History News Summer 2014

President

Clinton

Addresses Presidential Sites and Libraries

You Can’t Write My History Buildings and Landscapes are Collections T e c h n i c a l Lea f l et:

Dynamic Interpretive Manuals

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Dive into our storied gangster past; be awestruck in our Cathedral of Saint Paul or shop the day away on beautiful Grand Avenue. We’re glad you’re here in Minnesota’s capital city.

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THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY

Features

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7 You Can’t Write My History

By Tim Grove

14 Wherever People are Working Together with the Aim of Getting Something Done, Good Things are Happening

By Bill Clinton

21 When Historic Buildings and Landscapes ARE the Museum Collection

By Katherine Malone-France and Thompson M. Mayes

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Departments 3 On Doing Local History

By Carol Kammen

5 Reaching the Next Generation(s)

By Colleen Dilenschneider

29 Award Winner Spotlight

By Ronald M. Potvin

31 Book Reviews

By Karen Whitehair and Charlie Arp

ON THE COVER

Former President Bill Clinton addresses the Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference, June 2014.

Photo courtesy Nelson Chenault Inside: Technical Leaflet

Not Just a Bunch of Facts: Crafting Dynamic Interpretive Manuals By Donna R. Braden

History News exists to foster publication, scholarly research, and an open forum for discussion of best practices, applicable theories, and professional experiences pertinent to the field of state and local history.

For information on article submissions and review, see www.aaslh.org/ historynews. Articles typically run 2,500 words in length. History News (ISSN 0363-7492) is published quarterly by the American Association for State and Local History, a nonprofit educational membership organization providing leadership, service, and support for its members who preserve and interpret state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful in American society. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. Annual membership dues for AASLH includes $13 applicable to subscription in History News. Single copy is $10. Postmaster, please send form 3579 to History News, AASLH, 1717 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37203-2991. Periodical postage paid at Nashville, Tennessee. Entire contents copyrighted Š2014 by the American Association for State and Local History. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the American Association for State and Local History. For advertising information contact Rebecca Price, 615-320-3203. For membership information contact AASLH at 1717 Church Street, Nashville TN 37203-2991; 615-3203203; fax 615-327-9013; e-mail: membership@aaslh.org.

1717 Church Street Nashville, Tennessee 37203-2991 615-320-3203, Fax 615-327-9013 membership@aaslh.org, www.aaslh.org

History News is a quarterly membership publication of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). It provides articles on current trends, timely issues, and best practices for professional development and the overall improvement of the field of state and local history.

EDITOR Bob Beatty Managing Editor Bethany L. Hawkins EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Susan Ferentinos DESIGN Go Design, LLC, Gerri Winchell Findley

Nelson Chenault

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the first edition of History News in full color! While I’ve edited the magazine since 2006, I have yet to write an editor’s column. So why did I start now? Because I wanted to introduce our new color “look” and also offer a thank you to Susan Ferentinos for her assistance in editing this issue. So enjoy the articles within: President Clinton’s address to the 2014 Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference; an excerpt from History News columnist Tim Grove’s book, A Grizzly in the Mail; and a piece on the National Trust’s policy of including historic structures and landscapes in its museum collections. As usual, Carol Kammen leads off the issue with her take on traveling Route 50 west, and we’ve added a new feature, Colleen Dilenschneider’s “Reaching the Next Generation(s).” In our Award Winner Spotlight, Ronald M. Potvin documents the Stories of Slavery and Freedom project, and Karen Whitehair and Charlie Arp offer this issue’s book reviews. You’ll also note that we’ve added color to our Technical Leaflet series, Donna R. Braden’s “Crafting Dynamic Interpretive Manuals.” We hope you enjoy our new “face.”

Bob Beatty Interim President & CEO AASLH

OFFICERS Chair Lynne Ireland Nebraska State Historical Society Vice Chair Julie Rose West Baton Rouge Museum Secretary Scott Stroh III Gunston Hall Treasurer Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko Abbe Museum Immediate Past Chair D. Stephen Elliott Minnesota Historical Society

COUNCIL Norman O. Burns II Maymont Foundation Laura Casey Texas Historical Commission Catherine Fields Litchfield Historical Society Janet Gallimore Idaho State Historical Society Linnea Grim Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Jane Lindsey Juneau-Douglas City Museum Burt Logan Ohio Historical Society Lorraine McConaghy Museum of History & Industry Bill Peterson Arizona Historical Society Donna Sack Association of Midwest Museums Susan Tissot Clark County Historical Society & Museum Ken Turino Historic New England Max van Balgooy Engaging Places Jay Vogt South Dakota State Historical Society Tobi Voigt Detroit Historical Society Phyllis Waharockah-Tasi Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center

STAFF BOB BEATTY Interim President and CEO CHERIE COOK Senior Program Manager Bethany L. hawkins Program Manager TERRy JACKSON Membership and Marketing Coordinator Sylvia McGhee Director of Finance Rebecca Price Director of Advertising and Marketing

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Summer 2014

On Doing Local History >

By Carol Kammen

Road Trips iStock.com/Natalia Bratslavsky

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his past spring I embarked on a road trip. It was not the usual young man’s search for himself riding off on a motorcycle, or a middleaged person’s search for the remembered past. I set out with a friend my age. We were two silver-haired grandmothers in a Volvo station wagon headed west from upstate New York to deliver a car to my son in Oakland, California. Our goal was to see what there was to see of the country today, without nostalgia for things gone.

Our intention was to avoid interstates.

Interstate roads are fine for those who need to travel quickly, who don’t mind competing for room with giant trucks, and who don’t feel the pressure of driving fast amid a collection of other vehicles. But none of that describes my friend or me.

This is a family trait. In the 1970s my husband and I and our two sons crossed the country both ways by visiting state capitals, national parks, college campuses, and from the Grand Tetons, by following the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark. Our sons, then thirteen and nine, liked the natural sites but found Lewis and Clark somewhat tedious. They were without the electronics children travel with today, so were trapped in a small sedan with their mother reading from the journals of the expedition. The boys had no place to go, and for the most part, they did not fall asleep.

The second time I drove across the country, in 1993-94, my husband and I plotted a course that took us from utopian community to religious site. We visited Kirtland, Ohio, where the Mormons built a church; Zoar, Ohio, created in 1817 by German Separatists; New Philadelphia, Ohio, where David Zeisberger had a settlement; and Bishop Hill, Illinois, created in 1846, where I noted that gasoline was $1.05 a gallon.

We drove from there to Nauvoo, Illinois, a lovely community overlooking the Mississippi River from which the Latter Day Saints launched themselves westward. Then we explored the Amana communities and Kalona in Iowa.

We also visited a variety of local history museums and other small, curious

Our goal was to take Route 50 across the country. Route 50, called “America’s Backbone,” began as a series of Native American trails. sites. We inadvertently fell into a button museum on the way west and a historic house in Texas on the return trip where the docent locked us in and described every item in every room until I had a convenient asthma attack, at which point she released us.

This time, we started out in mid-April in a downpour and made our way across the state. At Salamanca, New York, we ate lunch at an Irish pub in the heart of the Seneca Reservation. Excited about our trip, we told the waitress that we were heading to California, and when we left, all the folks in the room called out to us, “Have a peaceful journey.” We felt blessed.

Our goal was to take Route 50 across the country. Route 50, called “America’s Backbone,” began as a series of Native American trails. In 1821 Captain William Bicknell traveled it to Santa Fe. Today’s highway follows that trail. People have traveled along that track by foot and pack animal, on stagecoaches and railroad. In 1905 it became part of the Good Roads Movement, and in 1916 it was included in the Federal Aid Road Act, the first federal highway funding legislation creating an interstate system of roads across the country.

In 1925 Congress established uniform traffic and condition signs for these crosscountry roads, and in 1926 it gave out route numbers: even numbers for roads

that went east to west and odd numbers for roads north to south. That year Route 50 became its official name, though some called it Highway 50. It was paved, and some of the curves were softened in the 1930s. A Colorado Highway 50 Association formed in 1948, and there are decals that proclaim one has crossed the country on this road, sometimes called the “Loneliest Road in America.”

We found Route 50 not lonely, but lovely and not crowded. There was not a pothole the entire way. There was no road construction and few stoplights. We passed few cars and could travel as quickly or slowly as we wanted. We came to cherish the Route 50 signs along the way.

We passed through what we came to believe was the “real” America of today: farms in Ohio and buildings with tin roofs; rolling land in Indiana near the Ohio River; interesting small communities in Illinois. Each time we stopped we looked for small owner-run restaurants and architectural treasures. We marveled at the landscape just emerging from late winter, with trees in bud and early flowers showing shyly by the roadside.

The St. Louis Arch awed us, and we loved Jefferson City, Missouri. In Kansas we found that two grandmas heading west was not so unusual to be remarked on.

When we asked directions, we received helpful answers (though one hand-drawn H i s t o r y n e ws

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of the enormity of the country. Our constant comparison, as we sped along in a comfortable car, was to those who map did not compute with anything on crossed on foot to Santa Fe or Oregon the ground) and sometimes the stories of or the California gold fields. They saw people we met. the land more intimately than we: the Highlights were Arches National Park snakes, prickle bushes, dust, mountains, and Canyonlands in Utah, both stunning. and raging rivers. But going by car is ever We encountered some charming small so much more wonderful than thinking communities thriving by means of arts of this country as little more than airports and cultural attractions, especially attracin Philadelphia and Denver, Austin and tive to older folks. We saw barns of every Atlanta. Getting there is as much the shape and size. Bent’s Old Fort and its point as being there, as C.P. Cavafy notes guides delighted us. (The National Park in his poem “Ithaca.” He believed that system is such a joy and treasure!) travel to a goal (or even to the end of We observed also decaying towns life) should be long and full of adventure. where the only businesses left were floOften the destination is small and unrerists that provided flowers for churches markable, but the trip should be full of and funerals, and opticians. Otherwise, Laistrygonians and medical services Cyclops, and even have moved to istinction is important— an angry Poseidon more central locaor two. that which makes one tions, and shopping I made some is often at a mall, town different from another— observations pertiboth places needbut connection is crucial. We nent to local history ing a car for access. and local historians. should promote each other…

We encountered We should be more small cafés on town encouraging a visitor not to like the Cyclops, squares where there miss the others in the area. visible and curiously was little business interesting. We need elsewhere, even if not be fearsome or the physical struceven one-eyed, but we should remember ture of the square is intact and attractive. that the odd construction called “Hole There were very few historical societN" the Rock,” as Erin Hogan describes in ies along the route but plenty of roadside her book Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through historic markers. We Googled them as the Land Art of the American West, is a we drove past and read the text and what curious house excavated in the 1940s and people had to say to explain them. In fact, 1950s from a giant stone. It is now open in stark difference to other trips across as a tourist attraction and has a great the country, we rarely opened our tour many visitors each year; the lesson being books and instead used our devices when that presentation and advertising of a site we could get them to work (which was are almost as important as the place itself. most of the time, surprisingly). We also It is what we make of what we have that blogged instead of sending postcards back makes the difference. to friends and family. Our blog, “Carol Another observation is that most of the & Nina Go West” (http://carolkammen. historical societies we passed by—exceptblogspot.com/), is an unvarnished, realing the splendid World War I Museum time account of our journey. (Be forein Kansas City—all seemed a bit weary; warned: if you send a comment, which we few were open and their hours unreliwould both love, we might not know how able. They are obviously not intended for to read it.) travelers who go by at all hours and not The point of all this is that getting from 2 to 4 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. out of one’s comfort zone can teach a Might these places have an outside feature lot about other places and even help us that imprints the place on the passerby? In see the good things being done in one’s Green River, Wyoming, as we lunched at home place, providing a comparison. The a café, a prospector led two mules across trip gave me a snapshot of the middle the bridge into town. If this was a genuine of America, not the flashiest places, but prospector, as I suspect he was, I would the heartland. It gave both of us a sense hire him to do that several times a day!

On Doing Local History >

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Summer 2014

Distinction is important—that which makes one town different from another— but connection is crucial. I have come to believe that at the exit of every historical society and museum there should be a sign encouraging the visitor not to miss another place just up the road. We should promote each other, as the Civil War museums in Maryland do, encouraging a visitor not to miss the others in the area. Linked, they are stronger than sitting alone.

