Leah SuhrstedtHIST 730: Public History Practicum

Final Project ReportMay 4, 2009

The American Red Cross and the Power of History in Nonprofit Institutions

This is the final project report for the Public History Practicum class project at the

American Red Cross. The project entailed a reinterpretation of the historic program. By

establishing a “big idea” and themes that run throughout our revised documents, we hope that the

historic program at the Red Cross can further the institution’s humanitarian mission and inspire

more Americans to support the organization in new ways.1

Institutional Context

Our reinterpretation of the historical program at the American Red Cross included many

unique challenges and opportunities. Perhaps our biggest challenge was the fact that the Red

Cross is not an organization primarily concerned with history; in fact, history is not mentioned in

their mission statement. They are a humanitarian organization led largely by volunteers, and,

“guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red

Cross Movement,” the mission of the Red Cross is to “provide relief to victims of disaster and

help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.”2 A history program is not a

primary concern for the organization, and the existing history program experienced large

cutbacks in the past year. This is understandable for an organization concerned primarily with

providing humanitarian aid, especially in tough economic times. However, the Red Cross’s

history is so extensive, impressive, and inspiring that it also provides a good public historian

1 The idea of a “big idea” comes from Beverly Serrell, Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 1996), 1-8.2 “American Red Cross Mission Statement,” online, http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.53fabf6cc033f17a2b1ecfbf43181aa0/?vgnextoid=d2366b9128c2b110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&currPage=f5195032f953e110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD, accessed 3 February 2009.

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with many opportunities; if the power of this history is properly harnessed, it can inspire people

towards action and support of the Red Cross—be it in the form of time, blood, or money. As

Marie Malaro reminds us in Museum Governance, nonprofit institutions such as the Red Cross

“encourage personal participation in the betterment of society.”3 By taking advantage of its

powerful history through a well-organized historical program, the Red Cross can further

encourage this personal participation, increasing its volunteer base, citizen activism, and

hopefully even its levels of philanthropic gifts.

First and foremost, the Red Cross wanted us to revise their headquarters building tour.

The tour as it existed was not chronological, lacked a big idea or coherent themes, and was

focused instead on objects and often unnecessary facts. Secondly, they wanted us to produce an

audio tour that visitors could use outside of the building on days that tours are not offered. The

headquarters building is a working office building, and all tour guides are volunteers, so tour

offerings are somewhat limited. Through an audio tour, guests can learn about the organization

even if they can’t take a guided tour. We also created a map that orients the visitor in the

neighborhood and provides them with additional information on memorials not covered on the

audio tour. Sarah Brockett’s guidance in her article “Revising Self-Guided Walking Tours: Best

Practices for Reaching the Public” proofed especially useful in the creation of our audio tour.4

Thirdly, we created a set of “trading cards” that can be used as giveaways to visitors after their

tour. These cards highlight important people, places, and things from Red Cross history, for

instance Clara Barton, 2025 E Street (the Disasters Operations Center), and the Tiffany glass

windows. From our visitor observations, we learned that guests really enjoy having something

3 Marie C. Malaro, Museum Governance: Mission, Ethics, Policy (Washington: Smiethsonian Institution Press, 1994), 6.4 Sarah Brockett, “Revising Self-Guided Walking Tours: Best Practices for Reaching the Public,” written for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2007.

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that they can take away from their experience. From a professional point of view, the trading

cards can also serve as a reminder to guests long after their visit, increasing the likelihood that

they will take action. Finally, we proposed a “Founders’ Day” for high-level donors specifically

interested in Red Cross history. This all-day event would foster improved donor relationships as

well as an interest in Red Cross history, and, if implemented successfully, would demonstrate the

power of well-presented history in garnering organizational support.

Our team approached these challenges as a group, setting goals from the beginning and

making it clear what was expected of each team member. Lisa Brochu’s book, Interpretive

Planning: The 5-M Model for Successful Planning Projects helped us to organize these

expectations and goals.5 Brochu identifies the 5 M’s of successful planning projects to be

management, message, market, mechanics, and media. In our case, we were not going to

drastically change the management of the Red Cross, but other M’s would be particularly

important for us to remember. In the case of market, it was important for us to identify our

audience for each aspect of our project and then craft that product (be it the tour or the Founders’

Day proposal) specifically for that identified audience. As much of the literature within the field

of public history reminds us, considering your audience is of the utmost importance if your tour,

etc. is to be successful. Additionally, as John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking explain in The

Museum Experience, the various contexts in which visitors function must also be considered in

order for interpretation to be successful.6 Every visitor comes into their museum experience with

their own personal context, and they are in turn affected by the social context surrounding them.

