• Baseball: Why It Connects to Our American Story

    Baseball: Why It Connects to Our American Story

    During the spring of 1907, Big Bill Haywood, secretary-treasurer for the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and a leader of the International Workers of the World (IWW), went on trial...
  • Take Me Out to the Interpretive Program

    Take Me Out to the Interpretive Program

    When the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008, I felt like I had accomplished the feat myself. After a lifetime of rooting for a team that had experienced...
  • Interpreting the Spirit of Place

    Interpreting the Spirit of Place

    The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) encourages the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. At its latest General Assembly and Scientific Symposium on “Finding...
  • What I Learned at the NAI National Workshop

    What I Learned at the NAI National Workshop

    In November, I attended the annual 2009 NAI National Workshop in Hartford, Connecticut, along with nearly 700 other U.S. and international attendees.
  • Exposing the Soul: An Unexpected Encounter with Community-Based Interpretation

    Exposing the Soul: An Unexpected Encounter with Community-Based Interpretation

    Four statues in a park forever changed my life. Statues are everywhere. In cities around the world, public squares and buildings are filled with monumental sculptures honoring individuals or representing...
  • Archetypes

    Archetypes

    The situation was perplexing. I had anticipated a mob-scene, but there were perhaps a dozen people standing in groups of two or three, chatting in low voices.
  • Birds of a Feather: Creating a Unique Experience Along the Kansas Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway

    Birds of a Feather: Creating a Unique Experience Along the Kansas Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway

    With those first rays of sunlight comes a thundering, primeval sound—deafening, glorious, and almost terrifying as islands made up of thousands of sandhill cranes, geese, and ducks suddenly dissolve in...
  • Social Media: Gadgets

    Social Media: Gadgets

    These tools are not just a new way for interpreters to talk to the public. Social media is a new way to listen. Interpreters try to influence the way visitors...
  • Developing a Sense of Place in Non-Traditional Spaces

    Developing a Sense of Place in Non-Traditional Spaces

    In today’s atmosphere of broken connections with nature, it has become critical for park districts to create those connections for visitors they serve.