Tilden, Freeman 1883 to 1980 National Park Service: Biography (Freeman Tilden) Page 1 of 2 National Park Service: The First 75 Years Biographical Vignettes Freeman Tilden 1883-1980 by George Robinson Born in Malden. Massachusetts. Freeman Tilden first began writing as a book reviewer for his father's newspaper. Later, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in Boston, New York, and Charleston. As a novelist and playwright. he traveled around the world. In the early 1940s. Freeman "tired" of writing fiction. and with the encouragement of Director Newton B. Drury, began to write about the national parks. The National Parks: What They Mean to You and Me was published in 1951. Publisher Alfred Knopf called it ". the best book ever written" on the parks. Other works included, The State Parks, Following the Frontier, and The Fifth Essence. At the age of 96, Freeman died on May 13. 1980. All of us have heroes - people who, through their words or actions, have enriched our lives: people whom we strive to emulate. To countless National Park Service interpreters. Freeman was such a person. To many. he was a fatherlike friend and confidant; to all, he http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/sontag/tilden.htm 1/2/2003 National Park Service: Biography (Freeman Tilden) Page 2 of 2 was advisor and mentor. With the publication. in 1957. of Interpreting Our Heritage, he gave form and substance to the profession of interpretation. In that slim volume, he articulated six timeless principles that have guided and sustained the practitioners of the art for more than three decades. In publishing jargon, Freeman's "numbers" are good. They reveal the extent of his influence - third edition. twelfth printing. 62,500 copies in print! In one of Tilden's works, speaking about the national parks, he said: "The early Greek philosophers looked at the world about them and decided that there were four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. But as they grew a little wiser, they perceived that there must be something else. These tangible elements did not comprise a principle; they merely revealed that somewhere else, if they could not find it, there was a soul of things - a Fifth Essence, pure, eternal, and inclusive. With the dedication and love of a "happy amateur." Freeman has enabled generations of interpreters to add the dimensions of provocation. meaning, and relevance to the experience of millions of park visitors. Through the art that he defined, he has helped them to discover the "Fifth Essence." Freeman Tilden is the "soul" of interpretation. From National Park Service: The First 75 Years Top History Links to the Past I National Park Service I Search Contact Last Modified: Dec 1 2000 10:00:00 pm PDT http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/sontag/tilden.htm ParkNet National Park Service http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/sontag/tilden.htm 1/2/2003 Walt; Returnto me F Titlet. Freeman Tilden. ROAD TO YESTERDAY The Rockefeller Carriage-Roads in Acadia National Park Of the more than fifty miles of carriage-roads built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and now lying within the boundaries of Acadia National Park, the first statement that may be made is that they are unique in this country and probably in the world. They tra- verse some of the finest sylvan scenery to be found in our national park system. No visitor to Acadia who has not beenson some part of these roads, whether afoot, by bicycle or by some other means, can have any conception of the rare beauty that lies away from the heavily traveled automobile highways of the island. In a country where we have destroyed so much of our natural beauty; where we have abruptly become so much alarmed at the pollution of air and water; where the expression "s sick country" has been used with a high degree of justification--these roads, so magnificently planned and engineered, are both an anachronism and a challenge. An anachronism because it is nearly inconceivable that this road system would ever be used again to its full extent for the orig- inal purpose--that is, for horse-and-carriage leisurely enjoyment of scenic loveliness. A challenge, to find ways and means to put them to public use in permissible forms that are consonant with the basic purpose of Mr. Rockefeller- a haven of serenity and quietude for jaded and driven and technologically baffled human beings. It is obvious that they can never be used by mechanized vehicles. Both the purpose of the roads and the very roads themselves would be annihilated. This little paper is intended to invite and promote a defin- itive study of the possible high cultural use and enjoyment of the carriage-roads. I feel that we are here losing a grand opportunity for the realization of environmental understanding. True, there is some use of the roads now--by hikers, by bicycles, by horseback riders and possibly a few cross-country ski and snowshoe adventurers in snow-time. But they are really little used, and their existence is hardly known by visitors to the park. On the contrary, as we sadly find, our well-meant adver- tising of the fine Anemone Cave, with its delicate intertidal life, has brought people to that place in such numbers that it is being destroyed. I may say that it is entirely understandable to me that over the years the use of the carriage roads has been a problem to be dodged--fubbed off as something without solution. Who is going to drive a carriage and pair of horses fifty-two miles in these days? Where do you get the horses? Who builds carriages now? Where is the possible concessioner for such a venture? 