Finally, the physical context is one that is sometimes taken for granted and not carefully

considered, but can in fact play a big role in visitor experience. In an effort to provide Red Cross

5 Lisa Brochu, Interpretive Planning: The 5-M Model for Successful Planning Projects (Fort Collins: interpPress, 2003), 4-5. 6 John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, The Museum Experience (Washington, D.C.: Whalesback Books, 1992).

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visitors with the best possible experience, we kept in mind Falk and Dierking’s advice that

“diverse kinds of long-term, meaningful learning take place in museums: social learning, spatial

learning, concept learning, and aesthetic learning,” designing our products accordingly.7

Media and message, two more of Brochu’s 5 M’s, were also important to our project.

Media was an important consideration in the creation of our audio tour as well as our final

portfolio. The world is becoming increasingly digital, and organizations such as the Red Cross

need to respond to such changes or be left behind. The audio tour was a great way to

accommodate visitors even if tours of the building itself were not being offered. Ideally, this tour

would be available online and onsite. Perhaps most importantly, we designed our final portfolio

as a mock-up of a “history hub” for the Red Cross. Although there is no telling if our portfolio or

its contents will be used by the Red Cross due to the uncertain future of history within the

organization, we tried to create a product that would demonstrate the power of their history.

Perhaps the site could be used as a hub for volunteers within the organization interested in using

history to further the institution’s mission. Brochu’s emphasis on message was the most

important thing for us to remember, for the biggest problem with the Red Cross’s historic

program as it existed was its lack of coherency and message. Brochu defines message as “The

ideas that will be communicated to the visiting public. Includes theme, subtheme, and storylines

based on resource, audience, and management and considerations.”8 Throughout our project, we

returned to our big idea and themes while also keeping in mind our own goals and objectives to

keep us on track.

Big Idea, Historical Context and Historiography

7 Falk and Dierking, 125.8 Brochu, 4.

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For our revised tour program we used much of the content from the previous tour, but

reorganized it in a chronological order with coherent themes and a big idea. Our big idea and

themes demonstrate why the project is historically important. Specifically, this revised tour

program helps to demonstrate the importance of the Red Cross in American life, which in turn

will inspire visitors to volunteer their own time, blood, and money for the cause. Specifically,

our big idea is that the Red Cross is the nation’s premiere emergency response organization and

has been providing time, blood, and money to those in need at home and abroad for over 125

years through the support of volunteers across the country. The historiography that this project

engages with most is that related to the importance of history in society at large, because the

ultimate goal of our project is to demonstrate the power of history, even for an organization

whose mission is not primarily historic.

Briefly, the historical content that we cover in our tour starts with Clara Barton and her

supporters founding the American Red Cross in 1881, though the organization’s history goes

back even further than this date. Barton made a name for herself as a nurse during the Civil War,

and she got her inspiration for the American Red Cross from the International Red Cross

movement, which she learned about during her time in Switzerland after the Civil War.

Additionally the United States Sanitary Commission was in many ways the organizational

predecessor to the American Red Cross. The International Red Cross Movement, of which the

American Red Cross is a part, was founded to “provide nonpartisan care to the wounded and sick

in times of war.”9 This agreement came to be known as “The Geneva Convention.” Today, the

American Red Cross’s mission has expanded far beyond nonpartisan care for the wounded and

sick during war. Specifically, “the organization’s actions, guided by its dedication to humanity

and a desire to promote mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation, and lasting peace

9 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, Pre 1900: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/pre1900.asp.

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amongst all peoples, follow these fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality,

independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.”10

During the early 20th century (especially during World War I), the Red Cross grew

exponentially.11 There was a certain level of discontent over the relatively unorganized nature of

the organization, and Clara Barton resigned in 1904, but the organization continued to grow and

ultimately reorganized and redefined itself under the leadership of Mabel Boardman and Judge

John Barton Payne.12 Under their guidance, the Red Cross began to respond to disasters beyond

those related to war, for instance aiding victims of floods, drought, and the Great Depression.

