I am a tremendous supporter of first person interpretation, but it is
just a tool.  There are a number of areas where first person interpretation
can be more of a hindrance than an aid.  I do believe there are fewer than
many other people think, but they are still there.  All forms of
interpretation have their various strengths and weaknesses.  I do believe
that the strongest method is to vary your methods of interpretation, just as
a good teacher varies educational techniques.

     Your point about the first principle is interesting to me as  I just
recently presented a paper on re-applying Tilden to first person
interpretation (For the ALHFAM Annual conference in Des Moines).  I believe
that the first principle in fact is a good part of the natural draw of first
person.  Now I have never interpreted in first person a far back as you are.
The furthest back I have interpreted in first person was Elizabethan, and of
course the world was already a far more modern place than your period.

     Even so, I still believe that there is relevance to modern American
even with your programs.  There has to be.  That is why I think the first
principle is actually one of the easiest for first person.  Let me borrow a
concept from the National Park Service and from the NAI.  I do not belong to
either of these organizations, but I have been reading some of their
materials lately.

    They suggest that you look for "Universal Concepts".  Those needs and
desires that never change.   A first person interpreter should not be simply
a third person interpreter in the present tense.  You are a person, living
in the past.  Sure as an interpreter you are very likely to be interpreting
some process, or some artifact.  Of course your "character" is not likely to
be doing that at all.  With that in mind, remember Principle V.  You are
interpreting the whole.  Why are you doing what you are doing?  I don't mean
something like "I am finger braiding this yarn to make trim for a gown.   I
mean "I am braiding this trim for a gown that might daughter well wear this
twelve night.  I hope we find a wife for  her.  Winter's coming and with her
father dead I have no idea how I will make things meet otherwise".

    This is what I mean by Universal Concept. There are a few Universal
concepts in that example. There is Death, there is longing to protect loved
ones, and concern for an unknown future.  These are universal concepts.
Things that all people, in all times, and places can understand.  The
details that cause your concerns, this is where you place your social and
material differences.  It also makes your interpretation more immediate, and
anchors it in  it's period.

     In the above scenario the women is finger braiding.  She is showing and
interpreting that process, but a first person interpreter is also portraying
a person.  If they aren't than don't bother with first person.  In the above
scenario you have met Tilden's principles.  If you do it well, and alter it
for children you meet them all!  Of course I know very little about your
program, or your period for that matter.  I am sure that my scenario is
rough or historically inaccurate.  All I mean to show, is that by tying your
interpretation to your character and their life, and to these Universal
Concepts, that you can find relevance.

    Is this the answer, maybe, maybe not.  Are sites and styles are all
different.  Even what we describe as first person interpretation varies from
site to site.  Lie you I do believe that no one should become to locked into
just one technique or style.

Ron Carnegie
Chair of First Person Interpreters Professional Network
ALHFAM


  And building on what Annmarie wrote below, I too have done living history
interpretation from a number of eras.  The toughest nut to crack for me has
been trying to help modern Americans understand the material and social
cultures of late 14th-century English people.  It's extremely hard to stay
in a first-person narrative with something that is so far removed without
drawing parallels to things that modern Americans are familiar with.

  We've sometimes done a mix of first- and third-person narration, welcoming
them onto the site and talking in one area as our first-person selves
(especially about basic stuff like food) and then having a "museum tent" in
the third person to address the more complex things (the ubiquity of the
church, the complex strata of society after the Black Death, etc.).  I find
it easier to connect modern Americans with something that is *so far*
removed from their experience when we can talk in the third person about the
parallels that do exist.  First-person works best, in my experience, when
the differences aren't so great.

  In short, perhaps it can be easily said that there are instances where
first-person narrative gets in the way of fulfilling Tilden's first
principle: "Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being
displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of
the visitor will be sterile."  If that can't be done using first-person
techniques due to distance or complexity as I mentioned or some other
reason, then third-person interpretation might be in order.  The point, I'd
say, is to be effective rather than to lock oneself into a single form of
presentation.

  Either way, it's a fun challenge, but I'm always interested to hear "best
practices" when it comes to interpretation--whether based on Tilden's
seminal work or on "home grown" solutions.

  Peace,

  --Eric

  Eric D. M. Johnson
  Proprietor
  The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting
  http://www.factsmith.com/
  [log in to unmask]

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Annmarie Zan
    To: [log in to unmask]
    Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 2:37 PM
    Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Interpretation or Not?


    I work for a historical museum and we do first person interpretation but
there are still hard facts that are neccessary to get out. I feel we short
change our audience by just let them see, smell, touch, etc the buck skin
but not share the wonderful thought of how this buckskin became soft by
brain tanning and the inginuity of the Natives that created this tool just
because it would be telling people facts and not interpreting. Just my 2
cents
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