An important lesson from this trip was also that culture can be what keeps a community going, that history and the arts working together can provide an attractive living environment for a variety of people. Obviously this works best where the climate cooperates, but I found the galleries, interesting shops, signs for concerts and plays, and the good ice cream store in Salida, Colorado, and the tasteful and visually exciting renovated river walkway in Pueblo, proof that arts and culture play an important role in creating a sense of community. This is where history can prove its value.

Travel is so helpful in providing comparison and connection between places, through generations, from the history of place and the history imposed by our national story. I cannot say enough about using the less-traveled road (not at all a new idea, I know), the one that takes you through real landscapes, not the interstate view of the United States that is the same almost everywhere: low grassland, sometimes with flowers, a stand of short trees, and often a fence to block the view.

I don’t travel this way because it was better in another era, but because I am interested in our own time, in seeing what is there, what is declining, what works. I come away from each trip marveling at the grandeur and beauty and the sheer tackiness of this country. We are truly a nation created out of many styles and features and cultures and from different points in time, but it is all interesting and well worth knowing.

The Seneca Indians had blessed our journey at the start. The day we returned home, we were ready to head out again! t “On Doing Local History” is intended to encourage dialogue on the essential issues of local history. Carol Kammen can be reached at ckk6@cornell.edu.

Reaching the Next Generation(s) >

By Colleen Dilenschneider

Three Millennial Characteristics That Challenge Business as Usual for Museums and History Organizations Editor’s Note: This issue includes the second of two new columns we have solicited for History News. AASLH has asked renowned blogger and expert on Generation Y Colleen Dilenschneider to share her thoughts twice a year on how history organizations might better serve this audience segment.

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t nearly ninety million strong, millennials—those tech-savvy, often-outspoken folks between the ages of roughly eighteen and thirtyfive—represent the largest generation in human history (outnumbering the baby boomers by nearly twenty million). This demographic, also known as “Generation Y” and the “Echo Boomers,” is made up largely of the children of the baby boom generation. Because millennials are having fewer children and also starting families later in life than did their parents, a consequent generation that matches the size of the echo boomers is extremely unlikely, with the result being that Generation Y will significantly shape America’s government, policy-making, and economy for the next forty years. Generation Y is expected to surpass baby boomers in buying power by 2017, tipping the scales and starting this forty-year run.

As if the sheer size of this generation isn’t enough to garner attention, millennials are also the first generation of “digital natives”—folks born during or after the introduction of digital technologies and raised in the midst of the social media revolution. This group thinks, behaves, and is motivated differently than the generations that have come before it.

While adapting organization practices to meet the emerging generation may be confusing—if not downright frustrating—to many experienced professionals working within cultural institutions, an understanding of basic, data-informed millennial characteristics may ease the transition. Here are three key behavioral characteristics of millennials, and how history and cultural institutions are evolving to engage this generation.

1) Civic Minded

Characteristic: Millennials are public service oriented and driven by impact. Despite often being called the “Me Generation,” data suggest that this demographic is particularly motivated to take action based upon the “social good.”

Whether because 9/11 occurred during such a significant time in their young adulthood or because of their social connectivity, members of Generation Y appear to be one of the most civicminded generations in history. This generation volunteers in droves and is behaviorally motivated by service.

How to evolve: Focus on your organization’s mission in your communications and programs. The 2013 Millennial Impact Report famously demonstrates that this generation is more interested in your cause than in your organization itself, so organizations may benefit by focusing on content expertise instead of traditional PR and communications. This may sound simple, as many history organizations are 501(c)3s and often have invaluable content experts to tell engaging stories, but take a look at the membership perks that your organization offers. My employer, IMPACTS, has found that mission-related perks (as opposed to simply and/or exclusively special invitations to events) are drivers for millennial memberships to cultural organizations—to a far greater extent than generations that came before them.

IMPACTS also found that in 2013 museums that focused on communicating their mission tended to financially outperform museums that marketed themselves primarily as attractions.

2) Digitally Native

Characteristic: Millennials generally have technology intimately integrated into their everyday lives. According to the Pew Research Center, upwards of 75 percent of millennials maintain a profile on at least one social media site. Many of these digital natives received their first e-mail addresses in middle school or earlier, and since that time this group has grown up with the evolution of social technologies.

How to evolve: Be social media active and mobile friendly. The Millennial Impact Report found that 83 percent of millennials have smartphones and 51 percent take action on behalf of nonprofit organizations by connecting on social media sites.

More than a “next practice,” digital engagement is essential to the relevance and solvency of the contemporary nonprofit organization— simply keeping the doors open increasingly requires investments of time, talent, and treasure on digital platforms.

Moreover, millennials—as well as the market as a whole—are steadily moving toward mobile technologies being their primary means of accessing the Web. If your organization isn’t Web- or mobileliterate, now is the time to evolve.

3) Constantly Connected

Characteristic: Millennials are a constantly connected bunch—both socially and through technology.

Mostly, technology enables this social interaction. Pew Research reports that the average millennial sends over fifty text messages each day. Moreover, thanks H i s t o r y n e ws

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Reaching the Next Generation(s) > to smartphones and digital engagement platforms, connectivity is 24/7. Several studies have attempted to quantify just how increasingly connected this generation is to their smartphones, documenting that for many millennials (and, progressively, for the market at large), checking their smartphones is often the last thing that they do before going to bed, and also the first thing that they do upon waking.

Technology allows for real-time connectivity, and members of Generation Y—which data suggest are already a particularly collaborative and social bunch— particularly engage with these methods of constant connection.

How to evolve: Open your authority to real-time conversations. Millennials are connected, and they expect brands and organizations to be connected, too. This involves not only being active on social platforms, but also engaging in social customer relationship management or responding to questions and interactions

that take place on an organization’s social sites. Organizations can connect with millennials by developing mission-based content and by “opening” their authority and allowing audiences to meaningfully contribute by participating in initiatives that underscore an institution’s mission. For instance, museums are increasingly listening to and addressing visitor feedback in terms of content and actively asking for input during the creation of new exhibits and programs. A more tactical example involves simply soliciting and acknowledging audience input on social platforms.

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ndeed, Generation Y has what may seem some rather large demands in the eyes of more weathered professionals. Becoming conversant on digital platforms, creating real-time communication plans, facilitating regional (or even global!) connectivity outside of the physical museum site, and extending the role of interpreter and/or guest relations well beyond the traditional “open” hours are current necessities that did not exist ten

years ago. For many institutions, some of these items are still relegated to the “to-do” list within the organization.

While these new expectations may seem daunting, history organizations working to engage this generation are also ensuring their long-term relevance and solvency. Moreover, these same practices work to elevate the sharing of state and local history itself. The stories remain the same—but there’s an increased opportunity to optimize our communication tools and techniques so that the histories that we share remain relevant, personal, inspiring, and transformative for generations to come. t Colleen Dilenschneider is Chief Market Engagement Officer for IMPACTS, a global leader in predictive market intelligence and related technologies. She is the author and publisher of the popular blog Know Your Own Bone (http://colleendilen.com/), a resource for creative engagement for nonprofit and cultural organizations. She can be reached at colleendilen@gmail.com.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY Acknowledges and appreciates these Institutional Partners and Patrons for their extraordinary support:

Institutional Partners $1,000+ Alabama Department of Archives and History Montgomery, AL American Swedish Institute Minneapolis, MN Arizona Historical Society Tucson, AZ Atlanta History Center Atlanta, GA Belle Meade Plantation Nashville, TN Billings Farm & Museum Woodstock, VT Cincinnati Museum Center Cincinnati, OH Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Williamsburg, VA Conner Prairie Fishers, IN Florida Division of Historical Resources Tallahassee, FL Hagley Museum & Library Wilmington, DE The Hermitage Nashville, TN

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Illinois State Museum Springfield, IL

Nebraska State Historical Society Lincoln, NE

Indiana Historical Society Indianapolis, IN

North Carolina Office of Archives and History Raleigh, NC

Indiana State Museum Indianapolis, IN

Ohio History Connection Columbus, OH

Kentucky Historical Society Frankfort, KY

Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, MA

Massachusetts Historical Society Boston, MA

Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission Harrisburg, PA

Michigan Historical Center Lansing, MI

Senator John Heinz History Center Pittsburgh, PA

Minnesota Historical Society St. Paul, MN

The Sixth Floor Museum Dallas, TX

Missouri History Museum St. Louis, MO

Strawbery Banke Museum Portsmouth, NH

Museum of History and Industry Seattle, WA

The Strong Rochester, NY

Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, MA

Tennessee State Museum Nashville, TN

National Heritage Museum Lexington, MA

William J. Clinton Foundation Little Rock, AR

National Trust for Historic Preservation Washington, DC

Wisconsin Historical Society Madison, WI

Patron Members $250+

Historic House Trust of New York City New York, NY

Bob Beatty Franklin, TN

History New York, NY

Ellsworth Brown Madison, WI

History Colorado Denver, CO

Jacqui Sue Conley Arvada, CO

Idaho State Historical Society Boise, ID

Georgianna Contiguglia Denver, CO

Summer 2014

David Crosson San Francisco, CA

Joni Jones Annapolis, MD

Bari Oyler Stith Pepper Pike, OH

Stephen Elliott St. Paul, MN

Katherine Kane Hartford, CT

Jean Svandlenak Kansas City, MO

Lori Gundlach Fairview Park, OH

Russell Lewis Chicago, IL

Richard E. Turley Salt Lake City, UT

Jeff Hirsch Philadelphia, PA

Lorraine McConaghy Kirkland, WA

Bev Tyler Setauket, NY

Lynne Ireland Lincoln, NE

Davinder Pal Singh Panjab, India

Robert Wolz Key West, FL

You Can’t Write My History

By Tim Grove

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en years ago, the United States was commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I was

fortunate to be at the middle of it all, serving as the project educator on the core team that developed the national bicentennial exhibition. The western world into which I walked was brimming with present-day tension, inhabited by both Lewis and Clark fanatics who were passionate about the expedition and its place in America’s history, and a

Tim Grove

variety of tribal groups determined to speak truth about the expedition’s legacy.1

Plains Indian tipi H i s t o r y n e ws

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Reproduced from A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History, by Tim Grove, by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 2014, by Tim Grove.

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he exhibition’s interpretive focus could have gone in any number of directions.

In the past it had usually highlighted the

expedition’s battle with the natural landscape. The bicentennial exhibition developers, instead, seized on a teachable moment and focused on the cultural landscape. The Lewis and Clark expedition traveled through a peopled landscape filled with expansive trade networks and tribal conflict.

My work on the exhibition was transformative for my career. It raised so many questions about who has the right to tell what stories. Just finding tribal advisors was a challenge. As the work progressed, I told my friends stories about my adventures. “Write them down,” they would say. When the project came to an end, I decided to heed their advice, so that I wouldn’t forget, and I kept writing.

A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History began as an exercise to remember the stories of that three-year project, but ended up as a tribute to the work of public historians.

As I wrote about fascinating projects at some of America’s most popular history museums, I began to think that maybe others who love history would be interested to follow along on my adventures. And while my main intent was to show that the pursuit of the past is fun, I also wanted to help my readers to appreciate the complexities of what historians do, and to understand that history is rarely black and white. Gray areas abound, but that’s what makes the discipline so compelling.

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Summer 2014

“History is written by the winners, they say. But it is often the losers who care more about it.”

“Y

—Carolyn Gilman

ou cannot write our story. You have no right.” An irate Indian woman had backed me into a corner. She was not yelling, but she was passionate. We were standing in a classroom on the University of Montana campus in Missoula. Our group consisted of teachers, Indian and non-Indian, from reservation schools in seven western and midwestern states, plus those of us who had planned the trip. The Center for Educational Technology in Indian America, an arm of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, had organized the seminar to kick off a project to encourage Indian students to research their tribe’s and community’s perspective on the Lewis and Clark expedition and to make the results available to the public. We were following a section of the Lewis and Clark trail in western

Blackfeet dance at Great Falls, Montana

Montana. We planners recognized that not every participant would have a positive impression of Lewis and Clark. How would they react? Would there be uncomfortable moments?

There was a slight amount of trepidation that the workshop would fail.