During World War II the Red Cross began another new phase in its history, specifically

recruiting nurses on behalf of the military as well as social workers and recreation specialists.13

Additionally, it was during World War II that the Red Cross initiated its blood program. The Red

Cross had to deal with many technological changes in the 1960s and 1970s, both in terms of

internal functioning and the organization’s interaction with the public. Some examples of relief

services that the Red Cross became involved in due to technological changes and advances were

relief after chemical plant accidents, oil spills, and nuclear accidents such as Three Mile Island.14

Now the Red Cross was handling relief for both natural and man-made disasters.15 Though the

efforts of the Red Cross have grown in both numbers and types of relief services since the time

of the organization’s founding, the ideals and motivations have remained the same, and the

organization’s long history and varied experiences only serve to make it that much more

effective. At its core, the Red Cross continues to be concerned with bettering humanity, whether

10 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, Pre 1900: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/pre1900.asp11 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, 1900-1919: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/00-19.asp.12 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, 1920-1939: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/20-39.asp. 13 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, 1940-1959: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/40-59.asp.14 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, 1960-1979: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/60-79.asp.15 American Red Cross Online: History Timeline, 1980-1999: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/80-99.asp.

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through war relief efforts, family and community aid, health awareness activism, or any other

type humanitarian support.

A guided, chronological tour that details in more depth the history highlighted above

serves not only to familiarize guests with the history of the organization, but also demonstrates

how much the organization has grown. In the words of Freeman Tilden, good historical

interpretation (at the Red Cross and generally) is “an educational activity which aims to reveal

meanings and relationships through the use of our original objects, by firsthand experience, and

illustrative media, rather than to simply communicate factual information.”16 Tilden’s principle

that “interpretation is not instruction but provocation” also informed our project, because our

redesigned interpretation aims to provoke visitors into an understanding of the long and

extensive history of the Red Cross and, ultimately, into action.17 David Grabitske also identified

the “human condition” involved in effective interpretation; specifically, he explained that good

historical interpretation “is an effective, evocative, educational translation of the human

condition in the past into a meaningful present.”18 An engaging, largely chronological, and most

importantly relevant guided tour at the Red Cross—in addition to our Founders’ Day proposal,

audio tour, and trading cards—aims to achieve the goals of all these definitions.

Throughout our entire project, we found the advice of Beverly Serrell to be especially

useful. “A big idea,” Serrell explains,

is a sentence—a statement—of what the exhibition [or tour program] is about. It should not be vague or compound. It is one big idea, not four. It also implies what the exhibit is not about. A big idea is big because it has fundamental meaningfulness that is important to human nature. It is not trivial. It is the first thing the team, together, should write for an exhibition.19

16 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008), 8.17 Tilden, 18.18 David Grabitske’s definition, 1996 (provided on “Definitions of Historical Interpretation” handout from class).19 Serrell, 1.

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Keeping in mind Serrell’s advice, we defined our big idea early on. As stated previously, our big

idea is that the Red Cross is the nation’s premiere emergency response organization and has been

providing time, blood, and money to those in need at home and abroad for over 125 years

through the support of volunteers across the country. We hope that the communication of this big

idea through the various aspects of our project inspires visitors to volunteer their own time,

blood, and money to the organization, because that is the ultimate purpose of history at a site

whose mission is not primarily historic—to inspire people to action. The headquarters building is

a space where this big idea can be convincingly communicated, and we wanted to revise the

historic program in a way that visitors would retain this big idea long after their visit.

We also found Barbara Abramoff Levy’s advice in Great Tours!: Thematic Tours and

Guide Training for Historic Sites to be useful. Levy explains that “A thematic tour is filled with

the life and significance of the site and it is memorable for visitors.”20 Similarly to Serrell, Levy

argues that the development and implementation of a thematic tour will help visitors retain and

remember those themes into the future, and in the case of the Red Cross themes are another way

to motivate people towards action. We identified four key themes within Red Cross history that

we connected to content throughout our new tour: history/experience (in the sense that the Red

Cross as a great deal of history and experience); donate now (meaning, we hoped that our tour

would inspire guests to donate now—be it in the form of time, blood, or money); diverse

activities (because we wanted to demonstrate all of the things that the Red Cross does, and that

the organization goes far beyond blood donation); and American tradition (because the Red

Cross is an organization that has been important in millions of Americans’ lives for over a

century, and their humanitarianism has become an American tradition). Between Serrell’s big

20 Barbara Abramoff Levy, Great Tours!: Thematic Tours and Guide Training for Historic Sites (Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2001), xiii.

