In july august 2016 issue by InterpNEWS

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2 Volume 5, #4, July/Aug 2016

The International Heritage Interpretation e-Magazine. Wow - here we are with our July/August Issue - and it's bursting out with such a diversity of articles it's amazing. Over 300,000 readers, agencies and organizations in 60 countries now receive it - so many that I've stopped counting! Be sure to check out Dr. Steve Bitgoods article on Intelligent Design of Interpretive Text on page 38, and all of the interpretive training opportunities that are available for you at the back of this issue. We have developed and launched several new Centers for Interpretive Excellence. One for Evaluation and Visitor Studies, and one for the advancement and excellence in interpretive planning. We've a lot going on! Want to be part of it? Let's chat. jvainterp@aol.com.

JV at Giant's Causeway WHS, Northern Ireland.

Would you, your agency or organization like to be a strategic partner with InterpNEWS, and our Centers of Excellence? It doesn't cost you anything at all and the benefits to you and your organization are "huge". Finally - I am now putting together the Sep/Oct issue of InterpNEWS and I need your articles. From interpretive research to innovative programs and new exciting interpretive media - share your ideas with the interpretive world - literally. JV

In This Issue:

Page

- Interpreting the Giants Causeway World Heritage Site. John A. Veverka

3 - What Keeps Interpreters from Writing Great Titles? Leigh Robertson 5 - Discovering sharkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teeth in south east London - Dan Boys 7 - A checklist for planning and delivery of interpretive walks and tours. - John Veverka 9 - Insects Here, There and Everywhere: Interpreting BUGS With London's Archives. A. Lipford 13 - A New Way of Looking at Things at Glen Mary historic plantation - GA Shrum & Meyers 16 - What Interpreters Need To Know About The Magical No. 7 (plus or minus 2). JV 20 - Interpreting the Crooked Pine: Interpretation vs. Education. By Larry Berrin 21 - Interpretation saves lives! J. Patrick Barry 23 - A Lesson in Interpretation - Elise's Pot" by Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald 26 - Interpreting the Corpse Flower - Dying to tell you about it. Fairchild Botanical Gardens 35 - An Equation For An Excellent Presentation. Ethan Rotman 37 - Intelligent Design of Interpretive Text. Dr. Stephen Bitgood 38 - Interpreting Scottish Folk Hero Rob Roy MacGregor - John Veverka 45 - Less is More: Engaging Audiences Through Labels. Ashley Downing 48 - Swimming with the Manatee: A Calamity - Cassie Conger 51 - Transforming interpretive plans into designs - Matt Kaser 54 - Interpretive Training and Planning Opportunities. 55 InterpNEWS is published six times a year as a FREE John Veverka & Associates publication and published as a service to the interpretive profession. If you would like to be added to our mailing list just send an e-mail to jvainterp@aol.com and we will add you to our growing mailing list. Contributions of articles are welcomed. It you would like to have an article published in InterpNEWS let me know what you have in mind. Cover photo: Giants Causeway, N. Ireland. www.heritageinterp.com , jvainterp@aol.com. SKYPE: jvainterp.

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Interpreting the Giants Causeway World Heritage Site. John A. Veverka Interpretive Planning Consultant.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland and was always impressed with it. I did some consultations and critiques on some of the interpretive media being used to tell the story of the causeway - both legend and factual geology. Here is a brief overview of this really cool site. The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is also known as Clochรกn an Aifir or Clochรกn na bhFomhรณrach in Irish and tha Giant's Causey in Ulster-Scots. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a national nature reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places. Much of the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. The remainder of the site is owned by the Crown Estate and a number of private landowners. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill(Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realizes that his foe is much bigger than he. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow.[9] Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.]

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In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants". There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon.[13] The discovery of the Giant's Causeway was announced to the wider world in 1693 by the presentation of a paper to the Royal Society from Sir Richard Bulkeley, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, although the discoverer had, in fact, been the Bishop of Derry who had visited the site a year earlier. The site received international attention when Dublin artist Susanna Drury made watercolour paintings of it in 1739; they won Drury the first award presented by the Royal Dublin Society in 1740 and were engraved in 1743.[14] In 1765 an entry on the Causeway appeared in volume 12 of the French Encyclopédie, which was informed by the engravings of Drury's work; the engraving of the "East Prospect" itself appeared in a 1768 volume of plates published for the Encyclopédie.[15] In the caption to the plates French geologist Nicolas Desmarest suggested, for the first time in print, that such structures were volcanic in origin.

The site first became popular with tourists during the nineteenth century, particularly after the opening of the Giant's Causeway Tramway, and only after the National Trust took over its care in the 1960s were some of the vestiges of commercialism removed. Visitors can walk over the basalt columns which are at the edge of the sea, a half-mile walk from the entrance to the site.

John Veverka at the Giants Causeway. You can contact John at: John Veverka & Associates www.heritageinterp.com jvainterp@aol.com

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What Keeps Interpreters from Writing Great Titles? Leigh Robertson

Spectacular Starling Flocks – Murmuration.

If a writer wants someone to do more that glance an exhibit, article or brochure, their title has to drag the reader’s attention away from their cell phone. Here are some delightful tips for coming up with interesting titles gleaned from Colorado’s Western Slope Poet Laureate, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. x

In her poetry classes, Rosemerry explains that there are three main types of titles. The first type is a descriptive title. An example might be The Bloody Battle at Gettysburg. It literally defines what’s explained in the text. Now, if the reader is really interested in blood, battles, or Gettysburg, they may read the exhibit. If they’re not turned on by those things, they’ll probably pass it by. The second type of title uses a metaphor. Canoes Were the Ojibwe’s Version of the Car would be an example of this type of title. It’s a little more interesting, but still, only people interested in topics such as Native American history or transportation may keep reading. The third type of title has a conversation with the rest of the text. It could be an intriguing first line of the rest of the piece. It could be a response to the text, or the title could be the last line. After one reads the piece and looks back at the title, they may think, “Ahhh, now I get it,” or a smile may bloom on their face. This type of title could make anyone curious to read more. If it’s the title of an exhibit or brochure, the graphics can let the reader know more about the subject. Here’s one example of this last type of title in a poem. Gravity of Limiting Thoughts? On a cool, misty dawn I looked to the east and saw a ghost— a swirling white wave that winked in and out above the steaming river.

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It could have been a cloud, but it moved at warp speed while the mist hung still below the wraith. The shape morphed from oval to snake to paramecium in a flash. Always flowing, shifting, wheeling. A second specter joined the first. Could it be? The spy glass made it clear. Yes! A murmuration. Not of inky starlings, but snowy white birds flying as one, like a school of silvery fish. My heart rose like the agile shorebirds and I wondered, ‘What keeps us from flowing like that?’ - Leigh Robertson Leigh delights in making creative connections among people, places and bigger mysteries. She’s written award-winning exhibits, plus booklets, articles, brochures and the book, Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. If you’d like help with writing or editing projects, contact her at LeighRobertson3@gmail.com. To learn more about Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, visit her website atwww.wordwoman.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Rocky-Mountain-WildflowersWildflower/dp/0762784784/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459536608&sr=81&keywords=Southern+Rocky+Mountain+Wildflowers. JV

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Discovering shark’s teeth in south east London Dan Boys

During two 2-day visits this year I’ve had the opportunity to explore some of south east London’s geological wonders. Do you know where to find 55 million year old sharks teeth, and 6000 year old forests? The answers are revealed in twelve geological time trails, available to download from the Green Chain website (http://www.greenchain.com/greenchainsite/info/13/time_trails) Here’s a little more of what you can expert: Geology can be a tricky subject to understand, but its influence on the land above is astounding. The reason there are underground trains north of the Thames and not on the south side is because of geology. For the experts that undertake this kind of engineering project you may find them at Gilbert’s Pit. This is a rare chance to see all of London’s geological strata and understand what problems the different layers may pose during construction.

Gilbert’s Pit was dug for the Thanet Sands, which was used for moulding ammunition at Woolwich Arsenal

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If you want to examine older rocks then Crystal Palace Park’s dinosaur ‘theme park’ should be visited. Did you know that these ‘terrible lizards’ stand on rock layers linked with their age? These ‘Geological Illustrations’ were a very important educational aspect of the whole 1851 project.

Did you also know that Charlton Athletic’s football stadium is built in a former chalk quarry, that most of London’s buildings were built using hand-made bricks, or that the water filtered through Sydenham Wells underlying rocks helped to cleanse a king’s bowel? And if you follow in the footsteps of 15,000 people during World War Two you can explore an underground village that protected Londoners from the the blitz. Each trail begins at a train station and at only one or two miles long they should be suitable for most people, and introduce locals and visitors alike to the fascinating story beneath our feet. We worked with Dan on developing a geological trail for the Green Chain, having previously worked with Audio Trails on Heritage walks. Dan has a great ability to translate information in a way that brings things to life , and this is what he has done for our geology trails. I would heartily recommend Audio Trails is anyone who was considering site interpretation in this way. Mark Budd, Green Chain Project Officer. Dan Boys audiotrails.co.uk 40 Strettea Lane, Higham, Derbyshire, DE55 6EJ 07800 799561 danboys@audiotrails.co.uk

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A checklist for planning and delivery of interpretive walks and tours. John A. Veverka Certified Interpretive Planner/Trainer Interpretive Services Coach

One of the most common topics I am asked to teach is the basics of planning and delivery of interpretive walks and tours. Here is a check-list of some of the basics I have in my training courses. I hope you find them useful, and feel free to copy, edit or add to this as it fits your own specific needs.

Key elements for planning interpretive walks or tours. 1. Have one main interpretive theme that all of your walk/tour stops will work to illustrate. For example, a theme for a forest walk might be: There are many plants in the forest that harm and plants that were used to heal, and still can today. So your walk would be to illustrate the plants that can "harm", and the plants that can "heal". In a museum tour your theme might be: New technologies changed farming and farm life forever, and affects farmers still today. So your tour would be to look at exhibits about new agricultural technologies, or on a historic site tour - look at these historic and new technologies. 2. Have specific objectives you want your walk/tour to accomplish. This should include Learning, Behavioral and Emotional objectives. Remember, objectives are measurable! 3. Plan your route/stops for locations that will illustrate your theme and help accomplish your objectives. From experience and research we recommend: * Not more than 7-10 stops. Stop #1 you introduce your theme and the experience the walk/tour will provide. * Keep the walk/tour under one hour. Too long tends to burn people out. Always leave the visitor "asking for more".

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4. Consider who your visitors are - this will affect how your develop your stops, use of analogies, what kinds of teaching aides to bring with you, etc. For an outdoor walk, remember the weather, temperatures, wind, position of the sun, stops in the shade, degree of walking difficulty if any and other "physiological" and visitor safety issues. 5. Remember that when presenting your interpretation to use Tilden's Interpretive Principles (Provoke, Relate and Reveal). Here is an example presentation from a guided historic district tour as an example: The Jackson Club had a very dark secret.

In 1842, this was the location of the Jackson Club, a club, for Men Only! This was the place where the elite of Jackson came to do business, visit, and talk about the news of the times. And becoming a member wasn’t easy – you had to be somebody important! Mike Sommerville was somebody! Arriving in Jackson in 1843, he quickly developed a reputation as a powerful businessman, and was invited to become a member of the Jackson Club. Mike served two terms as club president, and even helped increase the membership of this Men’s only organization. A proud member for 25 years, it wasn’t until Mike’s death in 1869 that it was discovered --------that Mike was really … Michelle – Yep! A Woman! Our next stop on the tour is just one block down this street on the right, a large white home, number 321. It looks like an ordinary home, but there’s an extraordinary story buried in the garden. I’ll bring the shovel. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------6. Think about how/when/and where your will advertise your tour or walk. What teaching aides or handouts you might want to bring with you. 7. Logistics - such as how many visitors can you handle, length and location of the tour, room for everyone to stand, see and hear you, see the item or view being interpreted. Also bathroom stops before a tour. For outdoor tours remember visitor safety, any first-aid materials available for bug bites, etc? Where will the tour/walk participants meet you - can they easily find the meeting point?

A checklist for interpretive walk/tour delivery. Pre-Tour - Arrive early to walk the tour route. - Walk trail to confirm stops for illustrating your theme. - Check for best locations given group size. - Check to make sure you have any of your handouts with you. - Review your welcome and introduction. - Meet and welcome participants as they arrive. - Bathroom visit before tour starts? - See if they are dressed appropriately for the walk/weather, etc.

JVA InterpNews Introductions - Introduce yourself. - Have visitors introduce themselves (if small enough group). - Introduce the Theme of the walk or tour with provokes. - Cover safety or logistic issues (rules). - Ask for any questions. - Provocative statement for the first stop.