An Introduction to Native Cultures I came to the Lewis and Clark project with limited experience working with American Indians. While at the Smithsonian Museum of American History I had worked on an online project about buffalo hide paintings, but I had not had significant contact with Native communities. When I joined the Lewis and Clark project I was quickly thrown into Native culture. I subscribed to the Indian Country Today weekly newspaper and soon began to interact with Native Americans or Indians or… Actually, the first big question many non-Indians ask is about proper terminology. On the politically correct East Coast, the term one most often hears is “Native American.” However, I soon learned that in the West the preferred term is “American Indian.” Ultimately, I came to understand that one should use a specific tribal name when known. On occasion I will have non-Indian peo-

Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Tim Grove

There are 561 federally recognized tribes in the United States, and even more than that number are not officially recognized.

ple try to correct me or even ask me what term they should use …they think “Indian” is not a sensitive word. I usually point out that the Smithsonian museum devoted to Native cultures is called the National Museum of the American Indian, a name given it by the Native peoples themselves.

Including the Native perspective in the exhibition proved a challenge in part because of the unbalanced historical record.

Today we know so much about the expedition because President Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to keep journals, and fortunately these journals have survived. The explorers documented their activities and observations on the expedition with attention to detail and have been called the “writingest explorers of their time.” Yet it is also important to remember that the men of the Corps of Discovery made observations through a very specific lens, a lens based on their experience as white men. Lewis and Clark looked through the eyes of men who had grown up in privileged families. The others on the expedition, including Clark’s slave, York, no doubt had very different observations.2 The Indian cultures that Lewis and Clark encountered did not record history through written documentation but through three main media: pictographs, artwork on objects such as buffalo hides, and oral tradition. Very little evidence of Lewis and Clark is available from the first two sources.

However, fascinating stories about the expedition have been passed down through oral tradition in certain tribes.

A Salish woman named Sophie Moiesse told a story that was recorded in the early 1900s. “When the dried meat was brought to the men [the Corps of Discovery] they just looked at it and put it back. It was really good to eat, but they seemed to think it was bark or wood. Also, they didn’t know that camas roots are good to eat.”3 Allen Pinkham, Nez Perce, tells about the councils held to discuss the expedition. “Well, if they bring too many bad things, maybe we should kill them. Well, let’s treat these people good once. Maybe they’re mixed with some other creature, that’s why they look the way they do. They’ve got eyes like fish; some of them have their faces upside down, and they smell.” Eyes like fish referred to their round shape. Face upside down referred to mustaches and beards and limited hair on top. Pinkham continues that “we couldn’t understand why they called themselves white when they’re really not white. They’re pale, that’s the way we described them.” 4

Bring In the Advisers To accurately include the Native perspective, the exhibition developers understood that we needed tribal advisers to provide counsel during the research and planning phases. My responsibilities included organizing a meeting of tribal advisers. The goal was to find representatives from the main tribes featured in the exhibition and to bring them together from around the country for a weekend meeting. Some of these advisers were already involved in the project. For those tribes with which we

Meriwether Lewis’s pipe tomahawk, c. 1809

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had not already established a relationship, the task proved somewhat of a challenge. I quickly learned that it can be difficult to find an Indian who is willing to speak for his or her tribe. Few people in Indian communities have that authority.

Combine that fact with the distasteful nature of what we were trying to do (commemorate Lewis and Clark), and it’s easy to see why certain Indians did not want to be involved.

The hardest person to find, ironically, was a Shoshone representative. The tribe today is divided into three groups, two in Idaho and one in Wyoming. We ended up with a very nice person from the wrong group. Most scholars would agree that the Shoshones on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming probably have the weakest connection to Lewis and Clark. However, just as Lewis and Clark desperately needed to find the Shoshone in order to obtain horses to cross the Bitterroot Mountains before winter set in, we desperately needed a Shoshone to advise us on several major sections of the exhibition, and our time was running out. While we did include a Shoshone representative at the meeting, our adviser from Wind River proved eager but not familiar with the oral tradition related to Lewis and Clark. Eight months later, as we prepared to film a movie for the exhibition, we made an excellent connection to several women from the Lemhi Shoshone who claim direct descendancy from the family of Sacagawea, the Indian woman who traveled with the expedition. These advisers were more than willing to work with our film crew to ensure accuracy. The film highlighted the narrative of the expedition’s necessity of finding the Shoshone and the challenges associated with communication once they found them.

In the end many Indians of Shoshone ancestry proved to be very helpful in our efforts. The ten tribal advisers traveled to St. Louis from Alaska, Washington, D.C., and many places in between. They were willing to work with us so that the truth would be told and their tribe’s perspective of the story would be represented. The exhibition team spent a long day going through the concept plan for the exhibition and looking at images of specific Indian artifacts we planned to include. For the most part the advisers were eager to talk about the artifacts and approved our planned interpretations.

The Realm of the Pipe One of the most interesting discussions centered around the concept of the “peace pipe.” Historian James Ronda calls Indian country “the realm of the pipe” and says that Lewis and Clark encountered the pipe in its many forms and faces.

There is a common perception in American culture, fostered in many a Hollywood Western, that Indians smoked the pipe with others to diplomatically promote peaceful relations, as an act of friendship. Very quickly in our discussion various advisers spoke out. One said that her tribe does not have a “peace” pipe—she described the pipe ceremony as a very sacred ceremony to promote truth among the witnessing spirits … a sort of “truth pipe” to encourage everyone present to speak truthfully.

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We hoped to feature a very exquisite calumet pipe from the late 1700s or early 1800s from the collection of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography at Harvard University. Research revealed there was a high probability it was one of several given to Lewis during the expedition as a gift. Ronda wrote that “the pipe ritual aimed at clearing the air, quieting the mind, and making space for peace. Smoking sacred pipes united the social and the diplomatic, the personal and the official.” Lewis and Clark experienced pipes as social and diplomatic objects, and as gifts. William Clark wrote his observations: “The pipe is the emblem of peace with all, the different nations have their different fashions of delivering and receiving of it—the party delivering generally confess their errors and request a peace, the party receiving exult in their successes and receive the sacred stem.”5 We also planned to include Lewis’s personal pipe tomahawk, with a pipe at one end and a tomahawk at the other.

The pipe tomahawk was unique to the American frontier and originated around 1700. It combined the Indian pipe of peace and the European axe of war, and was symbolic of encounters in the West. Every encounter required both parties to quickly decide whether the other was friend of foe. To one of our advisers, the very act of putting a pipe and tomahawk into one tool was troubling. To her, a pipe is sacred and has nothing to do with war. With the advisers’ blessing, the exhibition featured the calumet pipe and the Lewis pipe tomahawk. A majority of the advisers had given a nod to the pipe tomahawk, and the developers incorporated the different perspectives into the website and student curriculum.

Speaking from the Heart Another item on the agenda that day was filming interviews with the advisers. We had given them questions ahead of time and mostly wanted them to speak about their tribe’s oral traditions related to Lewis and Clark and how they personally felt about the expedition and the bicentennial. We also attempted to ask them about topics of interest related to what they had said earlier in the day. My experience interviewing them that day was one of the highlights of my time working on the project. The advisers spoke with passion, their words personal, profound, and deeply moving. They talked about the loss of Native languages, the misperceptions people have about Native cultures, the unfairness of federal tribal recognition, and of survival amid much adversity. As I reviewed the footage later, I was struck by the depth of what they had shared with us. I determined to find a way to use this footage in the exhibition.

Early on in discussions about the exhibition’s final section, the team had considered using a montage of Indian voices talking about the expedition’s impact on Native culture then and now. I had envisioned something like what has been done at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, where the visitor experience ends with a room filled with monitors playing video of survivors sharing their heartbreaking yet inspiring stories. Sadly, in the end we cut the montage idea, mainly because of space limitations. It was a loss born of compromise, the nature of exhibitions.

Fortunately, we were able to make use of the video segments

Michael Lowery

On the politically correct East Coast, the term one most often hears is “Native American.” In the West the preferred term is “American Indian.”

And maybe that’s the key to the answer— historians can analyze the evidence and draw conclusions, but they can’t ultimately say how a person truly felt during the event or as a result. The most powerful storyteller is usually the person who has experienced the story firsthand. We all have a story, and we are the person who can tell it best. Historian Eric Foner once wrote, “Who owns history?

Everyone and no one—which is why the study of the past is a constantly evolving, neverending journey of discovery.”6

Who Was Sacagawea?

After Lewis and Clark, the person most often associated with the expedition is Sacagawea, the Indian woman who joined the Plains Indian tipi party in the spring of 1805 when the captains hired her husband as a translator. She wasn’t in the online exhibition and in the curriculum, but we could a paid member of the expedition party. She had given birth not include some of the most profound parts. to a baby boy, Jean Baptiste, in February and brought the From my interactions with the advisers I learned much baby along when the Corps of Discovery left the Mandan about who has the right to tell history. There is clearly no village in May. Her role on the expedition is often misunone Indian history any more than there is one American derstood; while her “story” has been told in countless books, Indian. While movies and advertisements and pop culture the truth rests on scarce historical evidence. The exhibition have attempted to generalize about Native Americans over team members were well aware of this challenge but realized the years, there are 561 federally recognized tribes in the that visitors would expect to see her story in the exhibition.

United States, and even more than that number are not When we were developing the exhibition, she was the only officially recognized. The perpetual and pervasive image of expedition member whose likeness had appeared on U.S. the Plains Indian in feathered headdress on horseback has currency—the dollar coin (though no historical evidence made hundreds of thousands of Indians cringe over the years offers great detail about her appearance). because it has nothing to do with their cultures.

She remains a mystery in history—an almost unknown Developing the extensive grades 4–12 curriculum materiyet legendary figure. Little physical evidence remains to tell als that went along with the exhibition was my responsibilus much about her, and today a swirl of Indian oral tradiity. My plan was to work with exhibition curator Carolyn tion cannot even agree on her tribal heritage. Some Hidatsa Gilman and closely follow the exhibition narrative, using Indians claim she was Hidatsa, captured by the Shoshone. the objects and oral histories from the exhibit. My past Most Shoshone say it is clear she was Shoshone and that the experience had shown me that it is easiest for someone who Lewis and Clark journals support this. Unfortunately she did knows the exhibition well to write the curriculum. Thus, not leave even one piece of written evidence about her life. during my trip to Montana, I ended up with the irate Indian She cannot tell her story. woman in my face. She told me in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t write the curriculum about the Indian experience A Tribal Elder Talks because I am not Indian. I tried to explain that a curriculum During the development of the exhibition I took a based on an exhibition usually highlights the interpretaresearch trip to central North Dakota to visit the Knife tion in the exhibition and should allow the students to work River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Located not directly with the primary source material. The objects speak far from the Missouri River, the site was the location of the for themselves. Plus, the exhibition team intended to use summer villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa peoples, farmNative reviewers and advisers along the way. I could not ing tribes who lived in round earth lodges. I went specifically change her mind. to see the Northern Plains Indian Cultural Fest, an annual But she raised some thoughtful questions. Who owns event that includes atlatl throwing, beadworking, porcuhistory? Can we own our culture’s story? Can we own our pine quill work, brain tanning, hide painting, flute music, personal story? Who has the right to tell what story? Can an flint knapping, basketry, rock art, and talks by various tribal African American tell the story of a white plantation owner elders and guest speakers. in the antebellum South? Can a Sioux researcher tell the At 11:00 a.m. I joined a small crowd seated on folding story of Booker T. Washington? Must our skin color dictate chairs under a white tent. At the front of the tent sat an the history we tell? For most of my museum career I’ve naveighty-eight-year-old Arikara elder in full regalia—feathered igated a very political world where whites must tread careheaddress covering his dark hair. August Little Soldier, one fully through the stories of the past. Emotions can run high.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture

The most powerful storyteller is usually the person who has experienced the story firsthand.

Rusty Gillette, Arikara/Hidatsa, a world-class Grass Dancer from the Fort Berthold Reservation in White Shield, North Dakota

of the oldest living of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara), began a rambling talk about his life and his observations of the world. His family heritage connected him to the Battle of Little Bighorn; his grandfather had died with Custer and as a scout had warned Custer not to attack. Little Soldier traveled down a winding path of topics—the origins of the Hidatsa (from the east in Minnesota) and the Arikara (a branch of the Pawnee from Oklahoma), a World War I navy ship named the Arikara, an observation that Christianity is going “downhill” and that it cannot find a way to unite. He talked about his marriage of sixty-four years to a German woman and the fact that he is full-blooded and went to boarding school.