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idea and Levy’s themes, our revised version of the historic program at the Red Cross is

purposeful and coherent, serving the mission of the organization by hopefully compelling

visitors towards volunteerism.

Finding sources that dealt specifically with the value of history within non-historic

organizations was a challenge. We found that we could best make our case through a

combination of different sources, including those dealing with the value of cultural institutions,

the idea of a “usable past,” and, specifically for the donor aspect of our project, sources that

explained why people give to charitable organizations such as the Red Cross. David Carr’s

advice in The Power of Cultural Institutions was useful, especially his point that “When we face

our primary task as adults—to arrive at a working sense of identity and integrity—we have no

choice other than to do it as learners, led by our own thoughts, and not solely by the thoughts and

horizons of others.”21 The Red Cross is an organization that can provide people with a sense of

identity and integrity, and by learning about the organization’s history through a solid tour

program, we hope that visitors will be inspired towards action. In her article “The Usable Past,”

Ruth J. Abram also deals with the importance of history. Specifically, she quotes historian

Daniel Boorstein as saying, “Planning for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to

plant cut flowers.”22 Abrams also discusses the study completed by Roy Rosenzweig and David

Thelen, who concluded that the past holds a great deal of meaning for most Americans.23

Basically, Abram concludes, “Americans regard the past as a usable tool.”24 The Red Cross

should use history as a tool in the ways that Abram describes, and we hope that our products do

just this. Finally, in the article “Monticello’s Makeover,” Anne Applebaum observes that, at

21 David Carr, The Promise of Cultural Institutions (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2003), 51.22 Ruth J. Abram, “The Usable Past,” Forum Journal 15:2 (Winter 2001): 48. 23 Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).24 Abram, 48.

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historic sites such as Monticello, “Nowadays, hagiography is Out. Historical reconstruction is In.

Silent contemplation of the great man's possessions is also Out. Recent scholarship about those

possessions is firmly In.”25 Applebaum’s point is that historic sites and other nonprofit

institutions must keep up with the times, and the Red Cross is no different. Additionally, her

point that history has moved far beyond the study of objects and onto broader conclusions is

well-taken and key to a successful revision of the Red Cross’s tour program.

In his book Historians in Public: The Practice of American History, 1870-1970, Ian

Tyrell addresses the role of history in public life. Tyrell believes that “The conflicting evidence

on the role of history in the American present is difficult to evaluate without the deeper

perspective that the discipline of history rightly favors.”26 In his book, therefore, he asks

“historians—and the interested public and pressure groups—to take a step back and examine the

earlier history of these debates.”27 Ultimately, Tyrell’s study covers changes in opinion regarding

the usefulness of history. He believes that academic history can successfully achieve public

relevance, though academic historians today often frown upon presentist histories. As

“professional historians are desperately trying to reengage with public audiences,” Tyrell argues

that they would do themselves a favor by studying the successes and failures of past generations

of historians who tried to make their histories useful.28 Since making history useful in the sense

that it serves the mission of the Red Cross was the goal of our project, Tyrell’s advice proved

useful.

Joyce Oldham Appleby makes related arguments in her book, A Restless Past: History

and the American Public. Specifically, Appleby demonstrates just how much value the public

25 Anne Applebaum, “Monticello’s Makeover,” The Washington Post, April 14, 2009.26 Ian Tyrell, Historians in Public: The Practice of American History, 1870-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 3.27 Ibid, 3.28 Tyrell, 8.

