &lsquo / access and understanding&rsquo / , soundness of &lsquo / information sources&rsquo / , attention to &lsquo / setting and context&rsquo / , preservation of &lsquo / authenticity&rsquo / , planning for &lsquo / sustainability&rsquo / , concern for &lsquo / inclusiveness&rsquo / , and importance of &lsquo / research, evaluation and training&rsquo / . Considering the necessity of correlating these international principles with interpretation practices, this study analyzes and assesses interpretation at the Boston National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service in the US / and at the same time tests the practicality of the Charter principles. This park is composed of eight nationally significant historical sites located separately in an urban context. This study examines certain aspects of the park that affect the effectiveness of its interpretation activities i.e., management policies, organizational model, partnerships with stakeholders, fiscal resources, management planning, and interpretive planning. Besides on-site interpretation at three sites of the park - the Charlestown Navy Yard, Old South Meeting House and Paul Revere House- are analyzed in detail within to the ICOMOS Charter framework. Finally, recommendations have been developed for the ongoing work of the ICOMOS, for the Boston National Historical Park as well as for other cultural heritage sites.

abstract: This thesis examines the evolution of the interpretation of the battle of Gettysburg, as well as how the analysis and presentation of the battle by multiple stakeholders have affected the public's understanding of the violence of the engagement and subsequently its understanding of the war's repercussions. While multiple components of the visitor experience are examined throughout this thesis, the majority of analysis focuses on the interpretive wayside signs that dot the landscape throughout the Gettysburg National Military Park. These wayside signs are the creation of the Park Service, and while they are not strictly interpretive in nature, they remain an extremely visible component of the visitor's park experience. As such, they are an important reflection of the interpretive priorities of the Park Service, an agency which is likely the dominant public history entity shaping understanding of the American Civil War. Memory at Gettysburg in the first decades after the battle largely sought to focus on celebratory accounts of the clash that praised the valor of all white combatants as a means of bringing about resolution between the two sides. By focusing on triumphant memories of martial valor in a conflict fought over ambiguous reasons, veterans and the public at large neglected unsettling and difficult conversations. These avoided discussions primarily concerned what the war had really accomplished aside from preserving the Union, as white Americans appeared unwilling to confront the war's abolitionist legacy. Additionally, they avoided discussion of the horrific levels of violence that the war had truly required of its combatants. Reconciliationist memories of the conflict that did not discuss the violence and trauma of combat were thus incorporated into early interpretations of Civil War battlefields, and continued to hinder understanding of the true savagery of combat into the present. This thesis focuses on the presence (or lack thereof) of violence and trauma in the wayside interpretive signage at Gettysburg, and argues that a more active interpretation of the war's remarkably violent and traumatic legacies can assist in dislodging a faulty legacy of reconciliationist remembrance that continues to permeate public memory of the Civil War. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. History 2013

Consuming the U.S. Virgin Islands: Conservation and Education in America’s Paradise examines the relationship between conservation and public education on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands where there exists no public high school. By interrogating Euroamerican conservation ideologies and policies, this project identifies the ways an expansive, continuous and layered American project of empire fosters the physical and intellectual displacement of the native people of St. John. The U.S. Virgin Islands’ status as an unincorporated territory of the United States provides for a catastrophic convergence of imperialism, environmental racism and consumptive tourism on the 19 square miles of St. John where more than two-thirds of the island belongs to the U.S. National Park Service. Territoriality frames the conflict around public education on St. John by revealing the ways in which federal institutions, such as the Department of Interior (responsible for administering the National Park Service and U.S. territories), exerting disproportionate measures of power operate to meet the demands of white colonial stakeholders rather than those of the local Black island constituency. The “hidden” nature of American colonial possessions as “U.S. territories” coupled with an exploitative Caribbean tourism industry help to permanently fix islands like St. John as remote objects of consumption and desire for primarily white, non-native travelers. This reality produces what I call "the crisis of Paradise." For the U.S. Virgin Islands, patterns of leisure, extraction, and exotification that characterize the Caribbean as a whole destructively entangle with the territory’s moniker “America’s Paradise.” Through the interdisciplinary use of critical Black feminist ethnography, archival records and oral histories, this work explains how native Black people’s mobilization for a public high school for St. John attempts to resist the colonial effort to reduce the land and its people to mere entities of play, respite, and relaxation and, thereby, render them unfit for comprehensive, quality public education. This project enhances understandings of “American” public education and illuminates the ways social and political self-determination have always been at the center of Black people’s struggles in the West. / 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z