At the end of his talk he offered to answer questions from the audience. I inquired about Arikara oral tradition related to Lewis and Clark. To my great surprise he responded matter-of-factly that Clark fell in love with Sacagawea and took her to Washington D.C., after the expedition, where he wanted to introduce her to high society. She apparently did not want that life and returned to the West. I hadn’t heard this story before and was suspicious. I looked around the audience to see if others showed surprise. Was he pulling my leg, this white person showing an interest in Lewis and Clark, or did he really believe this version of Sacagawea’s story? I questioned my hosts at a picnic that night. They laughed but didn’t give me a clear answer.

The Evidence for Sacagawea The Lewis and Clark journals mention Sacagawea seventy-three times. They first met Sacagawea, Sacajawea, or Sakakawea (the pronunciation varies according to tribal affiliation) in the fall of 1804. A pregnant teenager, she was a wife of Toussaint Charbonneau, an interpreter offering his skills to the captains. Lewis and Clark wrote that she was a Shoshone girl who had been captured by the Hidatsa in a war raid and taken to the Knife River villages.

It is curious to consider why Lewis and Clark would bother to take a new mother and child along on the expedition.

They recognized her language skills and knew they would need to find and communicate with the Shoshones in order

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to obtain horses to cross the mountains. She was no doubt more important to them in this regard than her husband.

Contrary to popular legend, Sacagawea was not the expedition’s guide, though the journals reveal her various contributions to the group. She helped them identify edible plants like wild artichokes along the way and gathered root foods, which provided a balanced diet. When the corps finally reached her tribe’s homeland, she recognized various landmarks, such as a rock formation shaped like a beaver’s head, that could confirm their location. Once, during a boating accident, she saved provisions and some of the journals that had fallen from the boat. In addition, her presence communicated to Indian scouts that the expedition was not a war party, since a war party would not include a woman and child.

Popular images picture her alongside the captains, hand outstretched pointing the way as if she were giving them directions to a restaurant. In reality, since they spoke different languages, Sacagawea and members of the expedition could not communicate directly. Most likely they gradually learned words from each other’s language, but the majority of time her messages were translated through a series of interpreters—until they reached the English speakers.

The journals reveal little about Sacagawea’s personality, though Lewis and Clark both grew to respect her greatly, praising her “fortitude and resolution” and her patience.

In what must have been one of the emotional highlights of the expedition, Sacagawea participated in a council with the Shoshone chief, Cameahwait, preparing to serve as translator. When she recognized him as her brother, according to Clark, she “instantly jumped up, and ran and embraced him, throwing over him her blanket and weeping profusely.”

During the party’s stay on the Pacific coast a whale washed up on shore and Sacagawea insisted on going to see it. Lewis wrote that “the Indian woman was very importunate to be permitted to go, and was therefore indulged.”

Clark clearly thought highly of Sacagawea and her son, Baptiste, who he named Pomp. He nicknamed Sacagawea “Janey.” On August 20, 1806, after the expedition had dropped the Charbonneau family at the Knife River villages, he wrote a letter to Charbonneau, which provides insight into his feelings for the family. “You have been a long time with me and have conducted yourself in such a manner as to gain my friendship, your woman who accompanied you that long dangerous and fatiguing route to the Pacific Ocean and back deserved a greater reward for her attention and services on that route than we had in our power to give her.” He continued: “As to your little son (my boy Pomp) you well know my fondness for him and my anxiety to take and raise him as my own child.”

He reiterated his promise to adopt the boy as his son and educate him in St. Louis. He wished the family great success and anxiously awaited a future opportunity to see his “dancing boy Baptiest.” Sacagawea’s life after the expedition remains a mystery. An entry for Baptiste in a St. Louis cathedral register dated 1809 records his baptism, but written evidence doesn’t offer any more clues about the rest of Sacagawea’s life. When did she die? There are various answers. The Hidatsa believe, and the existing written historical record seems to support, that she died at about age

twenty-five of putrid fever at Fort Manuel in present-day North Dakota—the source is fur trader John Luttig’s journal written in 1812, in which he mentioned that Charbonneau’s Snake [Shoshone] wife died. The Lemhi Shoshone accept the Luttig documentation of her death, but the Wind River Shoshone’s oral tradition claims she lived to old age with them in Wyoming. Clark made a list of expedition members sometime between 1825 and 1828, and the list indicates that Sacagawea was no longer living.

To address the challenge of telling Sacagawea’s story, the exhibition team decided to present the historical evidence and let visitors draw their own conclusions. Which brings us back to August Little Soldier’s grand claim and the potential pitfalls of oral tradition. I concluded that perhaps he believes the story he told me of the romance between Sacagawea and Clark, but most Indians I encountered would not. This demonstrates the slippery slope of oral tradition in the historical world. Historians rely on evidence to build an interpretation—or a case. The evidence they often use is the written record, but they also use photographs and artifacts.

A fourth source is oral history—often in the format of interviews or transcriptions from interviews. Each source has limitations and, as a trial lawyer knows, the strongest case is built on a combination of sources that corroborate the point. In the Sacagawea story, the oral tradition is far from consistent.

Historians suspicious of oral tradition are sometimes considered insensitive to cultures that did not pass down knowledge and memory through written word. These cultures argue that the strength of the oral tradition is the exacting process. Often one or two people in the tribe were designated “historians” and they carefully collected the tribe’s stories and, at a certain time, passed those stories down to the next generation, requiring exact word-for-word repetition.

As Carolyn Gilman argues, “Whereas Euro-American society trusts the written record more than the spoken record, the opposite is true in traditional Indian society: what is spoken is trusted, and what is written is suspected of bias.”7 Many people will continue to tell the story of Sacagawea, both the facts and the myths. Since she couldn’t tell her story, all we can do is critically analyze the evidence and draw our own conclusions. t Tim Grove writes the History Bytes column in History News and serves as Chief of Museum Learning at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History is his first solo book (http:// grizzlyinthemail.com). He can be reached at grovet@si.edu.

The National Bicentennial Exhibition was organized by the Missouri Historical Society with cooperation from more than fifty institutions across the country, including the Smithsonian. It traveled to five venues during the bicentennial.

1

2 Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), vii.

3 Ella Clark, Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 130–31.

4

Allen Pinkham, as told to author, St. Louis MO, December 2002.

James Ronda, “The Objects of Our Journey,” in Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide, by Carolyn Gilman (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003), 36–37.

5

6 Eric Foner, Who Owns History? Re-thinking the Past in a Changing World (New York: Hill and Wang, 2002), xix.

7

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY Acknowledges and appreciates these Endowment Donors for their extraordinary support:

Dr. William T. Alderson Society $50,000+

Ms. Terry L. Davis Nashville, TN Mr. John & Ms. Anita Durel Baltimore, MD

Ms. Sylvia Alderson Winston–Salem, NC Anonymous

Mr. Stephen Elliott St. Paul, MN

Mr. John Frisbee (Deceased) Concord, NH

Mr. Dennis Fiori Boston, MA

National Endowment for the Humanities Washington, DC

Mr. Leslie H. Fishel (Deceased) Madison, WI

Mr. Dennis & Ms. Trudy O’Toole Monticello, NM

Ms. Barbara Franco Harrisburg, PA

AASLH President’s Society

Mr. James B. Gardner Washington, DC

$10,000 – $49,999

Historic Annapolis Foundation Annapolis, MD

Mr. Edward P. Alexander (Deceased) Washington, DC AltaMira Press Lanham, MD Mr. & Mrs. Charles F. Bryan, Jr. Richmond, VA Ms. Sandra Sageser Clark Holt, MI The History Channel New York, NY Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation Marshalltown, IA

Friends of the Endowment Society $5,000 – $9,999

Indiana Historical Society Indianapolis, IN Mr. Russell Lewis & Ms. Mary Jane jacob Chicago, IL Maryland Historical Society Baltimore, MD Missouri History Museum St. Louis, MO Ms. Candace Tangorra Matelic Pawleys Island, SC Ms. Kathleen S. & Mr. James L. Mullins Grosse Pointe Shores, MI National Heritage Museum Lexington, MA Nebraska State Historical Society Lincoln, NE

Atlanta History Center Atlanta, GA

Ms. Laura Roberts & Mr. Edward Belove Cambridge, MA

Mr. Charles H. Bentz Warren, OH Mr. & Mrs. Salvatore Cilella Atlanta, GA Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Williamsburg, VA Mr. David Crosson & Ms. Natalie Hala San Francisco, CA

Ms. Ruby Rogers Cincinnati, OH Mr. Jim & Ms. Janet Vaughan Washington, DC Mr. George L. Vogt Portland, OR Ms. Jeanne & Mr. Bill Watson Orinda, CA

AASLH also thanks the following individuals for their leadership as members of the AASLH Legacy Society. The Legacy Society provides AASLH members an opportunity to donate to the endowment via estate planning.

Ms. Sylvia Alderson Winston–Salem, NC

Mr. J. Kevin Graffagnino Barre, VT

Anonymous

Mr. John A. Herbst Indianapolis, IN

Mr. Bob & Ms. Candy Beatty Franklin, TN Mr. Robert M. & Ms. Claudia H. Brown Missoula, MT Mr. & Mrs. Charles F. Bryan Jr. Richmond, VA Ms. Linda Caldwell Etowah, TN Ms. Mary Case & Mr. Will Lowe Washington, DC Mr. & Mrs. Salvatore Cilella Atlanta, GA Ms. Terry L. Davis Nashville, TN Mr. Stephen & Ms. Diane Elliott St. Paul, MN Mr. John Frisbee (Deceased) Concord, NH

Mr. H. G. Jones Chapel Hill, NC Ms. Katherine Kane West Hartford, CT Ms. Kathleen S. & Mr. James L. Mullins Grosse Pointe Shores, MI Mr. Dennis A. O’Toole Monticello, NM Ms. Ruby Rogers Cincinnati, OH Mr. David J. Russo Ontario, Canada Mr. Will ticknor Las Cruces, NM Mr. George L. Vogt Portland, OR

Gilman, Lewis and Clark, 329.

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Wherever People are Working Together with the Aim of Getting Something Done,

Good Things are Happening

By Bill Clinton

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Address to the Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference VI Little Rock, Arkansas, June 3, 2014

Clinton Center

hank you very much. When Stephanie [Streett] was saying that she’d worked for me in one capacity or another for twenty-three years, I was thinking, “Oh good!

That means the statute of limitations has run and I can’t be prosecuted for violating the child labor laws when I hired her.” I want to thank her and Terri Garner for their wonderful work at our library.

I also want to thank Bruce Lindsey, the Chairman of our Foundation. I have many friends in this audience, but I The theme of must acknowledge my longthis conference is time colleague, Governor historical context and Gerry Baliles from Virginia, modern relevance. who’s now at the Miller Center, which is taking all our oral histories. And, you know, I just can’t wait to see what some of these people said about me.

Nelson Chenault

T

By Bill Clinton

Tomorrow you’re going to Central High, and I thank my longtime friends, Ernie Green and Carlotta Walls LaNier, who will be part of your tour. Carlotta came all the way from Denver to be with us. Their story, more than fifty years ago, and their story today, is an important part of who we are in this state and how things have turned out for us.

I also want to thank all of you who are in any way involved with these Presidential libraries. The theme of this conference is historical context and modern relevance, and so I just want to offer a few observations about this. First of all, I worked really hard on this library. My architect said I was the single worst client he’d ever had. When we started working on the plans before I left the White House, he came in once after I hadn’t seen him in six months. He had changed one thing in the plans and I said, “Why’d you change that?” He said, “I haven’t been here in six months—how did you notice that?” I said, “Unlike you, I have to spend the rest of my life there.” I think these libraries are really important, so I thank all of you for doing what you do.

What I wanted to do with my library and with the establishment of America’s first graduate school of public service, rather than public policy, is convince everyone who comes—without regard to their background, income, politics, or whether or not they voted for me— that they shouldn’t sit on the sidelines. Active citizenship is important.

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Nelson Chenault

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So I want to thank Skip Rutherford, the Dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, and all those involved.

One of the most interesting political battles playing out in America today is the direct result of sporadic citizenship. America looks a lot different now Every significant than it did when I was outcome is the elected almost twentyproduct of politics, two years ago—it’s more female, it’s younger, and policy, and the it’s less white. There are personality of our also more older people leaders. in the electorate, even though there are more young people in school now than there were in the baby boom generation. And on top of that, two different Americas show up to vote in the Presidential years and in the off years.

