If you have navigated to this page thanks to Past Into Present: Effective Techniques for First-Person Historical Interpretation, welcome! You may be surprised to see that the link and website still exist. It is a bit of a relic, but I felt strongly about keeping it online and updating the appendices.
If you found this page by some other route, be sure to visit the History on the Hoof page, which includes the programs and performing schedule for me and interpreter David Emerson.
Ever since I was a young'un, I've had a fascination with the past. In my teen
years, I discovered first-person historical interpretation at Morristown
National Historical Park. Smitten, I couldn't get enough of it. Yet back in
those days, there was quite a bit of resistance, both in the museum field and
academia, against First-Person. Realizing that in all media, there's work that's
thought provoking and brilliant, as well as work that's cringeworthy. So I went
on a quest to discover what the best interpreters and sites do to engage, rather
than enrage, their visitors.
Past Into Present: Effective Techniques for First-Person Historical Interpretation.
(Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1998) was the
result.
I've devoted most of my adult life to the study and practice of interpreting history. Along the way -- and concurrent with earning a BA in History (Kean University), an MLS (Rutgers), an MA in American Civilization (University of Pennsylvania), and a visiting fellowship to research Visitor Studies and Museum Education (Rutgers) -- I've worked in living history museums and historical archives as an interpreter, archivist, educator, exhibits person, and interpretive trainer.
In 1993, David Emerson and I launched
History on the Hoof. If
you follow that link, you can find out the historical interpretation programs we
offer. Though many think of me as "the first-person person," because of "Past
Into Present," most of my programs employ other interpretation methods such as
storytelling, demonstrations, anecdotes, hands-on exhibits, readings, music.
In 1996, History on the Hoof organized a "retreat" of first-person interpreters. We met for the first time at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The assembled group was composed of independent interpreters from Philadelphia, as well as those from Mystic Seaport, Colonial Williamsburg and other sites. At that meeting, at the urging of Edward Baker, we established ourselves as a professional interest group (pig) of ALHFAM (The Association of Living History, Farms, and Agricultural Museums). The group is still going strong and continues to hold workshops and "retreats."
Following the publication of Past Into Present in 1998, I spent the next decade performing, and on occasion, training first-person interpreters at an assortment of small museums (including Fort Delaware and the First State Heritage Park at Dover (DE), and periodically collaborating with living history museums and historic sites (such as Monmouth Battlefield State Park and the William Trent House in Trenton, NJ) on special projects. Both of us at History on the Hoof are listed speakers with the New Jersey Council for the Humanities' Horizons Speakers Bureau. I am also honored to serve on the New Jersey Living History Advisory Council, which now hosts an annual conference.
In 2008, I embarked on another adventure, marrying uber-reenactor John Niemiec. John's reenactor "impressions" range from Ancient Rome to World War II. John, along with the late Lee Jennings, historian for Delaware State Parks, is responsible for my foray into mid-20th century interpretation and artifact collecting. It is quite a unique experience to trot out a first-person character from this period in front of people who lived through the era!
History on the Hoof (My up-to-date doings)
List of sites that feature first-person Interpretation (updated appendix from Past into Present)
Bibliography of Recommended Readings on Living History Interpretation in Museums
Glossary of First-Person Interpretation
Past Into Present (University of North Carolina Press)
Updated February 2011