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In 1916 the United States National Park Service (NPS) was founded to conserve the nation’s natural and cultural landscapes as well as “to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” While much historical analysis has been done by historians and the NPS on the agency’s national history, these scholars have ignored how the NPS was shaped by and contributed to an international history of national parks. Thus, this thesis addresses this historiographical gap and institutional forgetfulness by examining the agency’s Division of International Affairs (DIA). The DIA was established in 1961 by the NPS to foster international cooperation by building national parks overseas, which often advanced foreign policy containment initiatives in the developing world during the Cold War. Following the end of the Cold War, a significant decline in activity and staffing made it more difficult for the DIA to return to the pull of its influence just a decade or two earlier. In 1987 the DIA was renamed the Office of International Affairs (OIA) and has since suffered from many of its parent agency’s larger issues including a decline in staffing, funding, and a host of other issues that have compromised the NPS’s ability to meet its mission. As the NPS celebrates its centennial in 2016, I argue that examining the NPS’s history of international work challenges the agency to consider its past in new ways in the hopes that it reconfigure its mission and future to best meet the needs of its audiences in a globally connected twenty-first century world. / History

Despite popular perceptions that the National Park Service (NPS) is first and foremost the steward of spectacular natural vistas, two-thirds of the system’s nearly four hundred parks exist explicitly to protect and interpret cultural and historic resources. It is this perception that the NPS only cares for Western natural wonders that impedes the agency, especially as it looks to the future. If the National Park Service is looking to cultivate the next generation of stewards, as employees, visitors, or advocates, it must understand how this diverse audience perceives the NPS. This thesis argues that this next generation of millennials perceives the National Park Service as a purveyor of natural wonders in the Western United States, road trip destinations. While the NPS is far from only “Western nature parks,” this popular perception permeates the next generation of park stewards. With this in mind, this thesis argues that the National Park Service must actively prioritize this next generation by defining who they are, recognize their perceptions and needs from the NPS, and understand how to best engage them in all aspects of natural and cultural resources. The NPS has a long history of youth engagement and outreach, in both natural and cultural resources, illustrating its importance to the agency. Looking to the future, it is imperative that the NPS supports youth engagement and outreach in a more productive and inclusive way. / History