2 The answer to this last question is: "powhere"--if you are compelled to think in terms of fifty-two miles. But are you so obliged? If you think in terms of ten five-mile stretches of road, or break down the distance in SOME similar manner, the case becomes entirely different. One cannot believe that Mr. Rockefeller and his friends were accustomed to go out on a fifty-mile drive. Naturally we are curious to know something of the history of the creation of this unique carriage-road system, some of which is not within the park boundaries, but on land still owned by the Rockefeller family. No doubt the archivist of the Rockefeller family has in store much that would be interesting, though not to the present purpose. Locally, and even in the little park library, it is hard to come by any information. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was not a man who courted publicity. It is well-remembered on Mount Desert that the work afforded the local people, by the building of the roads, helped to carry them through some bitterly hard years. During my cruising of the carriage roads recently I met at least two laborers working with park trucks who, as young men, had been employed by Mr. Rockefeller in the construction. It was pleasing to hear them talk about the roads. Their roads, as their words and manner charmingly suggested. "Too bad more people don't know about them, said one. 3 According to George B. Dorr, one of those island residents whose efforts resulted in the creation of the park, the coming of the automobile to the mainland--to the very door of the island--was the primary cause of the building of these Rockefeller carriage- roads. The wealthy summer residents had their stables of horses; and to serve those other vacationers of lesser income, a consid- erable livery business had grown up among the natives. They saw the hated mechanical "contraptions" coming nearer their island sanctuary, and fight it as they could, the invesion was inevitable. By 1915 the monsters "were all over the town highways." "At this juncture," says Dorr, in his Acadia National Park--Its Growth and Development, "Mr. John D. Rocksfeller, a summer resi- dent at Seal Harbor, conceived the idea of constructing, for his own and his neighbors' use, a system of horse roads over his land, where they could safely ride and drive as they had done upon the public roads before." One more word: Someone, in speaking of the carriage-roads, used the word "spectacular." It seems to me that "spectacular" is just what that scenery is not. It is soothing: it is positively medic- inal; it provides a tranquility of spirit that is tragically vanishing from America--perhaps from the world. It is Yesterday--We must try to bring something of that unhurried Yesterday back to us. Freeman Tilden 4 8/10/2020 Xfinity Connect RE Yard Tilden Printout RONALD EPP 8/10/2020 4:37 PM RE: R.S. Yard & F. Tilden To steve@gsmassoc.org Steve, Glad you mentioned Freeman Tilden, one of my favorites as well. I four pulled my file and found three things which may interest you: 1. A 10/24/1974 letter on Rockefeller stationary from George D. Taylor to Laurance Rockefeller stating that he had talked with H. Albright about Tilden's ms. Taylor thinks the ms. is out of date and duplicative of Fosdick. Laurance concurs. (RAC. OMR. III.2. Z. Box 60. folder 520 for both 1. & 2.) 2. A lengthy Albright letter of 8/6/54 asking Laurance what he thinks of the Tilden ms. that Albright and the publisheer (Knopf) think that some chapters "need considerable revision and that the Acadia chapter is too involved." 3. Essay "Road to Yesterday" by Tilden, a 4-page typescript at ANP Archives on "The Rockefeller carriage-roads in ANP," an essay "intended to invite and promote a definitive study of the possible high cultural use and enjoyment of the carriage-roads." Bemoans lack of information for "even the little park library" has not much to offer. References GBD in print and a paragraph that reads like he had a conversation with Dorr about this matter BUT since the essay is undated, I am at a loss. 4. Partial typescript of "Friend of our National Heritage," from RAC. OMR.III.2.Z. B. 60, f. 518. I had copied only those chapters--and pages- - that I found germane to my interests, namely the relationship between Dorr & JDRJr., roughly 60 pages of this ms. I do have a table of contents identifying by name the 21 chapters in the two parts amounting to 251 pages which back then would have cost me $62.75 to have copied. I do see that I have underscored many telling paragraphs on how the two differ in their "approach to the management of their private affairs." I disagree with Tilden's assessment that Dorr was "as unprecise in his personal management as a Bohemian of the art colony," Tilden also recounts local lore without attribution favoring at https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054552/print.html?print_159709190005 1/3 8/10/2020 Xfinity Connect RE Tilden Printout times --like Ken Burns--the telling of a "good story" at the expense of the demonstrable facts. But Tilden is insightful and I appreciate his style and energy but ultimately I left much of what he says out of the Dorr biography because I could not get a grip on his methodology--that is his means of secruring the evidence for his claims--be they first hand (when and where?), oral, hearsay, written, or published. Frankly, I could not determine whether Tilden ever met GBD or JDRJr. When he quotes extensively landscape architect Thomas Vint, I