So you have this titanic battle going on in Washington where the Democrats would like to expand voter participation and make it easier to vote. In addition to our belief in the merits of immigration reform, there was a study just this week that said in communities in America that have accepted a lot of immigrants, the wage growth of non-immigrants is twice as high as it is in communities without as many immigrants. So we believe it, but we also think it would help our side by making America more diverse.

I was trying to figure out the other day what the vote would have been in 1992 and 1996 if America had looked as it did in 2008 and 2012. On the other hand, of the more than 120 million people in America who regularly vote in Presidential elections, 49 million of them usually don’t vote in the midterm elections. So that explains why state legislatures and governors regularly elected in the off years want to increase the difficulty of voting. So you have this crazy situation where one party is trying to make the off-year electorate look more like the Presidential electorate and the other party wants the Presidential electorate to look more like the off-year electorate. But what we ought to be doing is trying to appeal to everybody to figure out how we can develop some sort of national consensus.

I just met with my summer interns, and one of them asked me, “When you passed welfare reform, there was a Republican Congress, but majorities of both parties in both houses voted for it—how did that happen?” And I said, “Well, it’s a little bit more complicated than that, but basically what you need to know is that the leadership in both parties actually wanted something to happen. Both parties thought they were hired to show up and get something done.” The relevance of that experience is that we have to create the conditions again in which the internal driving energy is for action on the critical challenges facing the country. Then, we have to be willing to have an inclusive decision-making process, which means you can’t always get

Summer 2014

what you want. Everybody has forgotten that our Founding Fathers, whom we tend to deify, were actually dealmakers who established a system that requires deal-making.

Otherwise, we’d be a parliamentary system, and we could do whatever the heck we wanted when we were in, and say whatever we wanted when we were out because there would be no consequences. We are expected to row in the same boat, and this concept is relevant today, regardless of how exactly you think we should resolve any of our issues.

I also think it is quite important that these libraries serve as repositories of history. And while I think they succeed in this sense, it’s still difficult for someone to walk through any of them and fully absorb everything and understand the decision-making processes. There is not enough space in any of those little enclaves upstairs to tell the whole story about what happened on any issue. For example, understanding the passage of the national service legislation, of which we are observing the twentieth anniversary this year, requires more context. So what we’ve been trying to do is emphasize the context on the anniversaries of things—the fifteenth anniversary or the twentieth anniversary. The most important one of these that I have seen any of you do recently was the conference put on by the LBJ Library for the fiftieth anniversary of President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act. The recognition of this milestone kicks off a year that will end with celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Both of those landmark pieces of legislation illustrate that in our system, every significant outcome is the product of politics, policy, and the personality of our leaders—how they mix or how they don’t—at any given time in history.

It’s important that people understand that, and it’s important that children be raised to believe that what they do makes a difference and they can’t get discouraged when they get their brains beat out. They can’t complain when the predictable adverse consequences flow from doing something that needs to be done, but that’s still going to make a lot of people mad.

It’s important to understand you need mechanisms that deal with the foreseen as well as the unforeseen consequences of all changes. I put out a statement last night about the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] proposal to limit carbon emissions from power plants, and I endorsed it because I believe climate change is real. I think the consequences are already terrible, and they’re only going to get worse. I believe there are economically viable ways to make this transition.

On one sunny day two weeks ago in Germany, for the first time since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the most powerful economy in Europe generated 74 percent of its electricity from the sun and wind. It cost them a lot of money, but now most of the electrical-generating capacity in Germany is in the hands not of centralized companies, but of communities and cooperatives of farmers. Deutsche Bank, not some radical think tank, says they have netted 300,000 jobs, notwithstanding the extra cost. Now why is that? The Germans take great care with the details. So when we go into this transformation to reduce carbon emissions over the next several years, assuming the courts uphold what the EPA has done, it will let states fashion their own responses. The one thing the proposal can’t do—it’s not the EPA’s job, but it’s

Nelson Chenault

reversed, and we need to figure out what kind of change will be our friend and what kind will be our adversary.

One of the major challenges is whether we can spread the benefits more broadly, and the failure to do that today is a real problem.

This brings me back Every Presidential to the LBJ exhibit. The library has a historical Johnson Library was mission. able to go into greater detail than otherwise possible for somebody just touring on a normal day. They effectively communicated how the President got Republican support—without which he could never have passed that bill—and why they supported it, how it worked out, and how we moved forward. Every Presidential library has a historical mission, but they all think the person they represent did a pretty good job, or they wouldn’t be working there. But we all should be making honest efforts to show how these libraries are relevant to the current day. So, for example, by the time I became President, I had already been involved with two Presidents who you’d think had nothing in common in terms of welfare reform—Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. President Carter gave five states waivers from the federal welfare rules to let us set up more workbased systems. I asked them to make Arkansas one of the five, and they did. The Reagan White House wanted to make a serious effort to improve the welfare system in ’87 and ’88, and I got to represent the Democratic Governors

2010, at Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Dale Chihuly Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

terribly important—is recognize that, although there will be more winners than losers, there will be losers. The argument that opponents use is that there will be more losers than winners—I don’t buy that; it hasn’t happened yet. Ever since President Nixon set up the EPA, every time we’ve had an advance in environmental or public health, there have been people saying that the economic costs are greater than the public health or environmental benefits. So far, that hasn’t been true. So far, we’ve found clever ways to do it—spawned all kinds of new energies, new industries, and new technologies that basically reorganized ways of doing business.

Nonetheless, this isn’t to say there won’t be losers. What I tried to say in this blog is that if you focus on people as well as policy in politics, you have to recognize that people in coal country in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and a few in southwestern Pennsylvania are already in trouble.

Those people didn’t do anything wrong, and the economy has been passing them by for decades. Somebody ought to do something to make sure that the transition brings investment, and not just for training because it doesn’t do you any good to get training for a job that is three or four hundred miles away. However, if you have distributed power, which is essentially what solar and wind are, then, by definition, you should be able to have distributed employment. And somebody needs to be working on that so that five years from now, the unemployment rate in coal country is not still where it is today or worse. That’s not right, and we’ve got to get better at economic transformation—as a country, we’ve got to get better at this.

One of the things I believe we did a good job of was the move to reduce tobacco production in America in the face of the public health evidence. But the tobacco farmers hadn’t done anything wrong; they did what their people had been doing for centuries. So we put together a package that financed the transition for those tobacco farmers from Kentucky, Dale Chihuly Red Reeds, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia so that they wouldn’t be adversely affected by this change.

Our world is constantly changing. Russell Long, former Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, once said that when people would bring him proposed tax changes, every one of them was an example of a law he had learned, which was, “Let’s change—you go first.” I think this is going to be an interesting time for us. There are some of these currents running through the world that cannot be

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Nelson Chenault

in a bipartisan effort to do that with an overwhelmingly Democratic House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate. I remember being carried away when I was invited to the bill signing with President Reagan in 1988.

We have to find ways again for everybody to want to make something …it is important to happen. Another one of the interns today asked me try as much as we about immigration reform. possibly can to give I said it will happen when people the context in both sides want something which these decisions to happen—not when they agree, but when they want were made. something to happen. We went through two vetoes and endless rewrites of the Welfare Reform Act. Finally, we got to something that both sides thought was imperfect, but way better than leaving things the way they were. And in the first little mini-recession, when the tech bubble burst in early 2001, people who moved from welfare to work were actually slightly less likely to be laid off than the general population. Those things are important for people to know—not so they’ll think more or less of a past President, but so they’ll gain some insight into how the challenges we face today, which are different, can be approached in ways more likely to produce a positive result. All of us have an interest in that; no one wants America to fail. And if you’re honest, and you work at any Presidential library, you have to say—no matter how much you think of your President— none of us are right all the time.

One thing nobody foresaw in this welfare reform debate is that people started flailing away at me for allowing the states to set the benefit levels. I found that 90 percent of the progressives attacking me did not know that there was in effect no federal standard of benefits. Before the bill passed, the law was that the monthly benefits could not be lower than they were in 1973—and I found that almost nobody knew it. So, for example, in Vermont, you got about 650 dollars per month for a family of three, but in Mississippi and Texas, you got 183 dollars—that doesn’t sound like much of a national standard to me. However, I did not anticipate the combination of the fiscal squeeze on the states from the financial meltdown and the ideological squeeze on them, so that actually some states have eliminated all cash assistance to poor people. I never thought that would happen; I didn’t

Paul Barrows

The Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, site of the 2014 Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference

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think anybody would actually take 183 dollars a month away from people who didn’t have any money and who had kids in the house. We all learn things as we go along.

The context in which we made decisions is important.

That’s another thing—I suppose one of the reasons my Presidency has remained relevant to critics in both parties is that I have a spouse who seems to remain relevant. That’s fine with me; it’s a small price to pay. But it is important to try as much as we possibly can to give people the context in which these decisions were made. For example, when President Reagan took office, we’d just been through all this stagflation. He was a wonderful storyteller, and he convinced us that government would mess up a two-car parade— there was a lot of evidence for that in what had happened; we weren’t doing very well. Even though under President Carter we were creating jobs like crazy, the inflation was hurting us. Until President Reagan, we had basically never before had a big tax cut and willfully run big deficits in peacetime. Within a couple of years, he actually signed a bill to claw back some of those cuts. People like me, who were more fiscally conservative, didn’t think it was enough, but at least it was something. It showed that there was some play there where they were trying to work together, and you have to give people credit when they’re willing to basically take on their own ideological core to try to get the country in a place where it’s functioning again. And so you should remember that, all of you who are doing this—the facts matter and the context matters. It’s not enough just to know the facts—you have to know the context as well. What were the alternatives available at the time? Most of the people on my left who criticize me now pretend that I didn’t have a Republican Congress for six years of my Presidency, that I was a little dictator sitting alone in my office, and that if I wanted something to happen—poof! It would happen.

I was talking to somebody the other day who said, “It was a terrible thing when you lowered capital gains tax from 28 to 20 percent.” I asked, “Well, do you know what I got for it?” He said, “No,” and I said, “The Children’s Health Insurance Bill—6 million kids getting health insurance.”

I said to this guy, whom I liked, we were friendly, “You’re entitled to say I made a bad decision, but you’re not entitled to tell one half of the decision without the other half. You’re not entitled to ignore the role of Congress in these decisions.” And that’s the kind of thing you can do. None of us should be blindly defensive of every decision that was made, and none of us should fail to acknowledge that errors were made, but my experience is that most people who become President are honest and try their best to do what they think is right. And thank goodness that most of them, when faced with overwhelming circumstances different from what they had anticipated when they were running, embrace these challenges, instead of turning away from them.

You may not agree with everything President Bush did after 9/11, and I don’t. But what he did was far more preferable to pretending it didn’t happen, which is what destroyed the Presidency of Nelson Mandela’s successor in South Africa, Thabo Mbeki—a man I had affection and admiration for. I thought he knew more about economics than any African President we’d had in a very long time, and he ran

tisan cooperation, we should also be honest.

It’s easier when your own neck is not on the line, when you’ve run your last race, and when your ambition has been slaked. It’s easier for people to listen to you then.

I worry, even more than when I was a child When I took office, growing up here in the the average cell phone civil rights era when weighed five pounds, there was so much rhetoric pushing people apart, there were fifty sites that all this money, all on the Internet… these interest groups, and the complexity of these issues are further alienating people from politics and policy. And in the confusion, what you’re having is more and more people voting based on identity. I told somebody once—I’m not sure they believed me, and I’m not sure when I was still running that I believed it myself, but I knew it was right—that I longed for the day when America would be united enough where no Democrat could get 90 percent of the African American vote because there would be an honest debate of ideas and approaches, and everybody would be right on the core issues. I also long for the day when that happens with first-generation immigrants. It seems to be happening now with the whole issue of gay rights. But it’s easier when you’re not running for anything to say all these things.

So I urge all of you to play up the generosity of the Presidents living and dead whom you honor by your work in their libraries, because if America becomes only about identity-based politics, it cannot possibly lead the world where it needs to go in the twenty-first century. Here’s the only thing I really know for sure that’s still relevant: wherever people are working together with the aim of getting something done, good things are happening. And wherever people’s primary operational mode is to fight and emphasize our differences over our common humanity, good things are not happening. I challenge you to look all over America and all around the world—you will find that.