Body of the Presentation - Position visitors for each stop so that everyone can see the focus of the stop, and hear you. - Use Tilden’s TIPS for interpreting each stop. Be sure to link the stop to the tour theme. - Remember to use both "tangibles" and "intangibles" in your "relate" examples. - While you are walking, if one visitor asks you a question, restate the question so all can hear it – then answer it. - At the end of one stop (reveal) – provoke for the next stop. - Watch visitors for their comfort and interest. - Watch your walking pace – keep everyone together. - Wait until everyone has caught up before you start your presentation. - Be sure each stop illustrates your theme – restate your theme, but in different ways. - Have fun opening up eyes and minds and possibilities. Your conclusion - Do a quick review of the things they saw, learned about or experienced. - Restate the theme your program illustrated. - Do a simple evaluation of the program, asking the visitors questions about what they experiences, etc. (keep it simple). - Inform them of other upcoming events and opportunities. - Have any handout information or program schedules available for them (websites, volunteer opportunities, etc.). - Offer to wait a bit if anyone has any other questions they would like to talk about. - Bid them a safe journey home and hope to see them again soon.

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We know from years of interpretive research that the "live interpreter" is the most powerful of all of our interpretive media and opportunities. The interpreter can instantly "read" an audience, make adjustments in the program to help relate to the different audiences they may encounter. They can look into the eyes of a visitor and grab the visitors imagination and emotions. They can take a boring topic and make it come to life for the visitors. But to be successful, live interpretation requires that the interpreter think about and plan for their success. Being successful with any live interpretive programs requires the interpreter to identify what they mean by success. The successful interpreter will need to understand how their visitors learn and remember information and how to provoke, relate and reveal the story to them. They will have a focused message (theme) and objectives that they are going to strive to accomplish. They never stop trying to improve their program and trying new ways of inspiring the visitors. The reward the interpreter receives from his or her work really cannot be put into words - a deep sense of satisfaction, pride, and more. The reward the visitor receives from the interpreters efforts are equally as powerful. For when a trained, focused, and inspirational interpreter meets with visitors hungry for inspiration, something special happens. They make contact and the journey begins.

John A. Veverka Certified Interpretive Planner/Trainer Interpretive Coach www.heritageinterp.com jvainterp@aol.com

Check out these courses from the Heritage Interpretation Training Center: Introduction to Heritage Interpretation Course. 14 Units - 2 CEU credits. $150.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/introduction_to_heritage_interpretation_course.html Interpretive tour planning and delivery techniques for professional/commercial tour guides. 11 Units, 2 CEU Credits - $200.00 Tuition http://www.heritageinterp.com/interp_for_commercial_tour_providers.html Using Interpretation to Help Accomplish Management Objectives Twelve Units, Two CEU Credits - Tuition - $250.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/using_interpretation_to_accomplish_management_obje.html

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Insects Here, There and Everywhere: Interpreting BUGS With London's Archives. By Aaron Lipford with contributions from Helena Boehm Robert Hookeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s microscopic drawings of the flea.

Insects have a prevalent place within the collections of London Metropolitan Archives, so the predicament under debate here is this; how might we make use of these critters and interpret them effectively to the public? The majority of humans spend their waking hours surrounded by insects; therefore, it comes as no surprise that they can also be found in our documented records. However, insects sometimes receive a bad reputation within archives. As many archivists may know, an insect infiltration can be one of the biggest threats to the preservation of archival documents. For archivists, insects can be perceived as a danger to the life of archival materials. Whilst on the other hand insects can be an enriching part of archival documents through documental descriptions, photographs, and even videos. Thus, at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), we somewhat have a love and hate relationship with insects. Insects, as we interpret, are diverse, resourceful, and resilient, and can serve as symbols for beauty and rebirth but can also be seen as pestilent and evil. We love the fascination that they bring to our collections by illustrating how Londoners through the ages perceived insects from being mini-beasts, to pests, to even saviours; however, at the same time, archivists and conservators at LMA are simultaneously hoping that these vibrantly varied creatures will never ever enter into one of our thousands of collection boxes. High humidity, high temperatures, a complete absence of light and the availability of nutrients are a dangerous recipe for an insect infestation to occur. Most visitors know that moist and dark places can encourage insects; however, they sometimes forget that insects love to feed on the nutrients found in paper-based products, particularly adhesives and starches. Therefore, when interpreting insects to our visitors we try to present this duality in a way that allows visitors to craft their own perception of insects. Even though when asking visitors about insects, in general, they most likely have already formed their own perspective of these crawling creatures. For example, school children might provide descriptions of insects as being disgusting, beautiful, fuzzy, or rough. At LMA, we can play on these descriptions to craft the imagination of, and explore humanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s captivation with, insects.

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Through a simple search on the LMA catalogue, one can find collections with descriptions of insects. For example, we have items such as lectures on Robert Hooke’s description of a fly’s eye and even his microscopic drawings of the flea (illustrated on the previous page). Recently, we crafted a day of events around Robert Hooke and his illustration of insects. This was to celebrate Hooke’s book, ‘Micrographia’, which illustrates insects as seen through a microscope. We engaged the public with how microscopes and advances in science changed the way we interact with our surroundings. Visitors became fascinated with our microscope projections of insects such as spiders, worms, and butterflies. They were able to see that Insects have been described by Londoners for centuries. In order to have the public think in a similar sense to Londoners in the past, we posed questions that were answered by the discovery of the microscope. Some of these questions were about what lived in the River Thames drinking water and what slept with us in our beds? For many, the answer of insects and other critters was shocking. Due to the descriptive nature of information on insects in our collections, I have been considering other ways in which we can interpret them and use them to engage visitors with our collections. One way in which we could do this would be to use insects in our creative writing and craft workshops. These sessions would focus on how our sensual interaction with insects leads to historical or imaginative interpretation of them. For example, some poetry references of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, are present within the archives. These works pay homage to Carroll’s use of animal and insect illustration in the tales of wonderland. By showing visitors interested in writing or story telling these items, they can discover the riches and depth of how these creatures influenced stories, legends, and reality. Another artistic approach on insects could be taken by encouraging children to make their own mini-beast, or a scrapbook insect garden. For visitors, especially small children, we can have them look or hunt for the prints of insects in the archives as well as the drawings of rendered insects. Our love for insects not only comes from imagination but also the depth of knowledge they bring into a collection. Insects can not only bring about the curious, inquisitive nature of visitors’ imagination but also provide insight to historical time periods and areas. For example, the Epping Forest collection includes one of LMA’s most extensive collections on insects. Epping Forest is London’s largest open space and a former royal forest. The collection records of Epping Forest provide visitors with the abundance and diversity of insects through photographs, auto chromes, environmental reports and surveys. With the age of the forest and the range of habitats, the collection produces a valuable record on not only the transformation of the surrounding area but also the wildlife. We might interpret this collection as a ready - made teaching/interpretive tool in which small workshops on how historical record keeping and surveying could be based. We can aim to cultivate a sense of exploration by asking visitors to be surveyors of a landscape and craft how they will convey their findings to others, similar to how the Epping Forest naturalist recorded their findings in their notebooks and journals.

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To return to the question proffered at the start, we at LMA have had and will continue to have a whole host of creative and engaging means for interpreting the presence of insects in our collections. We have already done this through our small workshops, research projects, and festivals. However, we can do this further in future through creative writing groups and even craft making activities. Thus despite insects being inherently disliked by the archivist in their on-going fight to preserve the historic records of London, insectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; documented presence within our collections provides inspiration for us to interpret them in engaging and stimulating ways for the curious public. Thus, insects at LMA have the chance to become an attraction and perhaps even gain a little reverence in a place where they have long been shunned.

Aaron Lipford Goldsmiths, University of London London Metropolitan Archives, Development Team alipf001@gold.ac.uk Helena Boehm Assistant Development Officer London Metropolitan Archives, Development Team

helena.boehm@hotmail.com helena.boehm@cityoflond.gov.uk

JVA InterpNews A New Way of Looking at Things at Glen Mary in Sparta, Georgia by Donna L. Shrum with Marilyn Meyers

"One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.”~Henry Miller

Glen Mary is the only known example of a plantation house using simulated brownstone. At the time Glen Mary was built in the late 1840’s brownstone was all the rage in New York City. It came to epitomize luxury, architectural sophistication, unostentatious magnificence, and refinement. Photo by Brandon M. Carter.

Prior to Preservation America’s purchase of Glen Mary in 1998, it had been a private home since 1848. Although not open to the public in the 1980s, the last owners had interpreted the home according to a popular antebellum fantasy from an MGM technicolor with no basis in historical reality. Vivid Victorian wall colors and a sweeping staircase that dominated the front exterior completed the illusion that Scarlett might descend with hoops swaying among the men ripping around the magnolias, excited that war has come.

Mary Salome Gonder Smith

Although there were dismayed cries in the neighborhood when the staircase came down, Mrs. Marilyn Meyers, director of Preservation America, was firm in her commitment to correct period interpretation. She partnered with a variety of institutions to investigate the authentic appearance of the house and the history of the families connected with it and then embarked on a five-year restoration partially funded by the National Park Service and Save America’s Treasures.

Theophilus Jackson Smith, built Glen Mary. He was a successful businessman, statesman, and planter and became Colonel “Jack” in the Confederate Army.

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When she determined its color wasn’t the milk-white glowing in the moonlight it had been painted as long as anyone could remember, she was met with questioning stares, but no one would deny the evidence of the fauxbrownstone stucco peeling from first floor. Mary Gonder Smith, the wife of the builder Theophilus Jackson Smith, had been influenced by fashionable New York brownstone, and it gave the upper floor the appearance of floating in the air Mrs. Meyers replaced the upper verandah and painted its exterior French vanilla with forest-green shutters. Years before, the sagging verandah had been stabilized with tons of concrete poured as a lower porch on the ground, but Meyers knew this wasn’t correct. Her research and the example of Lockerley Hall in nearby Milledgeville convinced her that brick inlay would have been most correct. She has restored three of the exteriors to date, as well as a roof that badly leaked and continued to damage the interior.

Close up of the ceiling medallion in the parlor.

Detail of the parlor cornice. Its ornamental plaster is like open lace work. It is intricately alive!

That repair allowed her to restore the stately plaster medallions that decorated the interior ceilings. The still extant parlor cornice with its interlaced acorns and leaves was so architecturally and artistically significant that Edward Vason Jones exhibited a recreation of it in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on the occasion of the Museum’s centennial anniversary in 1970. While Glen Mary is currently open to the public by appointment during the physical restoration, the long-term interpretation will never be that of a traditional museum with glassed exhibits. True to the home’s history, Preservation America’s philosophy is that the house is best displayed when it is actually lived in. T. J. Smith and his wife were part of Hancock County’s belle monde before the war. He was a member of the Planters’ Club and the state legislature. He opposed secession, but still fought for his state when war came. As he’d known it would, the economic balance of the plantation system crumbled, and Smith put the home on the market and moved his concerns to the neighboring county where he could focus on a sawmill, farming, and leading the state’s Grange until his death in 1881 Brilliant Bohemian cranberry overlay glass forms the magnificent main door surround. Glen Mary’s second floor formal hallway has a beautiful plaster cornice of oak leaves and acorns.

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Glen Mary Plantation around 1930, shows the ravages of poverty and time. Faded glory, but still grand and imposing.

General Ethan Allen Hitchcock: career soldier, leading nineteenth century intellectual, distinguished for his honor and exalted ideals, General Hitchcock stood for truth, justice, and human rights

Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division states that only 5% of its 250,000 historic buildings are antebellum. Not all of those are open to the public. While still in Smith’s ownership, the house became a witness structure. Smith entertained Alexander Stephens and his brother Linton, as well as Robert Toombs. Sherman’s troops stopped at Glen Mary during the 1864 march to the sea, and the next year it became one of the homes in Hancock County to shelter Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs as he made his escape to Cuba after the surrender; Glen Mary is now the only structure still standing to make this claim. Jefferson Davis almost dropped into the neighborhood; he was in Powelton, thirteen miles north, then headed just slightly east of Glen Mary before his capture in 1865. An important part of Glen Mary’s character is its rural isolation. Antebellum planters required large parcels of land to farm, which inherently meant a degree of distance. In 1869, the home’s solitary location was the main reason General Ethan Allen Hitchcock purchased it for his wife, Martha Rind Nicholls Hitchcock, and as a place to retire. Hitchcock had been commandant of West Point with a long military career that ended with his role as Union head of prisoner exchange. He was one of two men trusted to guard Lincoln’s body after the assassination until it was prepared to lie in state, and then he headed the honor guard at the White House for the lying in state. Soon after the surrender, he was struck by a runaway horse in the streets of Washington, D.C., which further weakened his fragile health. He wed Ms. Nicholls, a member of a family with which he’d been life-long friends, and foresaw her family moving to Glen Mary after his death as a means of livelihood.

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Preservation America presented a series of spring concerts at Glen Mary. South Korean pianist Dr. Eunjung Choi performs at recital on Glen Mary’s Steinway piano.