revel in what I learn--yet Tilden does not document the quote as is far too often the case. Could he have had that documentation in a series of endnotes that were separated from the ms., I cannot say. Regardless, this is essential reading for you! Ron Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 7 Peachtree Terrace Farmington, CT 06032 603-491-1760 eppster2@comcast.net On 08/10/2020 12:04 PM steve@gsmassoc.org wrote: Thanks Ron. I am a big fan of Yard, whom, like us, used words to celebrate and promote the parks we love. I am also a fan of Freeman Tilden, the father of interpretation in parks, who took an interest in Acadia and Rockefeller. I know the RAC has an unpublished ms of his that I hope to get my hands on in the not too distant future. Original Message Subject: R.S. Yard From: RONALD EPP < eppster2@comcast.net> Date: Mon, August 10, 2020 11:16 am To: steve@gsmassoc.org Steve, Do you recall reading about Robert Sterling Yard in my book (pp. 205-206)? https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054552/print.html?print_1597091900051 2/3 8/10/2020 Xfinity Connect RE RS Yard F Tilden Printout I have just finished reading a most important work of his that escaped my scrutiny earlier. Our Federal Lands: A Romance of American Development (1928) is a largely unrecognized classic in which there is but one JDRJr. reference in the Index, but worth sending off to you. "To purchase the lands for Great Smoky National Park (sic), ten million dollars are now provided, made up of local private subscriptions plus legislative appropriations by the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, balanced by a Rockefeller gift of equal size. Saving for posterity so large an area untouched of the finest original forest of the east is one of the greatest achievements of the National Park System or of the age we live in.' " (emphasis mine, pg. 258). Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 7 Peachtree Terrace Farmington, CT 06032 603-491-1760 eppster2@comcast.net On 08/09/2020 11:39 AM steve@gsmassoc.org wrote: Howdy Ron, I don't suppose you would know if the Rockefellers attended the August 22, 1916 celebration of attaining national monument status at the Building of the Arts in Bar Harbor? It seems like something Junior would avoid, but I think they would have been "on island" at that time. Might the historic society had a guest book? https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054552/print.html?print_159709190005 3/3 Natural History Interpretation -- Thoughts on Tilden's Principles Page 1 of 4 INTRODUCTION TO INTERPRETATION Tilden's Principles from Interpreting Our Heritage by Freeman Tilden Interpretation Introduction by Marcy Seavey Thematic Interpretation by Lori Sindelar Nonformal & Formal Education by Marcy Seavey Tilden's Principles Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or discribed to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile. Information. as such. is not Interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information. But they are entirely different things. However, all interpretation includes information. Interpretation is an art. which combines many arts. whether the materials presented are scientific, historical, or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable. The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction. but provocation. Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part. and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase. Interpretation addressed to children (say, up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it will require a separate program. Interpretation Introduction Tilden introduced interpretation as a field and gave it early form. His six principles are a starting point for developing a personal or institutional theory of interpretation. Sam Ham and others have added and molded the ideas Tilden introduced giving rise to the profession as it stands today. Interpreters are found around the world and serve a similar role whether working as park educator in a metropolitan area or naturalist for a rural community. if the language being spoken is English. French or Portuguese. The interpreter translates the languages of science. history and the natural world into the language of humanity. "Making the strange familiar and the framiliar strange" and giving citizens the power to make informed decisions about environmental and economic issues. This is a daunting task and a heavy responsibility. It is important that the interpreter be informative while allowing the receiver of his or her information to decide "what's important" and "what to do about it". The Interpreter is a scientist and a nonformal teacher and thus the wearer of two hats. If interpretation is also an art, as Tilden states. then the interpreter is an artist as well. with a style of his or her own. Just as one artist's style may be modern. the next classic; One interpreter may be comfortable only while in character as a ladybird beetle while another may prefer teaching through storytelling and a third may feel at home giving guided tours explaining the relationships of organisms in a saltwater marsh. Although the final products of each interpreter may be very different the tools used are the same. This website shows some methods and ideas in interpretation from various sources including Parks Canada and Cleveland Metro. Parks Naturalists. At the University of Northern Iowa our style is a thematic one, our tools are a solid background in biology and the sciences. much and varied experience interpreting and