Let’s take one of the most troubled areas of the world— how has Lebanon managed to survive with Hezbollah coming in, and Iran and Syria having so much influence?

Sometimes groups within Lebanon rocket Israel, Israel sometimes rockets them, and they’ve been invaded—so how in the world are they standing? Because they have a constitution that mandates shared decision-making, shared participation, and a memory of when identity politics almost took them off the face of the Earth in the 1970s. So the Prime Minister must be Sunni, the Speaker of Parliament must be Shia, and the President must be Maronite Christian. They are sharing the future.

How is Jordan surviving? Jordan imports 96 or 97 percent of its energy, has the lowest amount of water per capita of any country on Earth. Half its population was already Palestinian

Nelson Chenault

thinking that he would create a modern economic state after Mandela had created a modern political state. However, all of the sudden, people started coming across the border from Zimbabwe and elsewhere, and he had the biggest AIDS caseload in the world. They looked for ways to deny it, or to deny that there was anything they could do to deal with it, just hoping he could change the subject and go back to what he ran to do in the first place. This is a very poor strategy in the world of reality where there are some things not subject to denial. So I think giving context to yesterday’s decisions helps people try to seek out the context for today’s decisions.

Then, it’s important to acknowledge what’s new and different and give whoever’s in a chance.

When I took office, the average cell phone weighed five pounds, there were fifty sites on the Internet, and the only e-mails were interoffice memos—all of which were subpoenaed by Congress while I was there. I sent two e-mails when I was President—one to John Glenn in outer space to say come home because it was controversial (I had to give personal approval for a seventy-seven-year-old man to go into outer space; he’s looking younger to me every day), and one to our troops on a ship in the Adriatic during the Kosovo conflict. But basically, all that was snail mail. When I left office, there were several million people on the Internet.

Today, there are 3 billion people who have access to the Internet, so it’s a very different world.

I was really fortunate because I became President at the time when information technology was leaving Silicon Valley, Route 128, the exchange companies in D.C., and the video game companies in Texas, and spreading into every aspect of the American economy. So it was pretty clear to me that if you wanted to raise incomes and have broad-based prosperity, you had to have more jobs to tighten the labor market and you had to change the job mix so that median wages would rise. We identified every pressure point we could possibly think of, put the pedal to the metal, and tried to accelerate it—and thank goodness it worked. Now there are a lot of people who believe that the productivity gains of information technology are so great that it is no longer possible to spin out more jobs than those that disappear from increased productivity. I don’t know the answer to that, but I don’t think the proposition has been fully tested. However, I think all of us who are on the outside looking in owe a fair measure of humility and flexibility to the policymakers in the White House, Congress, and the Cabinet who are trying to come to grips with this. I don’t believe anybody knows the answer to that now. I know what I’d try to do to find out, but I don’t think you can be absolutely clear about it.

Most of us in this library business try to acknowledge what the political forces of the day were without being too harshly partisan. It’s easier to do that when you’re not running for anything. People say to me all the time how wonderful it is that I’ve developed such an incredible relationship with the first President Bush and a good friendship with the second President Bush, but it’s easier when you’re not running for anything. And so I think Presidents and their libraries should continue to do things that reach across the partisan divide, but we should also tell the American people that while we hope this is a good model that will spark more active bipar-

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Arkansas Bridge, Little Rock, Arkansas

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as far as we know. They don’t have any consciousness or conscience—they basically developed to do this. The combined weight of all the ants on Earth is bigger than the combined weight of all the people on Earth, and there are species of ants that when being chased through the forest by predators, sense when they’re about to be caught and a group of them will go on the tallest sprigs of grass and sacrifice themselves so the others may live. There are termites in hot climates that build their homes underground and drill four or five holes in the space above, but only go in and out of one hole because the others are simply for air conditioning. And when it’s about to rain, they all stay out because they don’t want to drown. How do they know that? How did that happen? The point is that if just one termite did it, the others would drown and the species would go extinct. And bees have survived any number of things partly because of their highly sophisticated division of labor, without which we would find it hard to get the nourishment we need to survive as a species. And you should be very worried about the declining population of bees now—it hasn’t been totally reversed.

Wilson says that people are the most important species because we have both consciousness and conscience.

However, we’ve repeatedly toyed with our own destruction and then pulled away. He said, “I’ve spent my whole life telling everybody the sky is falling—I’ve been an academic Chicken Little. I’ve been griping about all these species disappearing from the Earth at a more rapid rate than they have in thousands and thousands of years.” But on balance, he’s pretty optimistic because every time we have a chance to destroy ourselves, we find a new way to cooperate. That’s what you need to think about.

In a funny way, every single Presidential library represents the triumph of a democracy that is increasingly diverse and that has found a way to meet its common challenges, to resolve its deep differences, and to keep going forward.

That’s a story we all have to tell in some way or another.

We should value our differences and promote the debates— they’re healthy; nobody’s right all the time. But in the end, we’re all still here because when the chips are down, we thought what we had in common was more important than what divided us—and that’s a lesson we have to learn every single day.

Thank you very much. t Bill Clinton was the forty-second President of the United States. In June 2014, he gave this keynote address to the Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference VI. Paul Barrows

Nelson Chenault

before more refugees from Syria showed up, and now there are somewhere between 600,000 and a million Syrians living in Jordan. Because only 10 percent of the refugees are in camps, no one really has a definitive number. So how is Jordan surviving?

Even with a monarchy, they’ve tried to make it We should value more democratic and inclusive, more political in our differences and promote the debates– the best sense, and more cooperative. If you look they’re healthy; around America at the nobody’s right all cities that have already surpassed their pre-crash ecothe time. nomic conditions, without exception, they have very dense networks of cooperation. So I leave you with that.

All of us like to be known for what we did against all the odds. But in the end, we’re not quite as different as we think we are. The Human Genome Project’s most important finding for you is that with 3.6 billion genomes in our body, every non-age-related difference you can see in this room, including gender and race, is rooted in one half of 1 percent of your genome. I sometimes think the world’s biggest problem is that every one of us spends 99.5 percent of our time thinking about the 0.5 percent of us that is different.

The most important political book I’ve read in the last three years was written not by a politician, a professor of politics, or a historian, but by double Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist E. O. Wilson when he was eighty-two years old. It’s called The Social Conquest of Earth, in which Wilson uses available evidence to trace the history of all life on the planet from the emergence of single-celled organisms from their primordial slime. He’s eighty-five now and boy, he’s still got it—I mean, his mind is on all cylinders. He basically says if you look at the history of all life on the planet, and if you look at the extinction of the dinosaurs and giant mammals, the triumphant species—the ones that have endured repeated attempts to kill them off—have only one thing in common.

These triumphant species—ants, termites, bees, and people—are the most cooperative of all the species that have ever lived. And ants, termites, and bees did it without brains,

When Historic

Buildings and Landscapes National Trust for Historic Preservation

are the Museum Collection

By Katherine Malone-France and Thompson M. Mayes

I

“

feel the ground shifting,” joked Bob Beatty, Vice President of AASLH, when he heard that the National Trust for Historic

Preservation was exploring the possibility of including historic structures and landscapes in its museum collections.

While it may seem common-sensical to someone who is not trained in museum standards and ethics, within the profession the possibility of treating historic structures and landscapes as part of museum collections seems radical, particularly if proceeds from de-accessioned objects will be used to care for the structures and landscapes. Yet, after careful consideration and a thorough examination of ethiAt the largely unfurnished Drayton Hall, the building is the primary artifact interpreted for the public. The landscape of Drayton Hall is also actively interpreted.

cal standards, the National Trust decided to do just that, revising its collections management policy to incorporate historic structures and landscapes into museum collections, along with objects. Here’s the story. 1

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growth in northern Virginia. And they are all enhanced by elements of beauty—dry-stacked stone walls, iron gates, winding paths, wooden fencing, rare and common varieties of trees and flowers, furniture, sculptures, and fountains.

The object collection at the sites of the National Trust contains a wide variety of fine arts and decorative arts, including baroque paintings, modern sculptures, Gothic Revival furniture, and Native American pottery, not to mention a grizzly bear rug, Napoleon’s death mask, and homespun clothing believed to have been worn by people enslaved at Shadows-on-the-Teche. The collection also encompasses an eclectic mix of items related to life at these properties, from the extraordinary—Dolley Madison’s engagement ring at Montpelier—to the absolutely ordinary—Edith Farnsworth’s original stove at the Farnsworth House.

According to Carrie E. Villar, the John and Neville Bryan Senior Manager of Museum Collections at the National Trust, “While the object collection of the National Trust has Harf Zimmerman

When Historic Buildings and Landscapes are the Museum Collection

T

he National Trust preserves and interprets a national network of twenty-seven historic sites and house museums around the United States. These properties are located in small towns and large cities, in suburbs and rural areas. They have a range of operations, resources, and capacities. Of the twenty-one historic sites owned by the National Trust, the organization manages half while other nonprofits, serving as co-stewardship partners, manage the others. In addition to the twenty-one properties that the National Trust owns outright, the organization formally affiliates with another six historic sites located throughout the country, which add geographic, thematic, and operational diversity to the portfolio.

With this diversity, the National Trust grapples with virtually every significant issue facing historic sites and house museums. Name a challenge and at least one of the twentyseven sites is facing it … and working to meet it. Indeed, one of the current strengths of the National Trust’s portfolio lies in its variety as representative of the broader field, coupled with the willingness to take calculated—but sometimes radical—risks to create expansive public benefit and increase long-term sustainability at its sites. In 2007, at the historic Rockefeller estate Kykuit, the National Trust and others convened experts from across the field for the Forum on Historic Site Stewardship in the 21st Century. The organization continues to work on the recommendations from the Kykuit conference and strategically chose in recent years to prioritize its work around the idea of reimagining historic sites for the twenty-first century.

One of the strengths of historic sites and house museums is that visitors have the opportunity to experience a place, which has the potential to convey history and story more powerfully than documents or other artifacts alone can do. The place is not one element, but is a combination of landscape, buildings, and objects woven together. National Trust historic sites represent a broad range of American stories embedded in all three of these elements. The structures at National Trust sites range across a broad spectrum, from Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, built in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1945, to Drayton Hall, completed outside of Charleston, South Carolina, almost exactly two centuries earlier in 1742.

Structures at National Trust sites also include a wide range of more modest buildings, such as a freedman’s log cabin at Montpelier in Orange, Virginia, and redwood barns at the Cooper-Molera Adobe in Monterey, California.

Similarly, the landscapes of the National Trust’s portfolio represent significant historic and artistic resources.

Among the 4,000 acres that the National Trust owns are woodlands and wetlands, Louisiana oaks covered in Spanish moss, trenches dug by soldiers during the Civil War, carefully framed vistas of the Hudson River that exemplify the picturesque in landscape design, and even a small section of the San Andreas Fault in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. These landscapes represent the work of celebrated estate gardeners such as Ferdinand Mangold at Lyndhurst and Isabella Worn at Filoli, but they also bear the marks of nineteenth-century phosphate mining in the South Carolina low country and twenty-first-century population

some truly extraordinary pieces by artists and artisans such as Thomas Affleck, Gustave and Christian Herter, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti and others, the power of our collection to make meaningful connections with the public lies in the depth and breadth of objects, places, and spaces that tell the stories of how we lived in the past.”2 Across the National Trust’s portfolio, the buildings, landscapes, and objects are interconnected in design, stewardship, and the power to convey meaning, as is often the case at historic sites and house museums throughout the country. At Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, Virginia, much of the furniture is built into the fabric of the home, leaving no physical distinction between the building and its furnishings. At Kykuit, the fine arts collections are placed in the buildings and in the broader landscapes as they were by the property’s private owners, resulting in combinations, such as a Tang Dynasty Bodhisattva framed by a Hudson Valley landscape, that both delight and inspire.

In these cases, and others, the National Trust is charged not only with the preservation and interpretation of these objects, but also of the larger compositions of which they are a part.

Phillip Johnson’s Glass House is perhaps the most literal example of this intent and interconnectedness—there is no distinction intended or created between landscape, building, and objects. All are manipulated, all are organic, all are art.

Public benefit is only enhanced by an understanding of these elements as a single collection, both at the individual sites and across the portfolio.

