I am posting this "request for help" to several lists (Anthro-l, Museum-l, Histarch, Heritage, and Publhist), and apologize in advance for duplications. This is a fairly long post, so I will try to get to the crux of the message quickly, and those of you who are interested can read the background info! My question is --- do you know of any plantation (or other) sites which substantively involve the descendants of the people who lived on the site in planning the public interpretation of the site? By "descendants", I mean both African-American and European-American descendants, especially in the case of plantation sites. By "involve" I mean positions on non-profit Boards, advisory committees, etc. Other than Dorothy Redford's work at Somerset Place (which I know and admire) I don't know of any other plantation site which attempts to involve the *descendants* of the original residents in an active way. Can anyone give me some examples? I would, after receiving leads from you, query the sites which have experience in this area and report back to the list with the results, so e-mail or snail-mail addresses would be helpful. If all you have is a site name and location that's OK too. I do know of several sites which offer "inclusive" interpretations (Williamsburg, Stagville Center, etc.) but not of any which include the descendants in the planning and execution of those interpretations. However, I'm always searching for more examples of "inclusive" interpretations, so feel free to send those too if you know of some. My e-mail address follows so that you can respond to me directly. You may recall that some months ago there was a post to museum-l on a similar topic, and the person who gathered information then has expressed a willingness to share some of her data with me, which should be interesting. However, our situation is bit different from the what I've perceived to be the usual "community participation" kind of scenario, at least it seems to me that it is. Hence this posting. *Here is the background for those interested*: I am writing a master's thesis (Anthropology, University of Houston) on the feasibility of doing a public interpretation of the archaeology of the Levi Jordan Plantation in Brazoria, TX. This interpretation could take any or all of several forms --- archaeological museum, ongoing site tours, educational programming with local schools, living history museum, etc. The archaeology is primarily concerned with the part of the site which housed the slave and tenant cabins and has been underway for the past 9 years under the direction of Dr. Ken Brown at UH. Those of you already familiar with the project know that the archaeology itself is remarkable in the *huge* the amount of information it has yielded on the everyday lives of 19th-century African-American slaves and tenant farmers. Some of the artifacts are now on tour with the "Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South" exhibition mounted by the Smithsonian. Many people -- local and otherwise -- have expressed an interest in seeing a permanent exhibition (with related programming) on the site when excavations are complete. My ethnographic research has revealed that many descendants of the plantation's residents still live in the area surrounding the plantation site. In many cases, the social and political relationships that existed in the 19th century still exist today --- the area is rural, racially segregated, etc. The present owners of the plantation are direct descendants of the original owner, and many descendants of the African-Americans who moved away from the plantation in the 19th century still live within 5 miles of the plantation. Although the owners are committed to an interpretation which would focus on the history of the African-Americans whose labor made the plantation one of the largest in the state, they also feel that no public interpretation can, or should, take place without the active involvement of the descendants of these African-Americans. There seems to be some tentative support in the community for the project, and I'm now looking for examples of similar work to share with the people I'm working with. As you can see, my research is both "applied" and "basic" --- I am taking a proactive approach, in terms of community involvement and education, but I am also using traditional ethnographic methods to try to understand how people view themselves, the history of their community, and their place in that history. Thanks in advance for your help, and for your patience in reading this long posting. Carol McDavid [log in to unmask]