Conservation easements are among the fastest growing techniques for protecting land and open space. Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a conservation organization that limits or restricts entirely the right to develop a property in order to protect important conservation values associated with the property. At the heart of the conservation easement movement is the assumption that easements will protect ecologically important lands in perpetuity. However, there is little evidence that conservation easements can protect land permanently. Very few land trusts have experience in dealing with the myriad of challenges associated with long-term enforcement of conservation easements. This study sought to examine scenic easements acquired for the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1930's and 40's and to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by the Parkway in attempting to enforce the terms of scenic easements drafted nearly 70 years ago. The scenic easements acquired for the Blue Ridge Parkways represent the first wide spread use of conservation easements in the country. The Parkway's early architects had few examples of easement programs to assist them in acquiring and managing these early forms of conservation easement nor did the NPS have the network of conservation organizations that exists today. This study reviews the process utilized by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of North Carolina to acquire scenic easements for the Blue Ridge Parkway and assesses the deeds used to convey the scenic easements from the states to the federal government. Further, this study evaluates and examines the number and types of violations of easement terms experienced by the Parkway and the various factors that may have contributed to violations of scenic easement restrictions and requests to alter/amend easements. This study also evaluates the various strategies used by the National Park Service to exchange and release scenic easements. Finally, this study concludes with a number of recommendations for improving the management of the Parkway's scenic easements and how organizations currently holding conservations can improve the stewardship of easements by incorporating adaptive management principles into their conservation easement stewardship programs. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Management prescriptions that describe desired conditions for resources and visitor experiences have become widely accepted as an important component of public land management plans. However, very little effort is spent on evaluating and learning about this part of the planning process. This research identifies and addresses the need to explore opportunities for additional guidance on the development of management prescriptions, by (1) evaluating the current perception of the purpose of management prescriptions; (2) developing criteria and other tools to guide the development of management prescriptions based on the experiences of public land management professionals; and (3) testing an alternative method for collecting visitor preference data regarding social, resource and management conditions to inform development of management prescriptions. The first two papers report the results of a visitor preference study, using the stated choice method, conducted in Acadia National Park. The purpose of the first paper is to identify visitor preferences for tradeoffs among social, resource and related management conditions of the recreation setting. The purpose of the second paper is to identify differences among visitor preferences for social, resource and management conditions in various recreation settings. By considering the integrative nature of these attributes and the relative importance to visitors across recreation settings, the definition of management prescriptions can be better informed. To further investigate the results of the stated choice method and ensure the validity of the data, a verbal protocol assessment was applied to a sample of the stated choice survey respondents. The purpose of the third paper is to reexamine the role of management prescriptions for park management planning and investigate tools for facilitating development of management prescriptions. The study included in-depth interviews, participant observation of a three-day planning workshop and a written survey. All of the participants in the various components of the study were National Park Service land management professionals. The study resulted in a list of the purpose and criteria for management prescriptions and a related menu of desired condition topics, which will be integrated into planning guidance to aid the development of unique and effective management prescriptions for national parks. / Ph. D.

The National Park Service (NPS) strives to embody U.S. democratic ideals, conserving our collective stories and scenery for their intrinsic value and the enjoyment of current and future generations. However, although these places are conserved for all, they are not enjoyed by all. As with other conservation agencies, the NPS finds itself increasingly concerned with building relevance with diverse potential stewards. In cities, where 80% of the U.S. population and 40% of the NPS portfolio is based, there is a prime opportunity to build relevance with large, diverse, and proximate audiences. Recognizing this opportunity, the NPS initiated its Urban Agenda as a centerpiece of its 2016 centennial. The Urban Agenda seeks to connect people with proximate NPS parks and programs, primarily by using collaborations as pathways to relevance. In doing so, the agency may become a more resilient and value-added component of these larger landscapes. However, connections between relevance, resilience, and collaborations, especially at the organizational level, have rarely been addressed. This dissertation: 1) identifies perspectives on NPS relevance in the urban context; 2) examines the diversity of brokers and roles in facilitating relevance across collaborative networks; and 3) assesses areas of intra-NPS relationship-building for enhanced relevance. A multi-site, multi-methods evaluation was conducted. Detroit, Tucson, and Boston, all cities with Urban Agenda investment but representing different proximities to physical NPS parks, were selected as cases. Qualitative in-depth interviews with NPS staff and community partners were paired with quantitative social network analysis. The first phase of research identifies areas of commonality and difference among perceptions about relevance. Qualitative inquiry found that, across cities, NPS staff tended to conceptualize relevance in agency-focused ways while community partners conceptualized it on broader scales, both in audiences and goals. These differences in scale may be complementary, though, with the NPS further enhancing its relevance by recognizing the larger context and embedding its perspectives within this context. The second phase of research quantitatively examines collaborative network composition and potential, especially regarding network and broker diversity. Study results suggest that building the breadth and depth of a network, as well as targeting specific areas of desired growth, are ways to effectively build network resilience and further connections for relevance. The third phase of research examines relationships among parks, programs, and offices of the NPS. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this inquiry found that relationships between parks are most numerous and supported by institutional structures. However, connections to and within programs are a desired area for further connection. All relationship-building structures and language must emphasize the utility of internal connections for external relevance. Balancing relationship types while being inclusive of non-park groups may be essential in promoting organizational resilience and relevance. This evaluation contributes to theoretical understanding about and indicators of relevance and resilience. Together, results from these three phases of study can help the NPS understand specific relevance considerations in urban areas, efficiently use their resources to enhance relevance, and continue to strive toward our democratic ideals.