In outlining the key conclusions from the Kykuit meeting, James Vaughan, then Vice President of Stewardship of Historic Sites at the National Trust, stated, “Responsible site stewardship achieves a sustainable balance between the needs of the buildings, landscapes, collections, and the visiting public.” As the National Trust continued to search for a sustainable and powerful future for its historic sites, the imbalance between these elements became increasingly apparent. 3

At the Glass

House, the objects, structure, and landscape

are integrated by design.

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Carol Highsmith

When Historic Buildings and Landscapes are the Museum Collection

L

yndhurst, a National Trust site in Tarrytown, “The misconception that Lyndhurst highlights,” Zar conNew York, provides a particularly evocative tinues, “is using structural attachment as the bright, dividing example. At the heart of the sixty-seven-acre line on what could be restored with collections de-accession estate is a mansion designed by A.J. Davis, funds. In a Frank Lloyd Wright house, would anyone posit considered to be one of the finest examples of that a built-in dining room table is less of an art object and Victorian architecture in the United States. Davis was the less worthy of restoration than the dining room chairs, simFrank Lloyd Wright of the nineteenth century. Like Wright, ply because they aren’t built in? Similarly, do I have to rip he not only designed the mansion’s exterior but was also out my Tiffany windows and put them in storage to make keenly interested in the placement of the home within its them ‘art objects’ worthy of restoration? In a house museum, landscape and the design of the interior spaces, fixtures, and oftentimes, the house is the art object.”5 furnishings. The exterior design is an icon The example from Lyndhurst dramatically of the Gothic Revival style. The interiors illustrates the arbitrary nature of attempting include detailed plasterwork, marble mantels, to separate the care of objects from the care carved doors, elaborate faux stone and grain of buildings and landscapes, and it provided painting, and stained glass. The object collecthe impetus for a fundamental change to the tion includes furnishings designed specifically National Trust’s collections management for the home by A. J. Davis in both 1840 and policy: the addition of historic structures and 1865, as well as fine art, decorative arts, and landscapes to the collection and the extenother furnishings acquired by railroad magsion of the use of disposition proceeds to the nate Jay Gould and his daughters, who owned direct care of the entire collection, including the property from 1880 to 1961, when it was the historic structures and landscapes. bequeathed to the National Trust.

The National Trust’s collections manageStained glass The house contained a series of five ment policy now incorporates a historic at Lyndhurst could not be conserved stained glass windows attributed to John structure and landscape collection, as well using disposition LaFarge. During a prior restoration of the as an object collection, which also includes proceeds under the mansion’s parlor to reflect its earliest period archival and archaeological materials. Not previous collections of decoration, the LaFarge windows were all historic structures and landscapes of the management policy, removed from the parlor, accessioned into National Trust will be included in this colbecause the individual the collection, and placed in storage. Other lection, however. The primary criteria for windows had not been stained glass remained in the house, much inclusion are that the historic structure or formally accessioned. of it in need of conservation. The stained landscape feature must provide active public glass that remained in situ in the mansion benefit by being accessible to and interpreted vividly illustrated the imbalance between the collections and for the public. Degrees of significance or types of use are the historic structure. Under the provisions of the National very purposefully not part of these criteria, in an effort to Trust collections management policy, the collections care provide flexibility as sites develop new plans and programs. fund—financed by disposition proceeds—could be used only This idea of a single collection that incorporates landfor the stained glass windows that had been removed from scapes, structures, and objects recognizes the best practhe building, given accession numbers, and placed in storage. tices of stewardship already in place at the National Trust.

Disposition proceeds could not be used for the conservation Individual staff members or interdisciplinary teams work of the windows that remained in place in the building—and cooperatively to care for buildings, landscapes, and objects. which the public saw every day. This seemed highly inconsisPlanning for capital projects includes a careful examination tent—that disposition proceeds could apply to the direct care of impacts on all three components and the identification of of items that were in storage and not then interpreted for the overlapping conservation issues. Interpretation and engagepublic in any way, but these funds could not contribute to ment benefit from identifying and exploring connections the care of stained glass that is in public view, is a part of site between these elements. interpretation, and is an intrinsic element of the full compoThe National Trust recognized that such fundamental sition of buildings, landscapes, and objects that is Lyndhurst. changes to its collections management policy would require “The National Trust’s de-accession policy was loosely full examination to ensure that the changes were consistent based on those developed by art museums, in which the with ethical standards in the museum field and that there intent was to prevent cherry-picking of an art collection were adequate protections in place to mitigate any signifito pay for deferred maintenance on a building, with the cant risks. In examining the applicable ethical standards, tacit assumption that there was nothing inherently aesthe National Trust reviewed the policies of the American thetic about the building,” explains Howard Zar, Executive Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and the Director at Lyndhurst. “In an architecturally significant American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Prior to initiathouse museum, many of the highly visible and defining eleing the changes, the National Trust explored the issues in ments of the structure are as aesthetically important, if not sessions at the annual meetings of AASLH and AAM, as more so, than the collections within. They need to be acceswell as with the Accreditation Committee of AAM and the sioned into the collection and should be subject to restoraStandards and Ethics Committee of AASLH. As outlined in tion with de-accession funds.”4 a position paper published in the June 2014 edition of Forum

The primary criteria for inclusion are that the historic structure or

Jeff Sturges

landscape feature must provide active public benefit by being accessible to and interpreted for the public.

Journal, the National Trust concluded that the changes to the collections management policy were consistent with ethical standards. The organization reached this conclusion because the changes were grounded in the idea of public benefit (through public access and interpretation) as the criteria both for designating buildings and landscapes as part of the collection and for the use of disposition proceeds.6 As outlined in this article and in the position paper, the National Trust endorses the fundamental idea that the preservation of historic structures and landscapes interpreted to the public is its primary duty of care. The organization also recognizes—and embraces—the establishment of a standard of care for these resources that is comparable to the standard of care for objects. The National Trust also expressly prohibits the capitalization of historic resources as financial assets, a policy of the organization throughout its history.

The changes to the National Trust’s collections management policy related to the use of disposition proceeds are also in keeping with the AASLH ethical standards, as outlined in Forum Journal.

The AASLH Statement of Professional Standards and Ethics also includes the statement that collections shall not be deaccessioned or disposed of in order to provide financial support for institutional operations, facilities maintenance, or any reason other than preservation or acquisition of collections, as defined by institutional policy. The proposed changes to the National Trust’s Collections Management Policy will encourage the application of this standard to the historic structures and landscapes, as well as object collections. This change provides equivalent treatment for buildings, landscapes, and objects as assets held for the benefit of the public.

Prior to the change in the Collections Management Policy, proceeds from deaccessioning would only have been available for the preservation of collections objects, not the buildings or landscapes. This limitation did not recognize that the historic structures and landscapes are held for the benefit of the public in the same manner as the objects. In

Lyndhurst’s grand picture gallery …displays Jay Gould’s prize painting, Bouguereau’s “Premiere Caresse.”

The decorative scheme of the room includes c. 1840 decorative plaster corbels of notable authors and a c. 1865 painted cast iron radiator cover.

Although extremely rare, the decorative work in the room could not be restored using de-accession funds under the previous policy. …designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, is filled with railroad baron Jay Gould’s paintings collection. Under the National Trust’s prior collections management policy, de-accession funds were used to restore the paintings, but could not be used to restore the monumental stained glass window, which is believed to be an early work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, and which is integral to the experience of the space. …shows the conserved paintings around a marble mantel and original faux painted wall surface designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, c. 1840.

Although the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds drawings of the mantel in its collection, the mantel and early faux painted surfaces would not have been eligible for restoration using de-accession proceeds under the National Trust’s previous collections policy.

the event that objects are deaccessioned and disposed of, the proceeds will now be available for preservation or acquisition of structures or landscapes that meet the criteria of providing public benefit. Conversely, the proceeds from the sale of historic buildings or landscapes that meet these criteria would now be expressly directed toward the preservation or acquisition of other portions of the collection, such as furnishings and fine arts or other historic buildings or landscapes that provide public benefit. The application of these proceeds would be limited to the site where the deaccessioned item originated but, if that site ceased to be a part of the National Trust’s collection, the proceeds could be applied to other sites owned by the organization.7

The AAM Code of Ethics for Museums begins with the statement that “Museums make their unique contribution to the public by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the things of this world.” Like other organizations that own, operate, and interpret historic places, the National Trust recognizes H i s t o r y n e ws

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Carol Highsmith

Carol Highsmith

When Historic Buildings and Landscapes are the Museum Collection 26

The nineteenth-century fern garden and Renaissance-style well head are elegible for conservation as part of the collection, under the new policies. that the historic structures and landscapes it owns are among the primary “things of this world” that the organization preserves and interprets. The National Trust’s congressional charter states that the purpose of the National Trust is “to facilitate public participation in the preservation of sites, buildings, and objects of national significance or interest.”8 As discussed in Forum Journal: The AAM Code of Ethics states that “disposal of collections through sale, trade, or research activities is solely for the advancement of the museum’s mission. Proceeds from the sale of nonliving collections are to be used consistent with the established standards of the museum’s discipline, but in no event shall they be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections.” The National Trust and other organizations that own historic sites recognize that the historic structures and landscapes are part of the collections that they hold for the benefit of the public and their care fulfills the organization’s preservation mission. In applying this standard, the National Trust’s proposed revisions to its Collections Management Policy, which would establish criteria for a historic structures and landscapes collection, would also permit the use of disposition proceeds from collections objects for the direct care of historic structures and landscapes.9

In considering these changes to the collections management policy, the National Trust acknowledged that permitting disposition proceeds from objects to be used for historic structures and landscapes raised two primary concerns. How could the objects collection be protected from being “cherry-picked” to raise funds without considering the integrity of the entire collection? And how could the organization model best practices in preservation while ensuring that disposition proceeds would be used only for “direct care” and not for operating expenses or facilities maintenance?

To avoid cherry-picking, the policy offers guidelines for the de-accessioning process. An object is only eligible for de-accessioning if it is found to be damaged or destroyed, is determined to be unrelated to the scope of collecting for that site, does not support the mission or interpretation of the site, or has been irreversibly altered beyond interpretive use. As part of the proposed revision of the collections management policy, de-accessioning must be reviewed and recommended for approval by the organization’s Collections

Summer 2014

Committee (which includes the Vice President of Historic Sites and other staff representatives of the National Trust and co-stewardship partners), the Chief Preservation Officer, and a subcommittee of the Preservation and Historic Sites Committee of the Board of Trustees. (An option for the subcommittee to refer the matter to the full Board of Trustees is also included in the revised policy.)

An additional safeguard lies in the policy’s specific separation of the de-accessioning process from the process of determining the application of the proceeds. The policy states that no decision shall be made as to the use of funds from the sale of de-accessioned objects before the Collections Committee approves the de-accessioning and that the committee must approve the specific use of any proceeds, which will ensure that proceeds fund direct care rather than operations or facilities maintenance. The policy expressly states that funds from the sale of de-accessioned objects shall be used only for the replenishment or direct care of collections.

Ultimately, the National Trust determined that the definition of direct care should be interpreted by the professional expertise of the Collections Committee on a case-by-case basis, with an additional check provided by notification to the Chief Preservation Officer. The organization will provide guidance to the Collections Committee related to the standard operational expenses of the site where the proceeds are to be used and allow those sites to make a fact-based case for the particular use of proceeds.

The National Trust is uniquely situated to build a body of practice around these decisions and their implementation that can serve as a model for the entire portfolio, as well as other organizations. In addition to being the owner of twenty-one historic sites and three million objects and artifacts, the National Trust works closely with talented preservation and conservation tradespeople, builders, architects, and engineers across the country to develop technical solutions that preserve beauty and protect authenticity.

The National Trust is also working to make its cyclical maintenance planning just that—planning that is consistently proactive, rather than reactive, particularly for major capital preservation projects. The practical experience of these stewardship obligations—combined with the expertise of the interpretive, curatorial, and buildings and grounds

Preserving Lyndhurst

staff members and board members from across the National Trust’s The fern garden at Lyndhurst, portfolio—promise a lively installed in the 1880s, could and ultimately beneficial be conserved using disposition proceeds under the new collections debate around each decimanagement policy. This ninteenthsion to de-accession and century Renaissance-style well each decision regarding head in the collection at Lyndhurst the use of proceeds. was damaged in a storm and Ultimately, the National subsequently repaired using Trust believes that these disposition proceeds because it changes to the collections was formally accessioned into the management policy more collection. fully acknowledge the importance of structures and landscapes as primary historic resources and that these changes will enhance the public’s appreciation of these significant, meaningful, and beautiful places. While the changes made by the National Trust may not be the best course of action for all historic sites and house museums, they offer a model that could be used for a wide variety of organizations that serve as stewards of historic landscapes, structures, and objects.

