Interpreting Our Heritage

Every year millions of Americans visit national parks and monuments, state and municipal parks, battlefield areas, historic houses, and museums. By means of guided tours, exhibits, and signs, visitors to these areas receive a very special kind of education through the interpretation of informative materials. For fifty years, ““Interpreting Our Heritage”“ has been an indispensable sourcebook for those who are responsible for and who respond to such interpretive materials. This anniversary edition includes an entirely new selection of photographs, six additional essays by Freeman Tilden, and a new foreword and introduction that put this classic work into perspective for present and future generations. Whether the problem is to make a prehistoric site come to life or to explain the geological theory behind a particular rock formation, Tilden provides helpful principles to follow. For anyone interested in our natural and manmade heritage, this book offers guidance for exploring educational and recreational resources.

Author Biography

Freeman Tilden (1883-1980) was a pioneer in the field of natural and cultural interpretation. A former journalist, playwright, and novelist, he began writing about America’s national parks in the 1940s with the encouragement of National Park Service director Newton Drury. This led to four books on visiting, learning, and teaching about national and state parks and other heritage areas, of which Interpreting Our Heritage remains the most influential.