Hitchcock died in 1871, and Glen Mary remained an operating family farm until its sale in 1985. It has always been a struggle to maintain one of these grand homes with no secure financial base; during the Depression, one of the Nicholls family clear-cut the timber for income. The last family owner auctioned the priceless family documents, including letters from Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison, to pay for its repair and upkeep, before finally selling Glen Mary itself. In the present, the steady stream of visitors isn’t enough to maintain the house and site, which has led Meyers to imagine new ways the property can become selfsupporting. Her mission-based goal is to establish an on-site educational center in association with a leading university and in partnership with a corporate sponsor.

She also envisions the reunification of the original plantation lands and their protection. With sufficient acreage, not only is Glen Mary’s view shed protected, but lands will be available for educational facilities and agricultural use. The national significance of this structure is unique in America: it not only illustrates the development of the antebellum agrarian South with its building and tenancy under the Smith family, but it also tells the story of the integration of the North and South during the post-Civil War period and its socio-economic implications with the ownership of General Hitchcock and generations of the Nicholls family.

Pianist Dr. Richard Mercier speaks to the audience before his recital.

In the last decade, the few national funding sources for historic preservation have dwindled even more, and Preservation America’s goals for this home seemed ridiculously impossible. Under the stubborn driving force of Marilyn Meyers, one by one each goal comes to fruition and opens the door to the next.

Donna L. Shrum is a freelance writer and educator in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her article on Glen Mary appeared in Georgia Backroads Magazine in Spring 2012. Marilyn Meyers is the Executive Director of the Preservation America Foundation. She can be reached at sharon2ny@yahoo.com.www.glenmaryplantation.org

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What Interpreters Need To Know About The Magical No. 7 (plus or minus 2).

The brain is a powerful organ, but it’s not infallible. When interpreters are designing interpretive programs or self-guiding experiences, it’s important to keep the limited capacity of the working memory in mind to maximize the potential of these messages. Using the findings of psychology, you can improve interpretive programs and interpretive communications to make sure your intended audience fully comprehends the ideas you’re putting out there.

Why 7 Is A Magic Number. One of the best tools to keep in mind is Miller’s Law, also known as “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”. According to Simply Psychology, this theory was created by psychologist George Miller in 1956. What Miller found was that most adults can keep between 5 and 9 items within their short-term memory. Short-term memory, a.k.a. working memory, can be compared to a filing cabinet where each individual has around 7 slots in which it can process data. First of all, the filing cabinet has a limited amount of space. If you try to stuff a stack of papers into it all at once, some are going to crumple and others simply won’t fit at all. You have to make sure that you’re not overwhelming the working memory’s processing ability. The first step is to limit the amount of new information you’re presenting and then pace your information so that it gets filed properly. Before planning out your next big interpretive program or exhibition, think of Miller. There’s a good reason that most successful tag-lines are never longer than seven words. There’s a lot that goes into writing a great interpretive theme, but the very first step is coming up with something that anyone on the street could repeat back to you immediately.

How To Change Working Memory Into Long-Term Memory? Once you’ve tackled working memory, there’s another challenge entirely: How can you craft a message that gets stored away for good, but easily accessible? The most powerful interpretive messages tap into something deeper. The secret to gaining a place in someone’s long-term memory lies in forming the right associations, so the new memory can be recalled later. One way to facilitate this process is to use visual metaphors to express your ideas. If you’re introducing an unfamiliar concept, try fusing it to something that’s familiar to your audience (relate - or using "intangible" examples. Take the weather, for example, it’s a common metaphor because everyone experiences rain and sunshine. The goal is to bond your theme with an existing memory in your audience. For instance, if you think about cute, cuddly polar bears, one of your associations with them might be Coca-Cola because of their commercials. A positive association and fairly unique. We can’t think of another brand we associate polar bears with. Next time you put a interpretive thematic message together, consider how easy it will be for visitors to understand and recall the information you’ve presented. Remember, provoke, relate and reveal. Cheers, JV

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Interpreting the Crooked Pine: Interpretation vs. Education By Larry Berrin

It was another foggy morning on the coast of Maine as I prepared to lead a guided walk as an Interpretive Park Ranger for Acadia National Park. The focus of this particular hike was enjoying the sights and sounds of Mount Desert Island’s coastline while learning about its colorful cultural and natural history. Unfortunately, the major focus of my program was the ocean that was still not visible as my group began to gather in the parking lot. Luckily by this point in my life, I already had a number of years under my belt as an environmental educator and had developed a comfort level for dealing with these situations. This was especially helpful considering that my supervisor was joining me this morning to evaluate my program. On one particular stop, where I usually would point out the various species of birds that feed in a nearby cove (still not visible at this point), I notice a big white pine. I decided to switch gears and explain the importance of the tree. I described how these particular trees were used for ship masts because they were so tall and straight, only to find as I looked up, that this was indeed the most crooked pine I had ever seen. As I looked over to see the confused look on my supervisor’s face, I quickly explained how this was not the best example of the normally straight tree that was so prized by the British that they would mark them for the King’s fleet, thus the nickname “King Pine”. As we moved on, I couldn’t help but think of the mistake I made and how my supervisor would react to my obvious blunder and great recovery. As an environmental educator, I had been in many situations where I had to think quickly on my feet and try as best as I could to stick to my lesson plan, even when nature didn’t cooperate. There were many times when I would go to my “bag of tricks” when something I had planned on doing didn’t work out.

White Pine ships mast.

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I knew that in an environmental education program, your participant’s primary reason for taking part in the program is to learn. Later that day, during my evaluation with my supervisor, I quickly learned that this is not the case with participants taking part in an interpretive program. I was told that a good interpretive program enhances what the visitor is seeing, hearing or experiencing. I was told told that in the future if I can’t find a straight tree to explain the ship mast construction, then I should find something else to talk about. This was contrary to my training as an environmental educator and this is when I decided to explore the differences differenc between environmental education and interpretation. To this day, I still have trouble convincing my peers that there is a difference and that knowing how they differ can greatly improve your programs. When preparing to lead an environmental education program program for an organized group (e.g. a school group), you should think of your role as both a teacher and a naturalist (thus the title “Teacher/Naturalist”). Many would argue that this should also be the case when you lead an interpretive program for the public. blic. Instead I would contend that a leader should prepare for these particular programs thinking of themselves as a different kind of “slash”; Naturalist/Entertainer (Henry David Thoreau meets P.T. Barnum!). To illustrate this point, imagine if a child were were to go to a nature center with his class to take part in an environmental education program focusing on trees and then was asked to come back to the nature center with his parents for an interpretive tree walk. If you were to ask the child to comment on his/her experience afterwards, then you would find that he/she had two unique experiences. Hopefully, they would feel that the visit with their class was a more structured learning experience and the visit with their family was less formal and more recreational. recreational. This would give the impression that the person who led the programs was aware of their audience and the goals of the programs. Interpretation is the art of enhancing recreational activities while a strong environmental education program should be a formal learning experience. It all goes back to the simple concept that we as naturalists learn early in our careers – know your audience. A school group is not a casual group of visitors and their reasons for visit in gare different. According to Civitarese, rese, Legg, and Zuefle in an article in Legacy (“More Thoughts on the Differences between Environmental Interpretation and Environmental Education”, Nov/Dec 1997) “interpretation is a communication activity designed to enhance the quality of the recreational recreational experience of the visitor and to inspire greater appreciation of the resource in an enjoyable manner.” This is contrary to education that they refer to as an experience where “its audience has chosen to learn.” They also refer to interpretation as“ informal, rmal, taking place in leisure time, and that therefore interpretation is a recreational activity with the primary goal of enhancing the leisure-time time experiences of visitors.” It has been over 20 years since my eye-opening eye opening experience on that foggy morning in Maine. I often fantasize about going back to that spot with a group, and finding that crooked pine and showing my old supervisor that I’ve learned a thing or two about interpretation. interpretation. I imagine now that I would focus on what could have caused the tree to grow crooked and skip the talk about ship masts; that is unless we found a nice straight pine further down the trail. Larry Berrin | President/CEO Asbury Woods Partnership 4105 Asbury Road Erie, PA 16506 Work: (814) 836-6189 Cell: (814) 460-5232 www.asburywoods.org

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Interpretation Saves Lives!

J. Patrick Barry, Certified interpretive Trainer

Keywords Mission based interpretation, Corps of Engineers, water safety, solving management problems with interpretation, evaluating interpretation, interpretive goals, justifying interpretation Introduction Why do you interpret? There are probably as many answers to this question as there are interpreters. If you work for a land management agency, in addition to having a satisfying and rewarding career, you interpret because your agency wants you to accomplish certain goals. The National Association for Interpretation added the words “mission based” to its definition of interpretation in 2006 to reflect that interpretation serves a purpose related to the mission of the agency or organization. With declining budgets, visitor numbers increasing, and interpretation sometimes dismissed as a luxury, mission based interpretation becomes essential. It becomes essential to sustain the sites we interpret and also to help sustain the interpretive profession. It gives interpreters a way to justify their existence. From Mission to Goals The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers definition of interpretation, updated in 1996, includes “… support of the… agency’s mission.” Corps’ interpretation is mission based. There are six goals that form the basis of all interpretation offered by the agency. These goals link directly to the missions of the Corps of Engineers. Goals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Interpretive Services and Outreach Program 1. To achieve management objectives using interpretive techniques 2. To provide environmental education to foster stewardship of natural, cultural and created environments 3. To incorporate Corps civil works and military missions and accomplishments into interpretive programming 4. To improve visitor and employee safety using interpretive techniques

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5. To use environmental education, partnerships, career development, recruitment and special programs and events to encourage students to pursue careers in math and science 6. To enhance visitor’s experience and enjoyment by anticipating their needs and providing interpretive resources to meet those needs Since most of the recreation at Corps sites involves recreating on the water, most of the agency’s interpretation and outreach focuses on water safety education and reducing accidents and fatalities at recreation sites. These programs support goals one and four, and usually others as well. Success Stories One way to measure success is to see if interpretive efforts are accomplishing goals. The author solicited examples from interpreters within the Corps for a display and article about using interpretation to save lives. Here are some of the anecdotal responses. Jonathan Friedman, then a Park Ranger at Lake Kaweah in California, gave an evening interpretive program and included a description of what people look like when they drown. The next day, a woman who had attended his program saw two girls drowning. With the help of another person, she saved the girls. She said she knew they were drowning only because she attended the interpretive program. Downstream of Bonneville Lock and Dam, on the border between Oregon and Washington, one or two 2 fishermen drowned annually as a result of improper anchoring in deep, cold water and fast river currents. Corps rangers, led by Park Ranger Brian McCavitt, started a multi-faceted safe anchoring campaign, eliminating drowning from this cause for over 15 years. Rangers used flyers, posters, a video made by a volunteer filmmaker, signs, and even bumper stickers at a variety of venues to spread the message. Using tips she learned in a water safety class, a ten-year-old girl saved her eight-year-old cousin after he fell off a fishing dock into Lake Leon in Texas. She remembered what she learned from Park Ranger Tim Horn when he visited her fourth grade class. He taught the children to “reach or throw but don’t go.” She reached the boy and, with help from another cousin, pulled him from the lake. Quantitative Evidence These anecdotal cases are good examples that interpretation saves lives. Statistical data support these examples. Agency-wide, there has been a decrease in the number of fatalities despite increases in the number of people recreating. In 1980, nearly 400 people drowned at Corps facilities. By 2005, the number had dropped to around 170. The obvious goal is to eliminate these accidents but there are many obstacles to overcome including unsafe boat operation, not wearing life jackets, operating vessels while intoxicated, among other challenges. This is also happening at a time when budgets for staffing are flat or declining and rangers spend more time indoors performing bureaucratic tasks. Many would argue that more time in direct public contact would make problem solving efforts more effective.

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On the Tenn-Tom Waterway, (Alabama and Mississippi) rangers made over 12,000 direct water safety contacts in 2006 resulting in no fatalities. In prior years, fewer contacts correlated to more drowning. Clearly, it makes a difference to get out there and spread our messages. Agency-wide Effort

COE Ranger helping a young visitor learn about using their life vest.