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actually places on history, even though at times it may not seem so—for instance, when

newspapers and other media report how little Americans know about the past. For Appleby, this

type of attitude demonstrates that “historical knowledge…counts because it is deemed essential

to forming sound opinions and to behaving as responsible citizens. History plays an essential role

as a unifier in the life of a nation, a role with unavoidable political overtones. It also shapes how

people view the world and the differences they encounter when they leave their own boundaried

lives.”29 Appleby’s point about how much historical knowledge “counts” helps to demonstrate

the importance of doing history at sites such as the Red Cross—it is history that unifies people

and helps them to shape their opinions, and a good historic tour program can help to demonstrate

the importance of the organization through its history. In Taking History to Heart: The Power of

the Past in Building Social Movements, James Green makes connections between history and

social justice. Green is talking about what he calls “movement history,” and in many ways the

Red Cross fits this model.30 Though not as radical as some of the movements Green discusses,

the Red Cross’s history is certainly one of people pushing for change and social justice.

Throughout his book Green demonstrates “how powerful the past can be in building the

progressive movements of the present and future. Ongoing struggles for social justice are seen as

extensions of older stories still unfolding.”31 Hopefully, our redesign of the tour program at the

Red Cross demonstrates how the organization and its movement have grown over time while

also showing visitors that their help is still needed for quality support to continue.

29 Joyce Oldham Appleby, A Restless Past: History and the American Public (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005), 4.30 James Green, Taking History to Heart: The Power of the Past in Building Social Movements (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000), 1.31 Green, 21.

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Finally, and on a somewhat different note, we researched the reasons why people give as

we designed our Founders’ Day proposal.32 The advice of Kay Sprinkel Grace proved especially

influential. Most nonprofits such as the Red Cross, Grace argues, “still rely on presenting

ourselves as needy organizations rather than as organizations that meet needs. Adoption of the

three-part model of values-based philanthropy, development, and fundraising…can move

organizations away from the short-term begging syndrome into a much deeper process of donor

and institutional development.”33 Therefore, we designed our Founders’ Day in a way that would

demonstrate to donors that the organization is committed and consistently and effectively meets

the needs of those that rely on their aid programs. Donors to the Red Cross will be more likely to

support the organization if it emphasizes its achievements rather than if it takes a more

traditional approach of emphasizing the organization’s needs. A donor must have confidence in

an organization in order to support that group, and by emphasizing its accomplishments (for

instance the amount of blood they supply or the number of disasters they respond to annually),

the Red Cross demonstrates the support they need from donors without explicitly saying so.

Furthermore, Grace explains, “To be innovative and attract long-term donor investment,

organizations in the non-profit sector must define and apply their values. They should organize

their internal systems, marketing and communications programs, and community outreach [as

well as their historic interpretation program] to maximize the understanding of, response to, and

impact of those values.”34

32 For information on development at nonprofits and history sites beyond that included in this paper, see David L. Bradford and Wyatt Warner Burke, Reinventing Organization Development, (Wiley and Sons, 2005); Janet L. Hedrick, Effective Donor Relations (Wiley and Sons, 2009); Eugene A. Scalan, Corporate and Foundation Fund Raising (Aspen: 1997).33 Kay Sprinkel Grace, Beyond Fundraising: New Strategies for Nonprofit Innovation and Investment (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), 17.34 Grace, 1.

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David Leonhardt’s study in the New York Times article “What Makes People Give?” also

guided the design of our Founders’ Day. In the article, discusses a study completed by

economics professors John List and Dean Karlan that questioned whether people give money to

charities to “make the world a better place” or for reasons less grand, for instance because of

“peer pressure.”35 In the end, their basic conclusion was that donors are motivated by the “warm

glow” theory, which argues that “people aren’t giving money merely to save the whales; they’re

also giving money to feel the glow that comes with being the kind of person who’s helping to

save the whales.”36 In the case of the Red Cross this supports the idea of a Founders’ Day,

because it would give people this “warm glow” and also encourages them to give as they interact

with others who have. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) notes in their article,

“Donor Recognition: Thinking like a Donor” that “The value of recognizing your donors goes far

beyond showing appreciation for a gift. Recognition can motivate donors to be strong and lasting

supporters to your organization.”37 Additionally, AFP argues that “Donors will tell you that they

don’t want recognition for their gift, but often that is what they think that they are supposed to

say—that they gave without wanting something in return….But people look for their name in

print on wall displays. They appreciate recognition that is appropriate.”38

As all of these best practices combine to demonstrate, good public history at sites like the

Red Cross is hard work and often complicated. However, when done well, public history projects

achieve standards of scholarship equally as stringent and challenging as more purely academic

projects, but they do so in a way that the public can digest. Public history at sites such as the Red

Cross keeps in mind all of the advice of historians such as Green, Tyrell, Appleby, Grace, and

35 Leonhardt, 4.36 Ibid, 4.37 “Donor Recognition: Thinking Like a Donor,” Association of Fundraising Professionals http://www.afpnet.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?content_item_id=24792&folder_id=914 38 Ibid.