a commitment to excellence in our field. The remainder of this page will be dedicated to UNI Interpretation student thoughts and ideas about interpretation as a profession. --Marcy M. Seavey (NHI Graduate, 1995) http://www.uni.edu/~ninhi/tilden.html 1/2/2003 Natural History Interpretation Thoughts on Tilden's Principles Page 2 of 4 Thematic Interpretation Thematic interpretation is when information presented is all related to a key idea and gives a central message. This type of presentation is easier to follow and people find it more meaningful than non-thematic presentations. A theme is not the same as a topic. A topic is just a subject matter for a presentation, whereas a theme is a specific message an interpreter wants to communicate to the audience. Sam Ham has three easy steps for writing theme statements 1. Describe the topic in general terms. 2. State it in more specific terms. 3. The theme is then written in the form of complete sentences. With a theme information is easy to organize. you know what you want your audience to leave with, so you present the information that allows them to understand your theme. The thematic interpretation formula is 7+2 main ideas. That should be all the information needed to convey the theme. In most situations 5-9 ideas are all that can be absorbed at one time. It is also important to state the theme in the beginning with a "WOW" statement and end with the theme stated in the conclusion. Thematic interpretation is an important skill for interpreters because thematic presentations are easier for people to understand and more interesting than presentations on topics. Nonformal and Formal Education Think back to a time when you were in a classroom sitting in a desk. A teacher presents information from the front of the room. A pen or pencil is in your hand you copy down every word the teacher chalks on the board or inks on the overhead. Twenty-seven other students sit in desks just like yours. One raises her hand and asks "Is this going to be on the test?" You sit a bit straighter when the teacher answers "yes". Then the bell rings and the students shuffle out of the room. You pack up your notebook and writing utensil and follow. Tomorrow you will be back sitting in the desk listening to the teacher in the front of the room. Now imagine yourself on a prairie. It is late August SO the grass is honey yellow and almost as tall as you are. You are wearing a baseball cap to keep the wind from tossing your hair about as it is doing to the grasses. Fifteen people came into the prairie with you. but two lagged a bit behind the rest don't worry. they'll catch up. A man in a yellow suit is leading this voyage. He stops at the bottom of a small hill. The wind doesn't really reach this side so you can hear his words. At first he just chats a bit about the walk and the weather. then as the two stragglers join the group he begins a story. It's the story of this land you stand on. Once it was part of a vast `sca of grasses then it was a pasture and a field of corn and 6 years ago it was seeded back into prairie. He explains the management practices that will bring this reconstruction to some assemblage of its former grandeur. In doing so he explains his yellow suit is a material called nomex which is worn for protection when the prairie is burned. He has other items for you to examine what looks like a car mud flap on a mop handle (a flapper). a pump connected to a metal back pack that holds 5 gallons of water, a gasoline drip torch, and a portable radio. He introduces you to some of the more abundant plant species (and also one snake species that happens to slither by near the end of his talk). When he is done speaking, he answers questions. Some of the other participants wander off studying the mostly flowers that are out this time of the year. A boy who came http://www.uni.edu/~ninhi/tilden.html 1/2/2003 Natural History Interpretation -- Thoughts on Tilden's Principles Page 3 of 4 with his father and sister is teasing the sister with the water pump while the father grills your presenter with questions about the different between reconstruction and restoration. You close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to help burn this prairie. To hold the drip torch in your hand. hot gasoline flames falling from its mouth, landing onto dry partially matted spring grasses the smoke A person behind you with the flapper, making sure the flames go only where you want them to. You decide you'd feel proud at having helped to restore this small piece of land by burning out non-native species and woody invaders. You interrupt the father to ask your guide for more information about helping with next spring's burn. After a while everyone comes together as a group again. The speaker leads the group back to the parking lot. There will be no test on what you learned today and you do not have to come back tomorrow at 8:00am. As you drive off. you do know that come spring, you will be back. You have just read the differences between formal and non-formal education. Formal education nearly always takes place in a classroom (laboratory, lecture hall or some other room with four walls). Classrooms generally have many of the same features: desks, bulletin boards, chalk or white boards, overheads and pull down screens, few windows and doors, aisles/columns/rows. The students come for 50 minutes (or 45 or 60 or 75) a day on five (or three or two) days a week for 16 (or 12 or 10 or 32) weeks in a row (except on holidays or when they are sick or pretending to be sick). The same students share the same