The Corps supports water safety education at the highest level. A National Water Safety team develops products such as posters, brochures, and activity books. They work with a bilingual committee to develop materials in Spanish as well as English. They provide support for safety initiatives. The Corps water safety website offers ideas and interpretive program outlines for improving public safety: http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/employees/watersafety/water. html

Other Management Challenges The message is clear. Interpreters can make progress by building mission-based interpretive efforts on interpretive goals. In the Corps of Engineers, interpretation saved lives. In other agencies and organizations, the goals may be different. In other settings, interpretation can protect natural and cultural resources, help grow budgets, and encourage community support for facilities and programs. It all depends on developinginterpretive efforts to accomplish goals. Conclusion Every interpretive organization has goals as a basis for interpretation. Accomplishing those goals and using interpretation to make a positive difference will help sustain the agency or organization as well as the profession of interpretation. For many years, interpreters never had to justify what they did or prove that what they did was effective. Some interpreters even developed programs based solely on their personal interest, not necessarily the needs of the agency or organization. Those days are disappearing. No one wants to be the â&#x20AC;&#x153;last interpreter in the woods.â&#x20AC;? Using interpretation to accomplish organizational goals will help keep the interpretive profession vital and meaningful. Note: This article was first published in the Proceedings of the National Association for Interpretation National Workshop, Portland, Oregon 2008 Interpretive Sourcebook. Category: Critical Issues To contact the author, email at Pat at: jpatbarry@hotmail.com

JVA InterpNews “A Lesson in Interpretation Elise's Pot" by Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald Historical Interpreter and Storyteller

Provoke-To gain an audience’s (potential volunteers and directors’) attention about the importance of gardening at an asylum, I might ask a question such as the following: “Would hearing a haunting story convince you of a woman’s desire to plant gardens at the Stone Mont Asylum? Great. I’ll tell you a story called ‘Elise’s Pot.’” “Elise’s Pot” About to return to what she’d heard the nurses’ aides call ‘the dungeon,’ the oldest part of Stone Mont Asylum, to which her first cousin, the executive director, along with her two brothers, had sent her after overdosing her with whiskey and Thorazine and poisonous berries,Elise whispered to herself,Don’t dare return to that cot with a tattered blanket and rails in the dungeon. You’ll die for sure. That’s exactly what your brothers, Rodale Dean and Denzell Ray, who raped you when you were fourteen want you to do: die. Don’t fall into their trap, Elise. Don’t you dare? Then, they’ll change the will. Remember?Her long grayish-black hair wet from sudden drops of rain, hanging limply down her back, Elise shivered in the March wind, charcoal clouds scarfing the icy honeydew quarter moon above the dark hills. If you get caught in this sleeveless hospital gown and ragged coat, the guards will lock you up.Elise scanned the surroundings. If she crossed the wet slope, Elise would be at St. Mary’s Hospital. Across the roaring creek on the other sloping hill stood the Catholic Convent, a Dominican Order. I can’t stand here second guessing myself, Elise muttered to herself, yearning for a cigarette, then began running, knowingthat crouching low under the black trees swaying hard in the rain was not wise. Thunder rumbled closer, more lightening. Elise wished it were Patapan’s drum, but knew all too well it wasn’t. Mamma’s in the cold, cold ground; she’s not playing that upright piano and singing anymore. What? Are you dreaming, Elise? Get going. Scurrying across the wet grass covered with violets and Star of Bethlehem, Elise attempted to jump across the roaring creek, but slipped and fell, cutting her left foot on a sharp rock. She felt blood gushing into the stream. Balancing herself, she stood up and hobbled on toward the convent, but by the time she reached the door, both feet were sodden with grass and mud, a violet clinging to her bleeding heel. Elise knocked, aware that it must be early morning by now.

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When she’d heard the nurses’ aides talking in the hall earlier and struggled to awaken, it must have been ten p.m. or so. A heavy-set woman with puffy cheeks wrinkled like blanched pine needlesopened the heavy door. She wore a long black gown, white cowl, and a white headdress resembling a goose. If Elise weren’t frightened, she might have said something about missing the honk, but not now. “I am the Mother Superior, Sister Margaret Marie,” the woman continued, her bright blue eyes scrutinizing Elise. “You must be freezing, my child. Come in.” “Thank you. Yes, I am very cold, and my foot is bleeding; I don’t want to ruin your floors.” Sister Margaret Marie directed Elise to sit down, removed her clothes, and wrapped her in a blanket, then called Alex, the black cook in the kitchen, to bring bandages and medical supplies. “Yessum,” he answered, and appeared with a pan of water, alcohol, scissors, tape, and gauze. He stood back and watchedSister Margaret Marie applying pressure with her ownlarge handkerchief to Elise’s foot in an effort to stop the bleeding. “Thank you, Alex. As soon as I can get this woman into proper clothing, we’ll have breakfast.” Tears filled Elise’s pale blue eyes, as she stared at the tall, lean man’s gentle dark eyes. “Yessum. I’m makin’ hominy and eggs for the sisters following what you call the first hour of the day.” “It’s Lauds,” Alex, Sister Margaret Marie said, then thanked him, and explained that she and Miss Elise would be taking their meal separately in the small dining room. “Yessum.” The Mother Superior directed Elise to the bathroom, then gave her a warm gown and robe, along with heavy woolen socks and shoes. Following breakfast, they sat for what seemed hours at the table, Elise telling her story. “Yes, my mother, Camilla Rose Colthorp, was the daughter of the owner of the Castile Mill, Walter Colthorp. He and his wife, my grandmother, Catherine Lynch, condemned my mother for falling in love with my daddy, a millworker, and making a baby with him when he brought pine boughs and mistletoe for my grandmother. My daddy, Henley Fraser, was one of the kindest men you’d ever meet. He loved my mamma. It didn’t seem to bother my grandmother that her son, my uncle, Riley Pierre Colthorp, was a pedophile.” “What? What did you say?” “Pedophile. Yes, Sister Margaret Marie, he was. In fact, Mamma told me she asked her mother that night at the dining room table, after her father made Henley leavetheir home, why loving someone deeply, by having a heart, was worse than her brother’s sin of being a pedophile. Mamma knew her brother had abused three boys sexually because they finally showed their mother a picture. My mother’s mammy, Azzie, knowed it, too. She was just afraid to say it, even in the 1950’s. The three boys finally told their parents that my uncle used to take them to the old slave cabin behind my grandparents’ house at 731 Rutledge Avenue, then make them climb the ladder into the loft where he made them strip. There he tied the boys with ropes and played. He threatened the boys, made them think this was a special club to which only they belonged, that they were members of ‘the elect’ and that they all had a real friendship. The mother had a picture from a camera. My uncle, Pierre, was released on bond because his mother was having a hysterectomy.”

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“That seems ironical in a way,” the Mother Superior said. I nodded. She was becoming my therapist as I told my story. “What happened to your uncle?” “A fisherman in the broader part of the rocky creek where it was joined three other creeks to become the river found his body washed up on the shoal. ‘He was naked, handcuffed, his body gnawed on by coyotes,’ the man reckoned.” Nobody ever knowed who must have shoved him down the mountain. You know how Woodland Avenue goes on out beyond the turn to the Asylum, St. Mary’s, and the Convent, then heads up the road toward the mountains.” “I do know the road. Years ago, the sisters and I took a picnic lunch up one of the mountain paths to the falls.” “My grandmother never would answer my mamma that December night. My grandmother worshiped her son, but I think she must have also been jealous of Mamma who was pretty, played the piano, danced, and loved. Mamma had such a big heart. Having sex before marriage was a mistake, but she was just expressing her love. My grandparents wanted her to marry somebody in the Episcopal Church, a snob, like them,not a member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church across from the railroad track in the Castile Mill Village. My grandfather called Father Penland who performed the marriage ceremony the next day, a bitter cold, snowy day two days before Christmas, at St. Mark’s Episcopal. My grandparents wouldn’t even give Mamma and Daddy a ride home. My grandparents drove home in their Packard, leaving Mamma and Daddy to walk. Even the priest shed a tear. Daddy had to push his mother who was in a wheel chair, and Mamma carried her suitcase. Nearly blind in one eye, Daddy blinked against the snow melting in the cold sunas they walked to our house on Chapel Street. Daddy’s Mamma was mean to my Mamma, you know, made fun of her for not knowing how to kill a chicken and pluck it or plant a garden. Mamma learned quick. She adored Daddy, and he loved her and my two brothers and me. My brothers were Rodale Dean and Denzell Ray, but they were n’er- do- wells----always getting into trouble. They made fun of the Baptist preacher, disobeyed Mamma, and raped me, left me for dead, when I was fourteen. See, my first cousin who is the executive director of the Asylum over yonder, Arabella Ruth Fraser, helped my brothers.” “She was jealous of you, Elise. I knew her when she was a cook there before she married a psychiatrist in town; His office is near Rutledge College on Woodland Avenue.He paid for Arabella’ seducation and plastic surgery, even arranged for her to become the executive director at the asylum. All politics. Is she the one who knocked your teeth in?” Elise nodded, tears streaming down her face, as the scene flashed before her eyes: that hot day in July after she’d taken lunch to her Daddy, she was returning home. Suddenly on the path surrounded by pine trees, Arabella had tripped her with a fallen limb, removed her clothes, and held Elise’s arms while Rodale Dean and Denzell Ray had taken turns experimenting sexually with their sister, raping her, laughing all the while. Old Dr. Wentz had later examined Elise and told her parents that their daughter would never be able to bear children.

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“How did you feel?” “Sexless, I think, as if I weren’t a girl or a boy. It was an odd feeling for a teenager, as I look back on it now. I didn’t know who or what I was. I talked to Mamma. When my brothers got out of jail for raping me, they learned that Daddy had died and I was taking care of Mamma, that her mother had died, and that Granddaddy and Mamma had made up after all those years. Granddaddy left Mamma an inheritance. Well, my brothers and my cousin were in cahoots. They planned to kill me, so they could contact the attorney and change the will. I heard the nurses’ aides talking when I struggled to wake up. I heard ‘em say I was drugged with Thorazine and brandy and some other poison. It’s weird.” “Go ahead.” “I heard them talkin’ about me being in the dungeon part of the asylum and something about the Executive Director planning to keep me drugged and down on that end, so nobody would ever find me. She planned for me to die. When I was sure the nurses’ aides were gone, I finally got up and crept out. I peed in the pot under the bed. There were no toilets down there. The floors were broken rocks, and farther down the hall lingered the torturous treatments used for the insane years ago. I was barefooted. That’s when I made my way home. Oh, it was cold. “You mean you went to your family house in the mill village last night?” “Guess about midnight. That’s when I saw the big FOR SALE sign in front of our home at the corner of Huey and Chapel Streets. My brothers had pulled up my patches of collards, even dug up the shoots of daffodils. You see, I when I took care of my mother, I planted all kinds of flowers and herbs for her. She adored them. I rolled her out in the yard. The only thing left in that house was our pot of geraniums. It’s behind the Asylum now----outside my window where ivy tats up the broken window panes and bars and where I planted the daffodil shoots. That’s when I decided I couldn’t never go back in that room or I’d be drugged again and die, for sure.” The Mother Superior shook her head. “You’re exhausted. Have you ever worked or gone to school?” “Went to the community school in the mill village, read books in the school’s library, bought groceries for my mamma from the wagon what come from town down to the mill, and worked as a weaver in the mill. I loved making gardens. I’d buy seeds, save seeds, and, well, I had pretty gardens.” “What would you like to do? Here at the Dominican Convent, we pray, study, work in the community, and serve others.” Elise shook her head. “I don’t want to be a sister, and I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.” The Mother Superior laughed. “You don’t. We all have different talents and gifts. Yours is obviously working with flowers and caring for others. You know, ‘The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine hear to speak as the learned.’ That’s what I try to do; that is what my sisters who serve as nurses over at St. Mary’s Hospital do, and that is what you will do. Do you understand?” Elise nodded as she twisted a strand of hair.

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“I want to work with my hands. I do want to serve others by planting gardens at the Asylum, here at the Convent, and at the hospital. All I want is a garden cottage which I can build on the Asylum grounds with my grandfather’s inheritance. I guess my brothers will go to jail for murder.” “They will. I doubt if the psychiatrist there ever knew what was going on. He is a good man, a doctor from Africa. He was trained in Atlanta.” “Can we talk to him?” “Of course, but I’ll dress you in a habit; otherwise, the way the asylum is designed on the inside, you’ll be recognized by that evil first cousin.” Elise shook her head. “I don’t understand.” “Her office door is across from the entrance. Whenever someone enters the front door, why your cousin saunters out. An overly curious woman.” “Yes mam. Now I understand.” “And we’ll have to make a proposal to convince the psychiatrist and me. Persuading me will not be difficult because I am head of the sisters at St. Mary’s and here at the convent. I believe in your work. It’s very Biblical, as a matter of fact.” “What would I say? And look at my crooked teeth.” “We can have your teeth fixed,” the old sister smiled, dimples spreading through the pine needle wrinkles. Your theme sentence might be something like ‘Planting flowers, herbs, and groves of trees would benefit the campuses, residents, and the community.’ Do you like that?” “Oh, I do, and there’s already the pecan grove at the asylum.” “And you’ll need to communicate the learning objectives, emotional objectives, and behavioral objectives.” “What are they? I just remember direct and indirect objects.” “Not these. We will talk about them later, but I think maybe you need to rest and clear your mind. You have been through a traumatic experience, and your body needs to heal.” “But my brothers and cousin could already be seeing that lawyer. I think his name is Travis Cain Badwell.” “I’ve heard he’s a little shady,” the Mother Superior winked, “so I’ll do what’s necessary to block it. Now trust me, and I want you to have my room to rest. I’ll awaken you later, give you some nourishment, and we’ll go over. You may need a crutch.” Elise’s eyes glowed, and she followed the Mother Superior.

