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1.6 Incorporate a research needs statement into all long-range interpretive plans for historical areas and have scholars with subject matter expertise review park interpretive themes as stated in these plans. 1.7 Encourage and facilitate peer and public review of NPS history products—exhibits, interpretive materials, research studies, etc.—by capable historians inside and outside the agency, before and after distribution. Work closely with the Organization of American Historians (OAH) to enhance and extend the usefulness of the OAHsponsored peer review that is already conducted of OAH-sponsored studies. 1.8 Create more opportunities for professional crossover and direct interaction between cultural resources divisions’ historians and staff in the interpretation divisions at all levels, from WASO to the parks, through both formal collaboration on planning processes and informal conversation. 1.9 Define any Cultural Resources Challenge broadly enough to articulate and fund roles for historians and the history program in both resource management and interpretation. 1.10 Create a low-cost ($6,000–$15,000) scoping study to assess historical research needs and priorities beyond and outside of general management planning, National Register documentation, or Section 106/110 compliance imperatives, as a means to ensure that contracted research addresses pressing questions and not simply completing requirements.
Finding 2: The Importance of Leadership for History Without visionary, visible, and respected leadership at the top, and managers throughout the agency who understand, value, and systematically advocate for and nurture the professional practice of history, a number of consequences ensue: resources are directed away from historical work, and fragmentation, demoralization, and isolation become endemic across the agency. Stronger leadership for history at the national, regional, and local levels is imperative to encourage and capitalize on notable successes. As we spoke to NPS professionals, one of the most vivid metaphors that we heard described the agency as having the “best ships in the worst navy.” An urgent need exists for visible, and well-supported leadership that articulates an inspiring and wide-ranging vision for NPS history, encourages new directions, highlights and enables quality scholarship and innovation, and fosters interconnection and community among history and interpretive professionals throughout the agency and with historians outside NPS. Fashioning and pursuing an inspiring and comprehensive vision for NPS history could start with the chief historian’s office. And indeed, although located within the cultural resources division at WASO, the chief historian’s current position description includes language that suggests a broad mandate to “serve as spokesperson, advocate, and planner of the overall NPS history program,” and to “[establish, monitor, and evaluate] Service-wide programs, professional standards, guidelines, and procedures as they relate to the management and interpretation of historical sites and resources.”22 Yet while the current position description envisions a chief historian’s office rounded out by “approximately five professional historians and one clerical employee,” the reality is much leaner: two permanent professional historians, one term historian, and no clerical support.23 Thus at present, the WASO history office’s capacity to lead and inspire is severely limited. Our survey asked respondents, in an open-ended question, to tell us where they look for 22 Position Description, Chief Historian, National Park Service, October 20, 1999, provided by Robert K. Sutton. 23 Position Description; Robert K. Sutton to Anne Whisnant, email, October 21, 2011.