Table of Contents Executive Summary
5
Part 1: The Promise of History in the National Park Servicee
11
About this Study
12
A Stream of Reports
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Examining the Current State of History within the NPS
15
Making a Case for History, Historians, and Historical Thinking
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Framing the Challenges: A Brief History of History in the NPS
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Interpretation vs. History
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Promises to Keep: Toward an Expansive, Integrated, and Vital Practice of NPS History
25
Part 2: Lamps along the Path: What’s Going Well with History in the National Park Service
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Gaining the High Ground: Reinterpreting Slavery and the Civil War
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Building Effective Civic Ties, Seeing Beyond “Resources,” and Using Technology to Support Creative Distance Learning: Manzanar National Historic Site 35 Negotiating Civic Engagement and Civic Heritage: African Burial Ground National Monument and the President’s House, Independence National Historical Park
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Sharing Authority: The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit and the Tent of Many Voices
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Forging Interdisciplinary Partnerships: Cape Cod National Seashore and the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
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Harnessing the Power of Local History: San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
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Confronting a Park’s Own History: Shenandoah National Park
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Mobilizing Public Conversations about History through New Media: NPS and Social Networking
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Building Learning Links: Place-Based Approaches to the American Revolution in the K-12 Classroom
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Transporting Visitors to the Open-Ended Past: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and Antietam National Battlefield
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Collaborating with Historians in Colleges and Universities: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Rhode Island School of Design
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Bridging the Gap between Nature and Culture: Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
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Fostering, Producing, and Disseminating Historical Research
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Engaging Professional Associations: The OAH-NPS Partnership
50