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A few hours later, the Mother Superior awakened Elise, offered her a cheese sandwich and some potato-leek soup, and gave her ‘charge’ the Dominican habit. Elise smiled to herself as Sister Margaret Marie pinned up her long hair and placed the headdress on. “You know, I am bald. Yes, I shaved my head years ago when I made my vows.” “Have you ever regretted your decision?” “Never, my dear, never.” Come, let’s walk down the lawn to the road and up the hill to Stone Mont Asylum. Trust God, and believe in your ideas.” “What about the objectives?” Elise asked. “You will want your audience-- and your audience may come to be visitors who come to see your gardens—to list three of your learning objectives. Your learning objectives could be knowing that there are medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, and decorative herbs and be able to name one or two of each.” Elise nodded. “And you said something about emotional objectives and behavioral objectives. What are they?” “Your visitors will have a positive feeling about your planting flowers because flowers and herbs always enhance any building----schools, hospitals, churches, homes, shops, and they will see that the patients might participate in the work. You see the behavioral objectives could be the patients feeling good about themselves as they learn about gardening---preparing the soil, planting, watering, and seeing something grow. Also, you might develop a volunteer program with people from the community participating.” “Now I understand.” “I knew you would. We just need to get the teeth fixed and have you practice your interpretive presentation. Remember it’s not just information. Information bores people. You need to Provoke, Relate, and Reveal.” “How did you learn all of this, Sister?” “I have a lot of tricks up the sleeves of this old habit, you know. You will be comfortable once you get going. You know, if you believe in something yourself and make it fun, most other people do, too. Some of my sisters will be glad to help. They will interact more with the patients in the hospital and with those who are able in the asylum. Do you see what I mean?” Elise nodded. “What will I wear? I’m not one for dressing up?” “I think you could get away with nice jeans and shirt or sweater, tennis shoes, or clogs, and a gardener’s hat, don’t you?” “Yes.” “And your mother would be very proud of you. You may want to have some sessions with the psychiatrist from the traumatic experiences you have suffered.”

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“I would like that.” By the time they climbed the hill to the Asylum, the Mother Superior was breathing hard. She had to sit on a partially broken bench. Elise looked around. “Wouldn’t my gardener’s cottage be nice nestled over to the right of the asylum behind the boxwood?” “Huh…huh, and you would want it to match one of the buildings: brick, don’t you think?” Elise agreed. “Maybe with flower boxes.” “You would welcome your audience for your presentation and show them where the bath rooms are, then give the members of your group a theme sentence, then you could provoke with a question, maybe something like, ‘Did you ever know that red clover tea is used to treat cancer?’” Elise listened, beginning to understand more. “And people drink lavender tea to relax. Cherries help with arthritis.” “See you have it.” “Then, I would relate with my story that I just told you. Right?” The old sister nodded. “You will be a natural.” “And I’ll call the story ‘Elise’s Pot.’ Do you like that?” “Do you?” “Very much, and I can’t explain why.” “You don’t have to, my child. And you’ll make sure that you have your learning objectives and tangibles, intangibles, and universals.” “What are those?” “An idea is tangible if everyone can relate to it or has experienced it, you know, sort of like the picture of a house or maybe a church, but an intangible is something everybody cannot relate to. Few could relate to the idea of being drugged by their brothers and left to die in a dungeon where mentally ill were cruelly mistreated years ago.” “And you think the psychiatrist will understand. What’s his name?” “Dr. Zwombei. He’s very bright and understanding. He studies. I think you would work well under him.” “Can you make it up to the entrance?” The sister nodded. “Let’s go.” Leaning on the cane which Alex had carved, Sister Margaret Marie stood up.

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When they opened the door, Elise’s first cousin sauntered from her office and railed out, her voice choked from years of smoking and shrieking. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be…” “Dead?” Elise said. Then Arabella slapped Elise on the cheek, and Sister Margaret Marie cried for her to stop. The psychiatrist opened his office door and demanded to know what was going on. The two nurses’ aides, Ruby and Esther, who had been talking down in the dungeon when they thought Elise was asleep, walked by, each with a pail of water. Their eyes met Elise’s. They put down their buckets on the floor and pulled the executive director away from Elise. “Tell the psychiatrist,” Elise said, her Mahonia holly blue eyes filled with tears. “I ain’t afraid,” Esther spoke up. “Miss Arabella and her two cousins, Miss Elise’s brothers, plotted to kill her, so they could go to the lawyer down town and change the will.” “You’re lying, Esther, and you know it,” Arabella shouted and slapped the light-skinned woman across the face. “No, she is not,” the Mother Superior interrupted. “It is all true. Elise told me the story of your poisoning her. She’ll tell it to Dr. Zwombei, if necessary.” Dr. Zwombei called Security, and Arabella was escorted from the building, then eventually taken into custody, along with Elise’s brothers. The judge refused bond, and at the jury trial, the three were condemned and sentenced to life in prison. In the meantime, Sister Margaret Marie encouraged Elise to share her proposal. Elise complied, using the theme sentence, the objectives, the lack of cost, and more, and the psychiatrist approved. “This is exciting, but you’re not going to do this work for nothing. You will be paid something.” “But I am,” Elise persisted. “It is my gift to the sick, the poor, and the community. I plan to have all sorts of gardens, and I will teach. That is my reward.” He shook his head. “You must be paid something.” “What about the dental bill?” the Mother Superior suggested, and free consultations with you to help her overcome through the emotional traumas?” He agreed and asked, “How would you suggest we advertise?” “Newsletters, talks to the churches and clubs, and to students at Rutledge College, Rutledge Academy, and so forth. Maybe an article in the newspaper, an interview on television.” “Well, we will certainly pay for those.” “She’s a natural, isn’t she?” Sister Margaret Marie beamed. He nodded.

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And before long, gardeners were coming, and Elise became widely known for her work. She was offered jobs in larger cities, but she never left. When she died years later, volunteers and residents kept up the work she had done, and there were tourists from across the country who came to see the gardens and learn from Eliseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journals and notes.

Martha Benn Macdonald, Ph.D. Martha is an amazing interpreter and professor, working with living history sites and also being a remarkable story teller. Her many novels can be found on Amazon as well and she is a frequent author for InterpNEWS. You can contact Martha at: doctorbenn@gmail.com - JV

Martha's last book...

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Interpreting the Corpse Flower - Dying to tell you about it. Reprinted from the Fairchild Botanical Tropical Garden When it was discovered in the rainforest of central Sumatra in western Indonesia, by the Italian botanist and explorer Dr. Odoardo Beccari in 1878, the stories caused quite a sensation and disbelief among European botanists. Not until the first specimen flowered in cultivation at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England in 1889 did the world take notice. During the Victorian era plant hunting was at its height and unusual specimens were enjoyed by a discerning and curious audience. It was also an era where governesses protected young women from such an indecent sight. Whenever the Amorphophallus titanum, which grows only in western Sumatra, has flowered in cultivation it has attracted an enormous amount of attention. The 1998 bloom attracted more than 5,500 visitors to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and worldwide media attention as the first documented bloom of this species in the United States since 1939. A 1996 bloom of this species attracted thousands of people to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as did a 1970 two-day flowering in Java which attracted 34,000 viewers. It was introduced to the United States in 1937 when the New York Botanic Garden and the daily press kept the public informed of the progress of the gigantic bloom grown from an imported tuber. The spectacular event so impressed people that when a second specimen flowered (from another imported tuber) two years later it was designated as the official flower of the Bronx, symbolic of the largest and fastest growing borough of the City of New York. The discovery of this species must rank as one of the greatest highlights of natural history exploration. The sight, growth and odor of this rare botanical wonder are unbelievable. A mature underground corm (tuber) produces a huge aroid bloom (inflorescence) which is usually taller than a man. When it first emerges the spadix is completely enveloped in the spathe and bracts, but as it develops the growth rate of the spadix accelerates rapidly. It is ranked as the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, which is produced by the largest tuber. A single huge leaf will emerge sometime after the flower resembling a sapling tree. A mature leaf is patterned with irregular pale green blotches and at the apex divides into an umbrella of leaflets up to 49 feet in circumference. The A. titanum is difficult to cultivate - not because, as was also once rumored, it eats its grower - but because it is prone to rotting, does not reliably increase in size and fails to produce seeds or offsets as easily as other species of Amorphophallus. The plants rarely set seeds because the female flowers open first and by the time the male florets are producing pollen they are no longer receptive. Each plant contains both flowers and florets.

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Even in the wild it is difficult because there must be an another similarly timed pollen producing inflorescence. In addition, flowering can take at any time of the year so chances are stacked against pollination. There was once a rumor that this monstrous inflorescence is pollinated by elephants. Instead pollination is believed to be performed by large carrion beetles lured by the powerful odor of decaying flesh. This overpowering stench is released in waves when the flowers are ready for pollination. Its Indonesian name bunga bangkai means corpse flower.

The smell resembles dead or decaying flesh, and it attracts a carrion beetle that normally likes to lay its eggs on the rotting corpses of dead mammals. In this case, though the beetles act like pollinators as they travel from flower to flower.

JVA InterpNews An Equation For An Excellent Presentation Ethan Rotman

We speak to make a point, to change an attitude, a behavior or a belief. If that is not possible, we at least want to provoke the audience enough to cause them to re-think their current position. When added together, these three tools provide a solid platform for you to engage your audience in hopes of moving them from where they are now to where you hope they will be. A clear message means you (and subsequently when you are done, your audience) should be able to sum up the entirety of your talk into one short sentence. – just one simple statement: “At the end of my talk I want my audience to know ________” (No “ands”, no “commas”, no “ampersands”). If you can be clear enough in your thinking to fill in that blank before you start speaking, you increase the likelihood your audience will understand your point. Interaction is meaningful dialogue between either the speaker and the audience or between audience members, Audiences want to be involved in the conversation as active participants: they do not want to be merely passive receivers of information. Audience members will learn as they process information to form their own thoughts, and will learn from others in the group. Providing time to discuss the topic allows audience members to take pieces of the talk and add them up to a sum greater than that of all the parts. To be clear, Interaction does not mean that you as the speaker get to talk for 55 minutes. You should take the opportunity to actively engage your audience by encouraging them to think, reflect, ask questions, evaluate and express themselves. Enthusiasm demonstrates through actions, voice, and words that the you like and are excited about your topic. Your energy is quite contagious and rubs off on the audience. Your enthusiasm alone is not enough to carry the day. A colleague recently reported to me that she watched a presentation in absolute awe based solely on the enthusiasm and energy of the speaker. It wasn’t until later that the colleague realized the speaker didn’t have a message – they were simply engaging and energetic. A good presentation does not happen by chance or luck: it is created by a good presenter. These three elements are basic building blocks to help you design outstanding talks that engage the audience and by doing so, may change and attitude, belief, or behavior. With appreciation to Andy Goodman and Jenn Tarlton. © 2016 – This speaking tip is one in a series provided to you by iSpeakEASY. Wehelp people speak effectively and with confidence. Ethan Rotman

Performance Speaking Coach ethan@ispeakeasy.net

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INTELLIGENT T DESIGN OF INTERPRETATIVE TEXT Dr. Stephen Bitgood Jacksonville State University

Abstract Interpretive text, when effectively designed, has a powerful influence on how visitors engage with exhibitions. However, to be effective, the design of text must respect the intelligence of visitors, otherwise, visitors ignore or misunderstand important interpretive messages. This article discusses what intelligent design is, and suggests guidelines for increasing the power of words to engage visitors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visitor engagement is the ultimate goal of exhibit design and reading text is one of the clearest indications that a visitor is processing exhibit content in more than a superficial way. It is critical for exhibit designers to realize that visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses nses to interpretive text are usually appropriate given the conditions under which they occur. Intelligent design respects and understands that the way visitors process interpretative content is based on a combination of what visitors take with them to the museum, how exhibit spaces are designed, and the interaction between the two.. This means designers recognize that: (1) Visitors will invest time and effort reading text when they perceived high value from engaging with exhibits (e.g., Bitgood, 2000; 2010; 22011a; 2013a). (2) Visitors move through exhibitions using efficient circulation patterns by minimizing their number of steps and their total time and effort expended (e.g., Bitgood, 2006; 2011; 2013). (3) Visitors, in general, respond in an intelligent way to the content and layout of exhibits (e.g., Bitgood, 2013).

The small letter size and large number of words make this label difficult to read. If visitors try to conserve their energy for the entire museum visit, it makes sense to skip reading this label and find something easier to digest.

