INTERPRETERS SPRING TRAINING!

Yellowstone Heritage Partnership
Buffalo Bill Historical Center
May 11, 2001

"The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation."
-- Freeman Tilden¹

Two seasoned Yellowstone National Park interpreters, Carol A. Shively² and Neysa Dickey,³ delivered invaluable guidance at this workshop. The program, aimed at interpreters from regional museums, parks, historic sites, and visitor and interpretive centers, was jointly sponsored by the Western Heritage Center, Yellowstone National Park, and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. These organizations are members of an umbrella group, the Yellowstone Heritage Partnership. This partnership is a consortium of museums in the Yellowstone River region from Wyoming to North Dakota.

Carol A. Shively gave the following presentations:

"Say Something that Matters: The Philosophy of Interpretation"
"Workshop: Universal Concepts and Compelling Stories" in interpretation

Neysa Dickey presented:

"Bag of Tricks: Techniques of Interpretation"
"Workshop: Interpretive Techniques"

Ranger Shively explained Freeman Tilden's six principles of interpretation. Tilden is considered the "father" of modern national park interpretation and the author of the "interpreter's bible," Interpreting Our Heritage. Tilden described interpretation as "An educational activity which aims to reveal meanings and relationships through the use of original objects, by firsthand experience, and by illustrative media, rather than simply to communicate factual information."⁴

Tilden's Six Principles of Interpretation

I. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile.

II. Information, as such, is not Interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based on information. But they are entirely different things. However, all interpretation includes information.

III. Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are scientific, historical or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable.

IV. The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.

V. Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part, and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase.

VI. Interpretation addressed to children (say, up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it will require a separate program.⁵

Ranger Dickey described interpretation as the gentle art of dispersing "nuggets of knowledge for changing hearts and minds." Interpreters, she said, should endeavor to use universal concepts within their interpretive presentations. Universal concepts such as family, fairness, and compassion tap into feelings and ideas that everyone can relate to and care about. Using such common factors establishes a personal connection between the resource and the visitor and therefore helps visitors derive a "greater message" from the experience.

Shively brought the experience closer to home with her comment, "Yellowstone is more than just a place. It is an idea. Interpretation in this, our first national park, (gives) voice and dignity to wildlife and wildlands. ... Get out of the way and let the resource speak for itself. But when you do speak," she said, "say something that matters" -- something meaningful, memorable, moving. Provide for the visitor "minimal information with maximal impact," she emphasized.

Interpretation inspires, rather than teaches. While its goal includes conveying information, its message must appeal to the heart and the soul, as well as the mind. What interpreters do is communicate, out of love and conviction, by indirection but with warmth. It develops in the visitor a keener awareness, appreciation, and understanding, without the heavy weight of too much information. Interpretation may also assist a park, museum, historic site, or other area in minimizing human impact on the site or resource and in promoting public understanding of the agency or organization and the programs they offer.

One example of fact versus interpretation given by Ranger Shively is:

FACT: Yellowstone has around 10,000 thermal features. Its roughly 300 geysers make up 2/3 of all the geysers in the world. It also includes one of the world's largest volcanic calderas which measures 28 by 47 miles.

INTERPRETATION: "Yellowstone is, for its area, the most interesting place in the world. It is situated at the very heart of the continent, where the hidden pulses can be seen and felt to beat. The geological pages constitute a book, which being interpreted will reveal some of the mysterious operations of nature."⁶

Another example from Shively's presentation:

One of my favorite Yellowstone stories is the one about the famous poacher, Ed Howell. It is one thing to communicate the fact that while bison once roamed the North American continent in numbers over 60 million strong, and that after a few decades of excessive hunting, the great herds were reduced to perhaps fewer than 40 individuals who survived in Yellowstone.

Again, though this is an impressive statistic in anyone's book, why not interpret it? Why not tell the story, and then the meaning beyond the story? That two soldiers were dispatched to find the infamous poacher. Upon encountering him in the Pelican Valley, one soldier, risking his own life, single-handedly apprehended and arrested Howell. Due to the public outcry raised over the near loss of this species in the wild, Congress passed a law prohibiting hunting in the national parks. Only because the area was so cold and so remote, the animals adapted to survive, and people committed to care, do we have bison in the wild today. So whenever we see a bison in the wild, it's a celebration - a celebration of an animal's will to survive and of the human compassion to protect them.⁷

Interpretation brings fuller meaning and greater joy to the natural, cultural, and historical objects in the world around us. It is an endeavor that says, "I love and appreciate this, and I want you to love and appreciate it too!" With appreciation comes protection - the preservation of artifacts and nature for the enjoyment of other people and for generations to follow. The Yellowstone Heritage Partnership, in putting on this springtime interpreters training workshop, asked museums, visitors centers, historical sites, and other areas to use this methodology, fully, in their programs, enhancing interest and understanding in their objects, sites, and ideas. For the more than 60 participants who attended, interpretation may now be approached with fresh eyes and a more creative style.

F o o t n o t e s :

(1) Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1977) p. 9.

(2) Carol A. Shively, District Ranger for Interpretation, Yellowstone National Park, has directed interpretive operations in the Lake District of Yellowstone since 1989. Prior to that, she was a Fire Information Officer during the fires of 1988. She has also served at other national park areas: Sequoia National Park, Fire Island National Seashore, and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in the fields of research, resource management, park planning, and firefighting. Shively has presented training sessions at the national conference of the National Association of Interpretation and at various universities. She has also published two books and a variety of articles in regional and national journals.

(3) Neysa Dickey, District Ranger for Interpretation, Yellowstone National Park, has had a 25-year career with the National Park Service, including two regional offices (Denver and Seattle). While at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, she served as Chief of Interpretation. Dickey also served in that capacity in a 3-month detail to Denali National Park and Preserve in 1999. She has supervised interpretive operations in the Canyon District of Yellowstone since October 1994. While serving as a member of the National Park Service's Rocky Mountain Regional Interpretive Skills Team, she was elected Team Leader in the early 1990s. She has facilitated interpretive workshop sessions for the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and has published several articles and essays in both regional and national interpretive journals.

(4) Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, p. 8.

(5) Ibid., p. 9.

(6) Captain William Ludlow, one of Yellowstone National Park's early surveyors, 1875 (excerpted from "Say Something that Matters," address given to the Yellowstone Heritage Partnership Interpreters Training, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, May 11, 2001, by Carol A. Shively).

(7) Excerpted from "Say Something that Matters," address given to the Yellowstone Heritage Partnership Interpreters Training, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, May 11, 2001, by Carol A. Shively.