What are your plans after the 150s?

[huntdaw]

I do this stuff for a living - all sorts of historical interpretation. I teach it to other interpreters as well. Hank is one of the best out there and I would certainly like to have him on my interpretive staff.

I would certainly take exception to being classified as one of the 'dregs' because I use first person interpretation. I would also say that the definition 'living history' doesn't mean that it must always be for the public. If if educates the participants it is doing the same as educating the public. First person can be very effective when done correctly. I have had people tell me they have learned a lot from a presentation and thought about things that they had never realized before. That's the whole point isn't it? I agree that when it is not done well it is a poor excuse for interpretation. It is at its best when the interpreter is well prepared and when the public knows what to expect. It can be bad if someone just starts prattling on without letting people in on what's going on. Time, place and setting make the difference but to just dismiss it completely because you take umbrage that people use it in your imagined settings is really missing the boat.

In short, there are lots of ways to interpret to people and people learn differently. If you don't get it, then perhaps first person is not for you. If the audience does not get it, the interpreter is wasting his time trying to continue in first person and needs to shift gears. But for many people who do get it, it is very enjoyable for them as a visitor to interact with a knowledgeable interpreter that can carry on a conversation and draw you into it and make you part of the time period being interpreted.

I think I'm pretty good at it myself and have used it many times and have seen the light bulb go on with people who grasp what you are doing. I have also done third person and a combination of the two - whatever is needed to educate. If you just decide that first person is useless and shouldn't be done, then you're wrong.

I do not wander around battlefields in period clothing - personally I think that is silly but others like to do it. They may also think I'm silly for doing first person so each to his own. I will say this - there are a lot of people in the hobby that try to do first person and they have no idea what they are doing. And, it shows. Perhaps those are the people Mr. Simon may be referring to come across. If so, I would agree that they are doing much more harm than good. But there are some excellent people out there doing first person and it is incredibly effective with visitors and I guarantee that if done correctly, the overwhelming majority of people that see it - even off the cuff - will quickly realize what is going on. It does work and should not be dismissed lightly and thrown on the trash heap.

[KarinTimour]

Passionate, yes. Upset? Hardly. I guess the difference is something many folks don't understand anymore.

You speak of Appomattox... now there is a place that is designed to be immersive, so introducting a first-person interpreter isn't really needed. At Williamsburg maybe the same,\?I don't know. But what about at Gettysburg? Hard to be first person when you've got modern traffic whizzing along the Emmittsburg Road, tour buses rumbling along park roads, etc.

I have read both Tillman and Roth and others. Tillman seems to have written the NPS bible on interpretation, but as he himself would point out, nobody can trully define interpretation except for the interpreter. Roth seems to advocate an over-the-top exhuberance that I think has become rather passe. The sequence of pictures of the colonla chap with the different expressions in her book are examples of what too many first-person persentations degenerate into. Ah, the public. They expect to be either entertained or moved or both.

And maybe that's my problem with this whole thing. Is living history "acting" or is it "teaching"? Tillman would definately say interpretation is storytelling, but is this costumed acting really the best method? I've seen some fine interpretors do both. Some fail and the crowd drifts away in boredom. Other's succeed. I've seen more third-person succeed than first, so perhaps I'm biased.

In regard to Appomattox, the Union soldier you may have seen there doing first person years ago was probably Patrick Schroeder. He was a seasonal at the time, now is the park's chief historian. A better first or third person persentation you'll rarely see.

Dear Mr. Simons:

Thank you for writing back, it's good to know you weren't upset.

I do owe you and the readership an apology for mis-remembering Freeman Tilden's name (thanks, Hank, for the correction).

With regard to your comments about context for first-person interpretation, the two of us have different requirements -- as a civilian, I found that I rarely have a pristine enviornment for reenacting. My opportunties to reeanct right now are few and far between, so I'm big on enjoying every second I've got, no matter what the enviornment. I've heard others talk about how distracting they've found the traffic, paved roads, etc. Paved road? Large silver tanker truck dispensing water? paved parking lot in the middle of my available space? A challenge, yes -- insurmountable? Nope. But that's just me -- and I'm fascinated with differences. I welcome your perspective, as your post has sparked off lots of great interactions, and reminded me of many wonderful experiences.

I'm tickled that you highlighted Gettysburg as being an envionment with few opportunties for first person interpretation. As a civilian, I'm looking for opportunities to "be the ordinary woman" who makes the buildings "come alive." Gettysburg is not only the battlefield with which I"m most familiar, it is dotted with lots of extant civilian buildings, has oodles of documented civilian interactions during and after the battle, and the original ground (if not the actual park) encompasses an entire town. If you include the site of Camp Letterman, the many civilian homes and barns used as field hospitals, and the approaches/retreat routes, much of Adams County holds opportunities for first person interpretation.

With regard to Mr. Schroeder, it sounds as though he HAS impressed you with his first person interpretation. I always enjoy hearing about "the difference which makes a difference" -- it would be fascinating to hear what makes his first person interpretation so effective -- and how it's different from what sounds like a vast experience of mediocrity.

He might well have been the first person interpreter we saw so many years ago. Next time you see him, please pass along my thanks. What I remember of the interaction was not the dynamic "perky over acting" first person so many of us have seen and described. It was much more what Hank is so good at portraying. An ordinary person, doing ordinary things -- like they just stepped through an imaginary "door in time" and ended up talking to you.

The simplest things, done well, can carry a huge impact.

Enjoying the discourse,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com