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We fail to respect visitor intelligence if we assume that deviations from the intentions of designers are the result of visitors following their own agenda or intentionally ignoring designers’ plans. More likely, visitors are responding appropriately to a combination of visitor, setting, and visitor-setting interaction factors and designers have failed to take into account one or more important variables that influence visitor engagement. For words to have the power to engage visitors within the exhibit medium, they must capture and engage attention (e.g., Bitgood, 2010; 2011; 2013; 2014; Screven, 1992). Capturing and engaging attention is difficult because: (1) visitors move freely through exhibition spaces and may or may not pass by and be aware of the text; (2) the exhibit environment is often overly dense with objects and text that distract and compete for attention; and (3) in an effort to conserve energy, people are rarely motivated to read text that requires a large amount of time and effort. Compounding the problem of design principles for exhibitions are approaches to design that fail to recognize the intelligence of visitors. Poor design fails to recognize that visitors respond based on their own motivations, pre-knowledge, and cognitive limitations, as well as to the content of exhibitions and the interaction between the two. Visitor-Centered Approaches Some writers in the literature have adapted a visitor-centered approach, placing the heaviest burden of explanation on what visitors take with them to the museum. The visitor-centered approach has been championed by a number of writers including John Falk and Lynn Dierking (e.g., Falk, 1993; Falk &Dierking, 2012). This approach minimizes the importance of setting factors, and gives little recognition to how visitor and setting variables interact with one another. The following quote serves as an example of the visitor-centered approach: “A considerable body of research documents that visitors to museums rarely follow the exact sequence of exhibit elements intended by the developers – visitors will fulfill their own agendas, for example turning right (Melton, 1972; Porter, 1938) or leaving from the first available exit (Melton, 1972), rather than doing what the developers intended.” (Falk, 1993; p. 117) This statement implies that visitors: (1) have an agenda to turn right and/or leave by the first available exit, and (2) ignore design elements that attempt to lead visitors in a particular direction. Both of these implications are contradicted by the literature (e.g., Bitgood, 2006; Bitgood, Davey, Huang, & Fung, 2013; Bitgood & Davey, 2016; Bitgood & Dukes, 2006;). Visitors are usually more than willing to follow the designers’ intentions: (1) if they are made clear to the visitor and (2) if design includes an understanding of the interplay among visitor, setting, and visitor-setting interaction variables. Setting-Centered Approaches Other writers place the major design focus on setting variables (e.g., layout of objects within the exhibit space) with little appreciation for the knowledge, motivations, and abilities of the visitors who visit the museum. Space syntax is an example of an approach that primarily emphasizes the influence of setting by applying physical measures of the architectural space as the major source of predictions about visitor use. Space syntax provides a set of tools to describe and analyze spatial characteristics of the museum(e.g., Hillier, &Tzoeri, 2001).

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Sight lines measurements from different points within the museum are used to predict movement through, and use of, elements within the museum space. While exhibit factors are important, neglecting the role of visitor factors and/or visitor-setting setting interactions provides an incomplete analysis of the visitor experience.

Visitor-Setting Setting Interaction Approaches

This short, simple label, located next to a honeybee nest, encouraged visitors to read and go to additional short labels in the exhibit.

A third approach is the visitor-setting visitor interaction approach, which accepts the influence of both visitor and setting variables, as well as the interaction between visitor and setting variables. Under some conditions, visitor variables may be most important tant (e.g., when first entering an exhibition, scanning or searching the exhibit environment for something of interest); under other conditions, the setting variables might be more important to understanding visitor response (e.g., a loud distracting noise capturing attention). Under still other conditions, visitor and setting factors interact with one another. For example, interest in exhibit content and the amount of time and effort required to process text interact: perceived high cost (in terms of time and effort) discourage visitors from engagement whether their interest level is high or low.

However, perceived low cost (e.g., reading short interpretive labels) is more likely to stimulate engagement (reading text) by whether interest level is high or low [Bitgood, 1990; 2000; 2002; 2011; 2013; 2014; Koran & Koran, 1986; Melton, 1935; Screven, 1992; 1999]. When visitors perceive a small investment of time and effort necessary to engage, they are more willing to read interpretive text. The visitor-setting setting interaction approach views visitors as intelligent beings who respond to the changing conditions ditions of the setting as well as their motivations, knowledge, and cognitive abilities. Not recognizing the potential importance of visitor, setting, and/or the visitor-setting visitor setting interaction fails to respect visitor choices. Visitor Engagement As previously stated, meaningful engagement with museum content is at the core of the visitor experience. Engagement requires deep processing of information, on an intellectual and/or emotional level. Indicators of engagement include the duration of atte attention ntion to an exhibit display, reading the interpretive text, verbal discussions of exhibit content, and tests of recognition, recall, or interpretation of content. The willingness of visitors to engage with museum content is not limitless. Mental and physical phy fatigue, object satiation, and becoming more selective in choosing opportunities to engage arelikely to occur as the attention resources of visitors are depleted (e.g., Bitgood, McKerchar, & Dukes, 2013).

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The Value Ratio as a Predictor of Engagement An economic view of value can be defined as a ratio of utility (benefit, satisfaction) divided by cost (time, effort, money). This benefit/cost ratio approach is common in biology (optimal foraging theory) as well as economics and psychology (prospect theory, temporal discounting theory). The value ratio is also one of the foundations of the attention-value model of museum visitors (e.g., Bitgood, 2010; 2011; 2013; 2014; 2015). Humans as well as other living species demonstrate strong tendencies to use their personal resources efficiently. Soaring birds conserve energy by gliding in thermal drafts and thus are able to reduce wing flapping. A predatory animal will maximize benefits and minimize costs by choosing a prey that provides the most energy with the least search and handle time. And, visitors are efficient when engaging their attention to exhibits. To respect visitors’ ability to use their personal resources in an efficient way requires an understanding of the value ratio. Visitors demonstrate intelligent and efficient use of their psychological and physical resources by: (1) how they distribute attention to interpretive text in terms of time and effort; (2) how they navigate through museum spaces; and (3) how they respond to exhibit characteristics. Investing Attention Resources in Terms of Time and Effort Intelligent visitors wisely distribute their time and effort in response to interpretive text. Given extended periods of walking on hard surfaces, attempting to read long interpretive text passages, and making sense of seemingly chaotic layout of exhibits, visitors do their best to maximize satisfaction and minimize costs. Satisfaction or benefits of exhibition experiences may derive from satisfying curiosity, learning something new, having one’s ideas challenged, or simply having fun. However, the exhibition medium is often designed in a way that demands more attention resources than most visitors are willing or able to invest during a brief visit. As a result, the visitor finds herself/himself selecting exhibits that appear to promise the highest benefit for the lowest cost (e.g., Rounds, 2004). When the exhibit environment is dense with many exhibit objects and text messages, visitors are more selective in the focus of their attention (e.g., Bitgood, McKerchar, Dukes, 2013; Melton, 1035). Becoming more selective in engaging attention is an intelligent way to deal with hyperchoice (too many alternatives from which to choose). Attention resources are easily exhausted in a large museum that contains many exhibitions. To deal with this, it is intelligent for visitors to become more selective (i.e., choose fewer of the available exhibits to view). Visitors Navigate Efficiently Through Museums Careful observation of visitor movements reveals patterns of behavior that are clearly efficient (see Bitgood, 2016): 

People choose pathways with fewer steps as shown by a number of divergent studies (e.g., Bitgood, 2006; Bitgood & Dukes, 2006; Bitgood, Davey, Huang, & Fung, 2013; Bitgood & Davey, 2016). A landmark attractive object quickly captures attention and visitors walk toward or approach this object in a straightline. Search-approach-stop patterns often involve walking in a straight line to a salient object.



The strategy of patrolling an exhibition hall also demonstrates efficiency. If objects are laid out along the walls of a gallery as in art museums, visitors usually walk around the perimeter in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, depending on the proximity of an attractive object nearest the entrance.

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

If visitors do not pass by an exhibit or do not focus on interpretive text associated with objects, they will not read.



If visitors perceive too much time and effort to extract meaning, they tend to look for a higher value by finding something with lower cost.

Visitors Response to the Exhibit Environment

More often than not, visitors will engage with interpretive text if it is perceived as having high value and if it is designed in a way that makes sense to people:  When too much text and too many distractions are present, visitors become more selective in which objects they view and which text passages they read.  Visitors use prompts that allow them to engage more deeply with exhibits (e.g., Bitgood, 2013; Screven, 1992).  Once visitors are attracted to an object, they are likely to look for interpretive text for an explanation. Suggestions for Exhibition Design 1. Carefully examine the literature on how visitor and setting factors work together to make interpretive text effective. Visitor interests, agendas, and learning styles combine with exhibition design to influence whether or not visitor attention is captured, focused, and engaged on exhibit elements. Note that the visitor-exhibition relationship is complex and over-simplified analyses are likely to be poor guides for design. 2. Consider how visitor perception of value (utility/cost) influences choices to engage. It is generally easier to reduce costs (decrease the number of words in a text passage) than to increase utility (find only the highest interest objects to exhibit). 3. Remember that movement or circulation routes through exhibitions play an important role in whether or not visitors read interpretive text. If there is no clear efficient pathway through an exhibition, visitors will select their own; however, their pathway choice may not pass by important text material. 4. Incorporate at least formative and remedial evaluation methods to ensure that the interpretive text passages have the desired impact.

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Bibliography Bitgood, S. (2000).The role of attention in designing effective interpretive labels. Journal of Interpretation Research 5 (2): 31â&#x20AC;&#x201C;45. Bitgood, S. (2006). An analysis of visitor circulation: Movement patterns and the general value principle. Curator, 49, 463-475. Bitgood, S. (2010).An attention-value model of museum visitors. Washington, DC: The Center for the Advancement of Informal Science Education. Retrieved from http://caise.insci.org/uploads/docs/VSA_Bitgood.pdf Bitgood, S. (2011a).The social design of museums: The psychology of visitor studies (Vols. 1 and 2). Edinburgh, UK: MuseumsEtc. Bitgood (2011b). An attention-value model of visitors in exhibition centers. In S. Bitgood, Social design in museums: The psychology of visitor studies, Vol. 1. Edinburgh, UK: MuseumsEtc. Pp. 230-251. Bitgood, S. (2011c).The concept of value ratio and its role in visitor attention. In S. Bitgood, Social design in museums: The psychology of visitor studies, Vol. 1. Edinburgh, UK: MuseumsEtc. Pp. 270-283. Bitgood, S. (2013a).Attention and-value: Keys to understanding museum visitors. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Bitgood (2013b).An overview of the attention-value model. In S. Bitgood, Attention and value: Keys to understanding museum visitors. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Pp. 64-73. Bitgood, S. (2013c). Value as a combination of quality and duration: Impact on choice of film. Attention and value: Keys to understanding museum visitors. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Pp. 77-82. Bitgood, S. (2013d). How label placement influences visitor attention. Attention and value: Keys to understanding museum visitors. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Pp. 132-136. Bitgood, S. (2014).Engaging the visitor: Designing exhibits that work. Edinburgh, UK: MuseumsEtc. Bitgood, S. (2014).The importance of attention& value for interpretation.InterpNews, 3(4), 6-9. Bitgood, S. (2016).The dimensions of visitor movement in museums.InterpNews, 5(1), 32-37. Bitgood, S., Davey, G., Huang, X., & Fung, H. (2013).Pedestrian choice behavior at shopping malls in China and the United States.Environment and Behavior.45(8), 1019-1032. Bitgood, S., & Dukes, S. (2006). Not another step! Economy of movement and pedestrian choice point behavior in shopping malls.Environment and Behavior, 38, 394-405. Bitgood, S., Dukes, S., & Abby, L. (2007). Interest and effort as predictors of reading: A test of the general value principle (Current trends in audience research andevaluation, Vol. 19/20). Boston, MA: AAM Committee on Audience Research &Evaluation.Bitgood (2000) Bitgood, S., McKerchar, T., & Dukes, S. (2013). Looking back at Melton: Gallery density and visitor attention. Visitor Studies, 16(2), 217-225.

JVA InterpNews Critchfield, T., &Kollins, S. (2001). Temporal discounting: Basic research and the analysis of socially important behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34(1), 101-122. Falk, J. (1993). Assessing the impact of exhibit arrangement on visitor behavior and learning. Curator, 36(2), 133-146. Falk, J., &Dierking, L. (2012). The museum experience revisited. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Hillier, Bill and Kali Tzortzi. 2011. “Space syntax: The language of museum space”. Sharon Macdonald (editor), A companion in museum studies, Londres Blackwell, pp. 282‐302 Melton, A. (1935).Problems of installation in museums of art.New Series No. 14. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums. Parsons, M., & Loomis, R. (1973).Visitor traffic patterns: Then and Now. Washington, DC: Office of Museum Programs, Smithsonian Institution. Pirelli, P., & Card, S. (1999). Information foraging. Psychological Review, 106(4), 643-675. Rounds, J. (2004).Strategies for the curiosity-driven museum visitor.Curator, 47(4), 389–410. Screven, C. (1992). Motivating visitors to read labels. ILVS Review: A Journal of Visitor Behavior, 2(2), 183–211 Screven, C. (1999). Information design in informal settings: Museums and other public places. In R. Jacobson (ed.), Information design. Cambridge, MA MIT Press. Pp. 131-192. Serrell, B. (2015). Exhibit labels (second edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman& Littlefield. Spilkova, J., &Hochel, M. (2009). Toward an economy of pedestrian movement in Czech and Slovak shopping malls. Environment and Behavior, 41, 3, 443-455.

