Great Places, Great Debates: Opening Historic Sites to Civic Engagement
April 1-2, 2004 • Center for Architecture • New York, New York

A National Park Service Conference co-hosted by Regional Plan Association
and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Organized in partnership with City Lore, The Gotham Center at CUNY, the
Historic Districts Council, New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, New
York City Historic House Trust, New York Historical Society, New York
State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Preservation New Jersey,
and the Weeksville Society.

***What role can historic sites and landmarks play in the civic life of
our communities?
A movement is growing to establish historic places as our new town halls,
active centers for citizen participation. The American Association of
Museums envisioned the 21st-century museum as “a center where people
gather to meet and converse, a place that celebrates the richness of
individual and collective experience, and a participant in collaborative
problem solving. It is an active, visible player in civic life, a safe
haven, and a trusted incubator of change.”

In 2001, the Northeast Region of the National Park Service challenged
itself to explore “how to make every park a place of citizen
engagement.” “Everywhere,” noted Regional Director Marie Rust, “our parks
can be places where visitors can expect to be helped to use history and
their experience with the natural environment to engage with the present,
and thus to be better citizens. This is a tall order, but we are up to
it.”

Through interpretation, curriculum-based education, and other public
programming historic sites can connect the heritage of the nation to its
contemporary environmental, social, and cultural issues. These
intersections between historical and contemporary issues are at the heart
of civic engagement.

***What concrete strategies can historic sites and landmarks use to meet
this new challenge?
All over the world, historic places – large and small -- are transforming
themselves into venues for civic engagement and public dialogue, expanding
their interpretation to include multiple perspectives, and exploring the
present-day implications of their histories. This conference will present
successful models and provide the opportunity for participants to learn
how their historic site can help individuals and communities address the
issues most central to their lives today.

***Learn through Experience
Innovative models and participatory workshops on:
• How to connect your history to the issues that matter most to your
community
• How to train front line educators to connect the past with your
community’s present
• How to form effective partnerships with community organizations
• How to facilitate effective dialogue with diverse publics, even on
sensitive issues
• How to incorporate multiple perspectives and tell the whole story

***Make Connections
This conference is designed for a diverse audience including owners,
managers, and interpreters of local, state, and federal historic places;
educators and program developers; community groups and civic
organizations; special interest groups and advocates interested in
partnering with historic sites; representatives of communities surrounding
historic sites or residents of historic districts; historic preservation
advocates, scholars of history and memory, professionals, and students.

***Share Your Expertise
We are seeking proposals for presentations that explore the variety of
ways in which historic sites can draw connections between their site’s
history and its contemporary implications. Presentations should provide
specific case studies or examples of techniques for identifying and
addressing current issues at historic sites, ways to develop programs that
inspire citizen participation with little to no budget or staff,
techniques for identifying a community’s needs and engaging communities in
civic dialogue, how to interpret the past from multiple perspectives to
raise contemporary questions, and how to foster effective dialogue among
visitors.

Please send proposals for panels and individual papers (include a 100 word
abstract and a one-page c.v.) by December 31, 2003, to the NPS conference
coordinator: Catherine Turton, National Park Service, Northeast Region,
200 Chestnut Street, 3rd floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (p) 215-597-1726
(f) 215-597-0932 (e) [log in to unmask]

For additional information and on-line registration, please see:
www.rpa.org. Conference information is posted in the “NEWS” section and
will be updated regularly with new information.

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