class each day (unless someone is sick or pretending to be sick). The teacher lectures from the front of the class for most of the class time (although he or she may give the students time to work in class or to work in small groups). The students do very little of the talking. When a student has an answer he or she raises a hand and is 'called on' to speak. Raising a hand also works for questions and comments (it really does! Try it some time, teachers love questions and comments, it means they don't have to do as much of the talking). The students take notes (they expect to have to take notes) and the teacher makes a point of which items are most important to take notes on (the items that will be on the test). And there WILL be a test (for which all `good' students will review their notes). The benefit of this system is that both the teacher and the student know what to expect from each other. The student expects the teacher to tell the class what is important and then quiz the class on how well they took in that information. The teacher expects the students to listen and study the material to do well on the test. Each student is exposed to the same information, so at least on this grounds the classroom is fair (I'm not going to go into the special needs of each individual student). The four walls of the classroom create a stable environment, one without distraction. Non-formal education is something completely different (or is it)?. The non-formal classroom can be a classroom. a museum. a forest. a beach. the steps in front of a library, a prairie, even a parking lot. Non-formal education can and does happen almost everywhere. That does not mean that where it happens is not important. it is! The non-formal teacher (from here on out I will call this person the interpreter) chooses the location best suited to the topic and theme of the presentation. I wouldn't take my group to the steps of a library to teach about marsh birds if I had a marsh full of birds available to me. This can be a bit scary. because you never know for sure what might happen outside the four wall classroom (Once during a camp out I woke up at 5am to the sound of a camper asking in a shaky voice "wwwhhhhat isss thhat?" It was an adult turkey vulture perched on an oak limb not 10 ft above us). The `good' interpreter can take those surprises and make them part of the presentation (We presented a play for the parent's ceremony untitled "Vulture Adventures"). So location is one way formal and non-formal education differ. Very rarely do the participants in a non-formal education experience sit in desks, look at overheads. or take notes (unless they are freaks like me, I can take notes off my morning cereal box and be happy about it). Very few participants in non- formal education consider themselves students at all. Students take tests, turn in assignments, and receive grades/diplomas. Participants in museum tours. community historical field trips, and Earth Day festivals have none of these expectations. If you ask them why they attend non-formal presentations the answer is usually: "Because I wanted to." "It sounded interesting." "I thought it would be fun." These participants expect to be given information in a way that is interesting to them. In return, they will continue to participate. If the presentation becomes boring these learners have the option to walk away. This means they are not a captive audience (classroom students are). To keep his or her students the interpreter must make a connection between them and whatever is being taught in a way that will stick with the participant despite the absence of any test incentive. At least part of most non-formal presentations include some lecture time (interpreters generally call this a `talk' but that is semantics). The majority of time in non-formal learning is spent on participation. This can be through walks, participatory demonstrations. activities. discussion, games. experiments. etc. This type of hands-on learning can and often does happen in traditional classroom settings but it is a defining characteristic of the non-formal. Not all participants in a non-formal presentation always get the same information. Sometimes the participant chooses (perhaps there are 25 stations at an Earth Day celebration but only time to visit ten). Sometimes an event that happens during the http://www.uni.edu/~ninhi/tilden.html 1/2/2003 Natural History Interpretation -- Thoughts on Tilden's Principles Page 4 of 4 `lesson` steers the interpreter in a different direction (and that's ok. the interpreter doesn't have to worry about covering all the material that will be on a test). In this writing I have mostly been contrasting formal and non-formal education. However, they are more alike than different. Both strive to communicate knowledge. Both involve people together in a place. Usually there is an 'expert' (the instructor) and the learners have some motivation for learning (internal or external). It is important to recognize the similarities and differences of each approach. A choice of which best suits the needs of both learner and educator must be made for each situation. We must acknowledge that both are important and an indispensable part of our society. The Getty Education Institute for the Arts has a wonderful timeline of events important to environmental education. Coming soon: Interpretation Major's thoughts on Tilden and the theory of interpretation. Also a biography of Freeman Tilden. : HOME EMAil Marcy M. Seavey Page last updated August 18. 1997. http://www.uni.edu/~ninhi/tilden.htm 1/2/2003