Contact information: E-mail: steveb@jsu.edu Mailing address: 44 Courtney Place, Palm Coast, FL 32137 Phone: 256-591-1325

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Interpreting Scottish Folk Hero Rob Roy MacGregor John Veverka InterpNEWS Editor

Rob Roy MacGregor

For over 20 years I'd been working as an interpretive consultant in Scotland (and the UK) working on a variety of projects. Taking some time off in Edinburgh to play tourist I signed up for a day tour of Scottish attractions, which included visiting the grave site of Rob Roy MacGregor (center grave in the photo below). Now I knew about Rob Roy as his story was made into a Move about his life that I remembered watching years ago. Check out the movie trailer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0-2kzujLA8. So the visit to his family grave site inspired me to learn more about Scottish history and folk hero's as well. So here's a bit about what I learned from the site experience and the interpretation from the guide (and from multiple other sources).

A Short History of Clan MacGregor The MacGregors ("Children of the Mist") are one of the most ancient Scottish clans, tracing their ancestry back to the time of Malcolm Canmore, though Roy Roy is their most famous son. They fought for Bruce at Bannockburn and have remained staunch warriors for Scotland and the Highlands ever since. Indeed, their proud spirits and boundless courage have caused the clan much grief over the centuries, not least due to the enmity and greed of Clan Campbell. King David II, Bruce's son, gave Glenorchy, ancient seat of the MacGregors, to the Campbells. The MacGregors were loathe to leave, but by 1400 the Gregor chiefship had moved to Glenstrae. However, their troubles were only beginning.

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The Campbells were great ones for using the law against those whose lands they coveted (their great feud with Clan Donald is well-attested). Their method was to provoke the MacGregors to acts of violence (not especially difficult, given the MacGregor temper) and then invoke the law to put them down and take their lands. By this method, the Campbells stripped Clan Gregor of their Glenlyon holdings in 1502. In 1589, the MacGregors killed a royal forester - an offence against the crown, which promptly issued letters of "fire and sword" against the clan, making it illegal to shelter or have any dealings with clan members. Various "fire and sword" orders were continually proclaimed against the MacGregors for the better part of 200 years they simply couldn't keep out of trouble. In 1603, after Clan Gregor trapped and murdered the Colquhouns, an Act was passed proscribing the very name MacGregor. This meant any member of Clan Gregor (if caught) could be beaten, robbed or killed without fear of punishment. Anyone with the name MacGregor was banned from the church (no marriages, burials, communion, etc.). It was complete ostracism for the entire clan. During this time, the Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, promised safe conduct out of the country to MacGregor of Glenstrae and his men, then turned them over to be hanged. This treachery united the entire highlands in their loathing of the Campbells. Though reduced to the status of outlaws, the MacGregors never forgot or relinquished their identity. They fought for the king (who had renewed the Acts against them) with Montrose in 1644-45 (the Campbells fought on the other side). In 1661, the Acts were finally repealed, but only for about 30 years, until William of Orange and his successors renewed them and kept them in force. No wonder that Clan Gregor fully supported the Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745. The Acts were finally repealed permanently in 1774 - Clan Gregor surviving almost 200 years as outlaws. Biography of Rob Roy MacGregor The most famous MacGregor of all is, of course, Rob Roy, of the Glengyle branch (1671-1734). Rob Roy was a multi-talented man - a great swordsman and soldier (fighting alongside his father by the age of 18 against William of Orange), an astute businessman, and master of the highland "protection racket". That is, rather than just rustling cattle - the age-old highland way - Rob Roy discovered there was more money in "protecting" cattle for pay. Between 1689 and 1711, Rob Roy stayed at home (he was a loving family man) and prospered his business, increasing his lands and resources. The legend of Rob Roy MacGregor grew out of his famous feud with the Duke of Montrose. As with all farmers and ranchers, Rob Roy found it difficult to lay hands on ready cash to expand his regular cattle business and turned to Montrose for a loan (or investment money). One of Rob Roy's employees made off with ÂŁ1000 and Montrose, in his greed, brought charges of embezzlement against Rob hoping to gain his lands. Failing to answer the charge, Rob Roy was declared an outlaw and began his campaign of harassment against the Duke (rustling his cattle).

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In 1715, despite his outlaw status, Rob Roy rallied the MacGregor clan and led them in battle against the English, making many successful raids. Afterwards, he was tried for treason and lived life on the run, being captured twice but making spectacular escapes both times. Finally, in 1725, he turned himself in and received a pardon from the king. He died quietly at home in 1734. Ironically, Rob Roy's mother was a Campbell, and since the name MacGregor was proscribed by William of Orange, Rob Roy used the name Campbell at various times throughout his life and hid (with permission) on the Duke of Argyll's lands while an outlaw. Read the definitive, 5-star Canongate biography of Rob Roy - Rob Roy MacGregor : His Life & Times by W. H. Murray See more at: http://www.heartoscotland.com/Categories/RobRoyMacGregor.htm#sthash.qYfIiDWN.dpuf

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Less is More: Engaging Audiences Through Labels. Ashley Downing DuPage County Historical Museum Wheaton Illinois

From watching the security cameras and tracking responses after the exhibit, we learned that most guests were skipping over many of the larger labels.

The DuPage County Historical Museum interprets three to five exhibits per year in three galleries. There is increasing involvement from staff and volunteers with labels as individuals work closely with the exhibit process from start to finish. Many of our exhibits convey a lot of information and, as we learned, too much information. As museum professionals, we understand that not everyone is going to read every label. To create interest, we structure labels in three ways; large interpretive labels, medium interpretive labels, and individual item labels. The various sizes allow guests the opportunity to choose how much they would like to learn on the various subjects. The focus of this article is on the large and medium interpretive labels. For a 500 square foot exhibit space, with seven display cases, we will use at least 30 medium to large text panels containing between 150-500 words. Sometimes cases contain just about as many text panels as objects. The goal was to have enough information that when repeat guests, who comprise of almost 40% of attendance, come back, they will have something new to read. For our new guests, there would be enough information that they would take something meaningful from their experience. What we Learned From watching the security cameras and tracking responses after the exhibit, we learned that most guests were skipping over many of the larger labels. Children were having problems reading the labels, on their own, from start to finish. The hours spent researching the material for the exhibit seemed pointless if so many people avoided reading about it. It was simple, we had too much information and it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t presented in a way that engaged our audience. We not only wanted to share everything we learned but we thoughtit was the only way to interpret the exhibit. In 2015, we went back and looked at the labels for the past few exhibits hosted at the Museum. Reading them took a fair amount of time, more time than our guests spend in the gallery. We found that some of the labels contained multiple themes and information not directly pertaining to what the exhibit was about. All of which, could have been condensed.

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How We Changed

Starting in 2015, we began to change how we wrote the labels. For one of our first exhibits, Wedding Traditions Unveiled, we made 17 medium to large text panels between 100-150 words for an exhibit containing 75 artifacts. The labels were in black font with a white background and a small symbol for the exhibit at the bottom right corner. Several labels had shorter word counts, all contained paragraphs to split up the information, and some of the labels contained only bulleted facts to help grab attention. We had cut our labels and word count by half, while still finding a way to explain 100 years of courtship and marriage traditions.

From observing individuals during their visit, we learned that many were gravitating towards the shorter labels and those that had fun, eye catching titles. Comments about the exhibit and between guests focused on those shorter labels, while mostly disregarding the information in the longer labels. Most people spent between twenty to thirty minutes in the galleries containing the wedding exhibit, allowing enough time to read some of the labels, look at the artifacts, and use one of the hands-on stations. After the exhibit was up for a few months, and we had a chance to step back from the exhibit, we read the labels again. The initial reading of the labels shows that they still contained numerous themes and some seemed discombobulated with facts. From this information, we tried a second experiment to make the labels even shorter, more concise, and eye catching. Our next exhibit, Fun Unplugged: Childhood Memories, contained 13 labels ranging between 20-60 words for an exhibit containing a little over 50 artifacts. The labels were circle in shape to go along with the objects and child theme, green or blue in color, and some contained pictures. All were written with a title that should grab attention or provide enough information that if people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t read further, they would learn something from the label.

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The second exhibit received great reviews. People were engaged with the exhibit, the artifacts, the hands-on stations, and the labels. They talked with staff and volunteers about the information from the exhibit and seemed generally pleased. The language contained some larger words but the information was presented in a way that was easy for all ages to read and understand the topic. Many children had little difficulty in reading the labels and didn’t seem overwhelmed with the length of the labels. Guests seemed to be taking home more from the exhibit by having less information presented than when we presented three times the amount of information. Our Future with Exhibit Interpretation Our current focus on interpreting the information through exhibits is a less is more mentality. All of the labels for our next three exhibits are between 15-50 words, with only two or three per exhibit that exceed that mark. The interpretation labels are kept to around a total of 20,which varies based on the number of artifacts in the exhibit. The exhibit timeline makes sure that staff and volunteers have a break from the “finished” labels for three to four months before going back and editing again. The break allows staff and volunteers time to really question what is the theme for the exhibit, is all this information really necessary, and how can we word it better to make learning more enjoyable. Although our experiments will continue and our knowledge of our visitors will grow, the model reflects a positive trend that we want to continue to expand on in the future.

Ashley Downing Museum Curator DuPage County Historical Museum adowning@wheatonparks.org 630.510.4958 dupagemuseum.org

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Swimming with the Manatee: A Calamity By Cassie Conger manatee.protector@gmail.com

Manatees: Who would think that every single year thousands of tourists come to see the roly-poly cute grey humongous blobs that swim through Florida's waters? There are so many who are ambivalent to their needs, who do not care for them, or who have never even heard of such strange animals, especially people who live far away. Yet they have a vivid following and while in some ways this is good, in other ways this is harming the threatened species. Did I just say threatened? Yes, they are now on the threatened species list, no longer the endangered species list, and this was determined by scientists, not diplomats. So they are doing better in the wild, but it is still imperative that we take good care of these harmless animals that actually help human boaters by eating the invasive species hydrilla and water hyacinth that pack waterways. Without their constant munching through these areas, boats would not be able to use them. For their cuteness, their helpfulness, their symbolism of Florida, and just the â&#x20AC;&#x153;radâ&#x20AC;? thing to do, thousands of people come each year to see them in one way or another. There are many locations where viewing is possible, both in marine parks and in the wild with boardwalks or kayaks. But in some places, say, Crystal River, for example, tourists want a much more up close and personal exposure: snorkeling. It is possible to be done correctly, staying very still and keeping your hands to yourself. But most snorkelers follow manatees and reach out to touch them. Admittedly, many dive shops say if the manatee approaches you, you may touch it, but that is completely the wrong theory. I'm sad to say that I used to be one of these people who had to have as much contact with these wonderful but foolhardy creatures, even though I had vowed at age eight to grow up to be a marine biologist and save the manatee. During Easter break my senior year of high school my mom and I swam with the manatees, and then as a graduation present at the end of the year I got to go again. I was in heaven. We were told it was okay to scratch them, touch them, as long as you didn't chase them. So many dive shops share this same message, but it is not a correct one.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m all geared up on a gray Easter morning to swim with the manatees.

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Swimming with the manatees can be almost as bad as driving your boat too fast if you touch, feed, or water them. They become accustomed to human presence. They LIKE the feeling of the scratching of dead skin off their backs.

I took this photo to show the proximity of manatees and boats.

They seek out humans, and in the process, approach boats where they are almost guaranteed a wound that will scar them for life. More and more manatee advocates are suggesting taking the boardwalks or for a really up close and personal, but safe, visit with these gentle giants, kayaking in the rivers where they roam. There you have no direct human contact but they're nearly at your finger tips. Besides, when snorkeling, you do not have the opportunity to enjoy the other wildlife: ospreys, herons, pelicans, turtles, alligators (you don't bother them, they won't bother you), as well as the flowers, Spanish moss, and mangroves.