Stay tuned, the National Trust will be reporting on the implementation of the policy changes through the Preservation Leadership Forum, AASLH, and AAM—and expects to see the benefits of this holistic approach to the stewardship of its sites and their rich history. t

Katherine Malone-France is the Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, providing leadership to the National Trust’s twenty-seven historic sites as places of national significance or impact where a variety of ownership, stewardship, business, use, and engagement practices flourish to advance the National Trust’s mission and model the many options for preservation. She can be reached at kmalone-france@savingplaces.org.

Thompson M. Mayes, Deputy General Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the principal lawyer for the National Trust’s twenty-seven historic sites. A recipient of the Rome Prize in historic preservation, he has spoken and written widely about historic preservation and historic house museums. He can be reached at tmayes@savingplaces.org.

1

Bob Beatty, telephone interview, April 2, 2014.

2

Carrie E. Villar, e-mail interview, May 20, 2014.

James Vaughan, “Introduction: The Call for a National Conversation,” Forum Journal 22, no. 3 (Spring 2008). http://www.preservationnation.org/leadershipforum.html.

3

4

Howard Zar, e-mail interview, May 20, 2014.

5

Ibid.

Katherine Malone-France and Thompson M. Mayes, “Expanding the Collection to Include Historic Structures and Landscapes,” supplemental online content to Forum Journal 28, no. 4 (Summer 2014). http://www.preservationnation.org/leadership-forum.html.

6

7

Ibid.

American Alliance of Museums, “Code of Ethics for Museums,” (adopted 1991, amended 2000, accessed May 15, 2014), http://www.aam-us.org/resources/ ethics-standards-and-best-practices/code-of-ethics.

8

9 Malone-France and Mayes, “Expanding the Collection to Include Historic Structures and Landscapes.”

J. M. Ke l l e y l T D.

Specializing in the Preservation and Replication of Period Architecture 5075 Old Traveller Lane • Mechanicsville, VA 23111 • Phone: (804) 200-5705 • www.jmkelleyltd.com

H i s t o r y n e ws

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Ensure that your property remains a vital part of our historic landscape so that others may understand, appreciate and enjoy this celebrated way of life.

Keep history alive New England Insurance Services P.O. Box 63 • Weatogue, CT 06089 Phone (888) 844-8288 • Fax (860) 844-8274 www.neisinc.com Member of New England Museum Association Member of Connecticut League of History Organizations

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Summer 2014

Award Winner Spotlight >

By Ronald M. Potvin

We were people when you chained us— But we weren’t strangers to where you lived…

I feel the stings— Of the whips that you used against us whenever we Showed our strengths —From the original song, “We Were,” by Kirshon Augmon, A Boy on the Block

I

n 2013 AASLH gave an Award of Merit to Connecticut Landmarks and Writers Block Ink for their collaboration on Stories of Slavery and Freedom at the Joshua Hempsted House Museum in New London, Connecticut. The two organizations created a summer youth employment program to explore the history of slavery in New London and to develop an exhibition and theatrical production inspired by the life of Adam Jackson, who was enslaved at the Hempsted House from 1727 to 1758, and by others living and working without the full benefits of citizenship in the New London area from 1646 to the era of civil rights.

The students, all young men, called themselves the Boys on the Block. For eight weeks, they conducted research at the Hempsted House using primary sources, including Joshua Hempsted’s own words, contained in a diary he kept for more than fifty years noting the minutiae of his daily life. The students also visited historic sites throughout Connecticut, including the Pequot Museum, the Wadsworth Athenaeum, and the Amistad Center for Art and Culture, to gain a broader understanding of the issues they were studying and to learn more about the methods that museums utilize to tell complex stories.

The mission of Writers Block Ink is to “arm young voices with the power of pen and prose, reinforcing teamwork, accountability and responsibility to ignite social change on the page and stage.”

Writers Block utilizes creativity and dramatic expression to provide high school students with the tools to meet personal and community challenges. Connecticut Landmarks is a statewide network of twelve historic properties spanning three

The reinterpretation project team, pictured here, includes local teens who have researched the house, Connecticut Landmarks staff, an audience researcher, and an exhibit designer. Together, we are redefining how a historic house museum can be presented.

centuries of history. The organization’s mission is to inspire interest about the past through programs that meaningfully engage the public and their communities.

This unique collaboration resulted in the original production “Wealth in Skin: Creative Historical Freedom Stories,” written by the Boys on the Block, directed by veteran Broadway dancer and director Ron Bastine, and performed on the grounds of the Hempsted House.

The Boys on the Block also created a related exhibition at the Hempsted House and produced a book of their writing.

For Kirshon Augmon, a sixteenyear-old high school student from New London, this project was an opportunity to explore his love of filmmaking, singing, and music, and to share his “raw intellect” with a wider group of people. In his poem “Raw Intellect,” the inspiration of the Hempsted House is clear: “I am walking through the hall of black success, listen to the floor boards squeak, patience is key so prepare to hear the doors creak.”

For the Boys on the Block, the story wasn’t about enslavement, but about its antithesis, freedom. In “I Slave,” Isaiah General wrote: You call me a slave, But that’s not what I am.

Slave is what I do…

I work because I have to. I slave.

Freedom, General writes, “is giving yourself a chance to be the person you’re meant to be.” For Derrick Silvan, a sophomore at New London High School who began writing poetry after the death of his mother, “Freedom is easily spoken but not easily done.” In his poem

The Defining Photo LLC, courtesy of Connecticut Landmarks

The Power of History and Words

“Dream,” Silvan writes, I’m way stronger than you, so I stand tall.

To all generations present and future, I quote “Get a paper and pen and take notes…don’t Choke. Just spit it out…don’t hesitate.”

I move the earth with my words.

The work of other Boys on the Block explored the life of Adam Jackson, the abolition movement in New London, and the biographies of enslaved persons through poetry, lyrics, and essays.

For Connecticut Landmarks, this collaboration enabled the organization to make the history of the Hempsted House relevant to the diverse New London population and to deepen ties with the community. The project also launched the transformation of the visitor experience at the Hempsted House by expanding interpretation to include discussion of slavery in New London, abolitionism, civil rights, and contemporary race relations.

For museums throughout the United States, this project offers a case study in the ways that historic sites and social organizations can unite their efforts to tell stories that are vital, relevant, and meaningful to contemporary audiences. t Ronald M. Potvin is the Assistant Director and Curator of the Brown Center for Public Humanities at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He also serves as the Region 2 representative for the AASLH Leadership in History Awards. He can be reached at ronald_ potvin@brown.edu.

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Since 2004

10 Year Anniversary

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Summer 2014

Book Reviews > The Objects of Experience: Transforming Visitor-Object Encounters in Museums

By Elizabeth Wood and Kiersten F. Latham (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2013), 176 pp.

Reviewed by Karen Whitehair

O

ver the last thirty years, museums have shifted their interpretive focus from strictly object-oriented displays to a greater emphasis on visitor experience. Yet, neither effort produced the consistent “Eureka!” moments we want our visitors to have when they come to our institutions. The question becomes, how do we create interpretive environments that allow our visitors to interact with objects in meaningful, life-altering ways? Elizabeth Wood and Kiersten L. Latham propose a methodology called the Object Knowledge Framework to provide museum professionals with tools to bridge the gap formed by objectversus-visitor interpretive orientations.

To build their case, the authors draw on existing literature to emphasize that no object exists in isolation.

Each holds sensory, personal, and collective knowledge dimensions that visitors must access if they are to understand the item and the stories it tells. By the same token, visitors come with personal and diverse knowledge, and tapping into this knowledge creates effective interactions. “This connection of things—the relationship to the use and purpose of objects, the personal meaning of objects, and the meaningful [experiences we all have] with objects—is the foundation of the unified visitor-object experience.” (66).

In order to create this experience, the authors suggest that the exhibit team build a “web of connections.” In other words, exhibit design should incorporate all voices from both within the museum (i.e., perspectives from multiple disciplines) and from without (i.e., understanding visitors’ existing and varied knowledge about the object) in order to produce true meaning. Within such a design, visitors should encounter components that challenge them to think beyond themselves by placing objects in unusual contexts, encouraging uncertainty and inquiry, and building opportunities for a variety of sensory experiences.

This will give the visitors the tools they need to make profound connections.

After explaining in detail the important interpretive philosophies used to create the Object Knowledge Framework, the authors reward the reader by offering twelve maxims that are essential for creating meaningful visitor-object interactions. The associated explanations of each maxim and accompanying exercises can aid museum staff in working through these ideas. And best of all, the authors provide real-world examples of how museums have effectively used these concepts.

It is important to note that many of the concepts that shape this framework are not new. In fact, its basic foundations reach back to interpretation theories first formulated by Freeman Tilden in the 1950s and even John Dewey in the 1910s. However, the authors have repackaged them to make them more accessible in a modern context. Also, their approach has a minor flaw. It may be difficult for some smaller institutions with limited staff and resources to utilize this system

to its full extent. Even so, the authors present us with an excellent new template to inform our thinking as we work to develop future interpretative programming that is more likely to generate the “Eureka!” moments we all crave. t Karen Whitehair has worked for over twenty years in institutions ranging in size from the Smithsonian to predominantly volunteer-run historic sites within the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. She currently works as a contract collections manager at Montpelier Mansion. She can be reached at sourdoughcreek@earthlink.net.

Archival Arrangement and Description Edited By Christopher J. Prom and Thomas J. Frusciano (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2013), 230 pp.

Reviewed by Charlie Arp

A

rchival Arrangement and Description is not an entry level book. If one looks at this book from the perspective of a volunteer working in a small historical organization, it can be daunting. The authors assume the reader has read and understands Kathleen Roe’s Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts,1 and like most Society of American Archivists publications, the book’s intended audience is the professional archivist. Add jargon to the technical nature of the subjects being discussed, and you have a book that some will find difficult to read. Do not let this deter you. The authors explain the jargon and acronyms well, and the book has plenty of sound, easy to understand advice for those who arrange and describe records.

Structurally, the book is comprised of a series of modules, so it is essentially three articles written by different authors discussing a common topic. Each section has its own table of contents, its own appendices, and its own conclusion. This enables each module to stand on its own and to be replaced as technical developments and changes in practice render it obsolete. This also means that the book cannot be used as a single entity—there is no common index, no common table

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Book Reviews > of contents. This is not a fatal flaw, but it can be disconcerting and lessens the usability of the book.

The first module, “Standards for Archival Description,”

by Sibyl Schaefer and Janet Bunde, provides a listing and explanation of the rules and standards for making archival cataloging records, focusing on the importance of creating Encoded Archival Description (EAD) records. Be warned, the authors quickly move into a rousing discussion of HTML, XML, and style sheets. The second module, “Processing Digital Records and Manuscripts,”

by J. Gordon Daines III, defines the tasks needed to accession and process digital records. The final module, “Designing Descriptive and Access Systems,” by

Daniel Santamaria, explains tools to accession and describe collections and to make those descriptions available via the Web. This module ends the book well, as it uses the concepts detailed in the previous modules to functionally describe the tools that do the work.

Each module has something to endear it to the reader.

The first includes an impassioned explanation of the importance of standards such that even an anarchist would submit and fall into line. Every archivist will find the accessioning and descriptive workflow steps listed in the second module helpful, and the range of options detailed in the third module ensures that its recommendations are valid for all organizations.

This book describes how to accession electronic records, how to create digital descriptions of records, and how to make those descriptions available online.

While many smaller historical organizations are not grappling with these tasks yet, they soon will be, or they will cease to exist because of changing user expectations. That makes this book, with its practical advice, citations to sources of additional information, and case studies, a first-rate reference work useful to all archivists. t Charlie Arp has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Ohio University. From 1991 to 2003 he worked at the Ohio Historical Society, where he held a variety of positions including the Head of Reference and State Archivist. In 2003 he took the position of Head of Records Management Operations at Battelle, where he is currently the Enterprise Content Manager. He also serves as faculty for the AASLH Basics of Archives online course.

1 Kathleen D. Roe, Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005).

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Summer 2014

Engage More. Spend Less.

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