The dive shops will purposely separate a baby from its mother to get tips from swimmers who get a The dive shopstowill purposely a baby its mother toI get tipsknow fromthat swimmers who getIadid chance to chance nuzzle the littleseparate one. In reality thisfrom is against the law. didn't at the time when nuzzle itthe little one. In reality this is against the law. I didn't know that at the time when I did it myself. myself. How I wish I could take those two mornings back, now. There's absolutely no way to do so, but How I wish I could take those now. There's absolutely no way to do so, but I can advocate for I can advocate for two thesemornings previouslyback, endangered, now threatened

these previously endangered, now threatened animals. With their population finally rising, now is the time to keep them safer than ever so we have a chance to save this intelligent, gentle species. Places that have kayaking available are Crystal River, Weeki Watchee, Cocoa Beach, Sarasota Bay, St. Petersburg and Clearwater's open waters and mangrove tunnels, Daytona Beach, Little Manatee River, Manatee Cove Park on Merrit Island, Estero Bay, Orange River and Lover's Key. Luckily the kayaking experience is becoming a huge hit and more locations are taking advantage of kayaking tours throughout Florida to help preserve such a wonderful, vulnerable, creature. For others people who want to observe manatees, they are

animals. With their population finally rising, now is the time to keep them safer so up we and havepersonal a perfectly content without suchthan quiteever close experience withkayaking these fabulous them, there chance to save this intelligent, gentle species. Places that have availablecreatures. are CrystalFor River, are many other places for them to go see some manatees Weeki Watchee, Cocoa Beach, Sarasota Bay, St. Petersburg and Clearwater's open waters and mangrove up-close-and-personal without harming in anyway. tunnels, Daytona Beach, Little Manatee River, Manatee Cove Park on Merrit Island, Estero them Bay, Orange River and Lover's Key. Luckily the kayaking experience is becoming a huge hit and more locations are One key place everyone thinks ofvulnerable, to go to is Sea taking advantage of kayaking tours throughout Florida to help preserve such a wonderful, World. They have a rehabilitation center and all manatees creature.

Photo is copyright of David Schritche from http://www.savethemanatee.org/places.htm

on view are either regaining strength to return to the wild or simply too injured to ever make it back to the wild again. For a nominal fee they will take groups to the back and show how they take care of the seriously injured manatees. For a much larger fee you can be a Sea World Animal Tech for day and help take care of all the mammals, including the manatees in back. They almost always have a baby manatee that needs bottle feeding. I got a chance to do this for my high school graduation and it helped me decide that I wanted to help Florida wildlife as my job.

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For others people who want to observe manatees, they are perfectly content without such quite close up and personal experience with these fabulous creatures. For them, there are many other places for them to go see some manatees up-close-and-personal without harming them in anyway. One key place everyone thinks of to go to is Sea World. They have a rehabilitation center and all manatees on view are either regaining strength to return to the wild or simply too injured to ever make it back to the wild again. For a nominal fee they will take groups to the back and show how they take care of the seriously injured manatees. For a much larger fee you can be a Sea World Animal Tech for day and help take care of all the mammals, including the manatees in back. They almost always have a baby manatee that needs bottle feeding. I got a chance to do this for my high school graduation and it helped me decide that I wanted to help Florida wildlife as my job. The Parker Manatee Aquarium in the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, FL, almost always has three manatees in its newly enlarged tank. One is permanent resident Snooty. He is 66-years-old now and has been in captivity all his life. Because of this he cannot be released to the wild and is the only manatee that can be interacted with. The other two are juveniles that are rehabilitating from Lowry Park Zoo’s rehab program and they have a continuous cycle of releasing manatees and getting new in to fatten them up and teach them to eat from the bottom of their quarters again. Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL, obviously also has manatees on display, much like Sea World, with rehab facilities behind closed fences and a pool chock full of manatees rehabilitating with nowhere else to go. They, like Sea World and Parker, have times throughout the day when they give informational talks about manatees, teaching the crowds about this vulnerable species. Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park has manatees captive in a natural abode, and they give talks as well. They are also associated with The Save the Manatee Club Adoption Program and have many of their adoptees located there. Epcot has two manatees in a very crowded tank. I’m dismayed seeing their little place to swim, but at least it is a chance to see them in public. On the East coast there is also the Miami Seaquarium. I know little to nothing about the size of their pools, but know they are there for rescues as well. Last but not least is Mote Marine Aquarium. They mostly focus on rehabilitating other types of marine Florida animals but they have Hugh and Buffet, their two manatees on display all the time. They have benches where you can sit and just watch them swim throughout their habitat. Outside of Florida there are two more places in the United States, both in Ohio. I’ve never been there, either, but both The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens house manatees. The United States is not the only place to view manatees in captivity, however. Very recently Europe has begun a breeding program and are displaying and teaching about manatees to residents who would normally know nothing about such sweet creatures. The only bad part is that they are stealing the manatees just south of Florida. The goal is to learn and see manatees, but the idea is to do it safely for you and the blubbery mammal. If you are curious about manatees, do them a favor: view from a distance and enjoy the memories you'll keep for a lifetime.

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The Heritage Interpretation Center for the Advancement of Excellence in Interpretive Planning. A JVA Heritage Interpretation International Company. http://www.heritageinterp.com/the_center_for_interpretive_planning_advancement_.html

If you're looking for professional training in interpretive planning, interpretive planning text books and related interpretive resources, or you just want to hire an expert interpretive planner to come and do your interpretive plan for you - this is the one source to make that happen. We decided to develop our Center for Interpretive Planning Advancement and Excellence to help individuals involved with interpretive planning to sharpen their skills in various aspects of creating interpretive plans for sites, organizations and agencies. We found a lack of colleges or organizations where professional interpreters could find professional courses and training in interpretive planning. Our goal is for this Center to meet and exceed that need. Our Mission 1. To provide a center of excellence where interpretive planners and managers can both contribute to, and expand their own, advancement of interpretive planning theory, techniques and principles. 2. To provide ideas and guidelines for creating interpretive plans that have a focus on the financial aspects of those plans to be actually implemented and put in operation. 3. To provide a gateway for sharing interpretive planning related strategies, new media, new technology and visitor studies research via publication of that material in InterpNEWS, the International Heritage Interpretation eMagazine. 4. To promote visitor studies/research and marketing strategies into interpretive planning documents. 5. To serve as a resource center for interpretive planning text books and other interpretive planning resource documents (many available free of charge).

Let me tell you more about our mission and services via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w6wBrUaFdA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What services does the HIC for Interpretive Planning Advancement and Excellence offer? Our services are divided into three main realms: 1)Training courses in interpretive planning both on-line and on-site and 2) offering our own contract/consulting services in interpretive planning to develop interpretive plans for you, your site or facility. 3) Providing interpretive planning resource text books and related reference materials.

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Heritage Interpretation Training Center

Interpretive Writing Course

Our most popular course with over 154 graduates having taken it thus far, this course focuses on interpretive writing for: * Museum label copy. * Outdoor interpretive panels. * Self-guiding booklets and audio media. * Marketing and advertising pieces. * Interpretive writing for publications and articles. * Developing interpretive news releases * And more... Based on Tilden's Interpretive Principles, this course focuses on truly interpretive writing (Provoke, Relate, Reveal), having a theme, objectives and stated outcomes. As a e-live course all homework is sent to your instructor, with whom you can chat or talk about your assignments. Work on actual writing projects for exhibits, etc. as part of the course. Here is a sample of interpretive writing for a stop on a community historic home walking tour: Stop # 4 - The Jackson Clubs dark secret. In 1842, this was the location of the Jackson Club, a club, for Men Only! This was the place where the elite of Jackson came to do business, visit, and talk about the news of the times. And becoming a member was'nt easy – you had to be somebody important! Mike Sommerville was somebody! Arriving in Jackson in 1843, he quickly developed a reputation as a powerful businessman, and was invited to become a member of the Jackson Club. Mike served two terms as club president, and even helped increase the membership of this Men’s only organization. A proud member for 25 years, it wasn’t until Mike’s death in 1869 that it was discovered – that Mike was really … Michelle – Yep! A Woman! And now you know the Jackson Clubs "dark secret"! Your next stop on the tour is just one block down this street on the right, a large white home, number 321. It looks like an ordinary home, but there’s an extraordinary story buried in the garden. I’ll meet you there with a shovel. Like interpretive writing? Check out the course details at:

http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_writing_course.html John Veverka Director, HITC and Certified Interpretive Trainer Assoc. Editor, The Journal of Interpretation Research jvainterp@aol.com

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Heritage Interpretation Training Center New Professional Development Courses for Heritage Interpreters.

The HITC now offers 32 college level courses for Heritage Interpreters internationally. All of our courses are start anytime and work through the course at your own pace. All courses are e-LIVE meaning all homework is sent to the course coach, which whom you can chat, talk on the phone or via SKYPE anytime you need help. Just cut and paste the link to learn more about each courses content. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all. All courses and be taught "on site" at your location and for larger groups as well. Ask for details. Here are a few of our newest courses: NEW - Interpreting Critical Issues - The interpreters key role in public safety, public relations and as an agent of change in visitors attitudes and reactions to natural or human induced dramatic or dangerous events. Thirteen Units - Tuition $400.00 www.heritageinterp.com/interpreting_critical_issues.html NEW - Advanced Interpretive Writing for Technical Publications, Interpretation Journal Research Articles and for Related Professional Publications. 13 Units, 3 CEU Credits - Tuition: $300.00 www.heritageinterp.com/advanced_interpretive_writing_-_technical_publicat.html NEW - A Curators guide for helping their docents/volunteers create truly interpretive gallery tours for Art and Traditional Museums. Techniques for revealing the hidden stories and meanings in art and artifacts for presenting dynamic and inspirational interpretive tour experiences for your visitors. 12 Units, 2 CEU Credits - Course Tuition: $200.00 www.heritageinterp.com/a_curators_guide_for_developing_gallery_tours.html NEW - Innovative Strategies in Interpretive Media and Services Planning - New Conceptual Tools for Today's Interpretive Planners. Markets on One, Mass Customization, Experiential Planning and the Psychology of Visitor - Interpretive Program Topic/Mode Preferences. If you're not using these in your interpretive media/services planning and development then you're way behind the creativity curve and could be losing new visitors as well. Welcome to the new millennium for interpretive planners where "one size does NOT fit all". Eleven Units, 3 CEU Credits - Course Tuition $350.00www.heritageinterp.com/innovative_strategies_for_interpretive_media_and_s.html

Check out our full interpretive services course catalog here:

http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_training_center_course_catalogue_.html Note: John Veverka is now a Senior Instructor, Kansas State UniversityGlobal Campus (teaching Interpretive Master Planning - on-line.)

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Online Professional Development.

MuseumStudy.com At Museum Study our mission is to help you build a better cultural institution and be a stronger member of the team that carries out the mission of your institution.

To accomplish this we provide online professional development courses on a broad range of topics important for running a cultural institution including; Administration, Exhibits & Public Programming, Facilities Management, Collections Management, and Collection Preservation & Care. Our goal is to help you develop policies, procedures and programs to increase your institutions management and operations success. New interpretive courses for 2016 - 2017. We now offer seven courses on Interpretation that can be taken individually or together to strengthen your interpretive skill set. For more information on these courses click the links below or visit our schedule page to see what other courses are coming in the months ahead. http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-schedule/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Introduction to Heritage Interpretation - Start Date: July 5, 2016 - Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/introduction-to-heritage-interpretation/ Planning and Presenting Live Interpretive Programs - Start Date: September 6, 2016 - Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/planning-and-presenting-live-interpretive-programs/ Interpretive Writing - Start Date: November 7, 2016 - Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/interpretive-writing/ The Interpretive Exhibit Planners Toolbox - Start Date: January 3, 2017 - Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/the-interpretive-exhibit-planners-toolbox/ Evaluating Interpretive Exhibits - Start Date: March 6, 2017 - Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/evaluating-interpretive-exhibits/ Interpretive Planning for Historic Homes and Gardens - Start Date: May 1, 2017 Instructor: John Veverka http://www.museumstudy.com/courses/course-list/interpretive-planning-for-historic-homes-and-gardens/

ď&#x20AC; For more information on our courses visit the course schedule on MuseumStudy.com.

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Interpretive Planning, Training and Design - World-Wide. JVA has been contributing to and helping to advance the interpretive profession for over 40 years. From teaching university courses in interpretation (Michigan State University, Ohio State University and New York State University and the State University of West Georgia - heritage interpretation institutes), and years of field experience doing interpretation, we are growing still. Our services include but are not limited to: - Interpretive Master Planning. - Interpretive Training Courses - Interpretive Exhibit Planning - Interpretive Trail Planning - Scenic Byways Interpretive Planning. - Regional Interpretive Systems Planning - Landscape Museum Planning. - Visitor Research and Marketing Studies. But there's more we do: Publishers of InterpNEWS, the International Heritage Interpretation e-Magazine with over 300,000 readers in 60 Countries. And it's FREE - yes FREE! Check out our back issues at: https://issuu.com/interpnews

Oh yes, then there's the International Heritage Interpretation Training Center and our text books. http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_training_center_course_catalogue_.html

John Veverka & Associates www.heritageinterp.com jvainterp@aol.com