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others, encouraging civil engagement among Americans and producing good history that also

speaks to the present.39

Best Practices in Historical Interpretation

In the case of the Red Cross, our research on historical content, the development of a big

idea and historiography relate closely to best practices in historical interpretation. Again, this is

due to the challenges inherent in doing history as a site whose mission is not primarily historic.

As mentioned above in the discussion of our big idea and historiography, Tilden, Serrell, and

Levy proved especially useful in the development of our big idea and as we redesigned all

aspects of the historic program to convey coherent, chronological themes.

In terms of best practices beyond the big idea and thematic tours, we looked at volunteer

management. Levy also talks about volunteer training and managing guides effectively. Many

historic sites rely almost entirely on volunteer support in their tour program, as is the case with

the Red Cross. While it is a natural tendency to treat volunteers differently than paid staff, Levy

argues that it is important to manage guides just as you would paid staff. “To maintain an

excellent volunteer corps a site must invest time in professional support and resources such as

training materials and programs, guide newsletters, and frequent opportunities for guide

recognition.”40 This advice allows for the professionalization of guides when money is not

available to pay them, and the Red Cross would likely benefit from taking Levy’s advice. Levy’s

advice is echoed by Katherine Noyes Campbell and Susan J. Ellis in their book, The (Help!) I

don’t-Have-Enough-Time Guide to Volunteer Management as well as by James C. Fisher and

Kathleen M. Cole in Leadership and Management of Volunteer Programs: A Guide for

39 For more arguments on the utility of history, see Kevin J. Graffagnino, “Using the Past to Change the Future: A Strategy for Historical Organizations,” History News 56:3 (Summer 2001), 11-15; Barbara Franco, “Doing History in Public: Balancing Historical Fact with Public Meaning,” Perspectives 33:5, 5-8; Mastering Civic Engagement: A Challenge to Museums (Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2002).40 Levy, 131.

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Volunteer Administrators.41 It is hard to criticize someone who is volunteering their time to help

the organization, but the guided tour is a key part of the visitor experience, and guides should be

held to established standards. They should also be provided with adequate training, and this is

another area in which the Red Cross could improve. As training currently stands, guides are

basically given reading materials and sent off to give tours. Having a senior staffer shadow them

or check in on them regularly would ensure consistent tours that emphasize the big idea and

themes. The Red Cross has one volunteer that has been with the organization for quite some time

and is extremely dedicated, making her a prime candidate for leading a new training program as

the new tour is implemented. The Red Cross needs to hold its volunteers to professional

standards, monitor their performance past simply their training phase, and also recognize their

commitment and achievements as they occur.

We also looked at a few models to guide our project. Specifically, we visited the

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Headquarters, Lincoln Cottage, and National

Public Radio (NPR) Headquarters. Each of these places served as a model for a specific part of

our project. The DAR can serve as a model for our project because their headquarters building is

also a working office space. The mission of the DAR is “to promote historic preservation,

education and patriotism.”42 While certainly more centrally focused on history than the Red

Cross, the site is a good model because tours are offered regularly at DAR headquarters and our

docent was incredibly enthusiastic—almost contagiously so. Our docent’s gifts for

communication relate to the themes of Margaret Piatt’s essay, “Engaging Visitors Through

41 Katherine Noyes Campbell and Susan J. Ellis, The (Help!) I Don’t-Have-Enough-Time Guide to Volunteer Management (Energize: 1995); James C. Fisher and Kathleen M. Cole, Leadership and Management of Volunteer Programs: A Guide for Volunteer Administrators (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 1993).42 Fact Sheet: Daughters of the American Revolution (available in print only on-site).

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Effective Communication.”43 According to Piatt, the message must be organized in order to be

effective, and much of the success of the tour at the DAR is based on their organized message

and well-trained interpretive staff. This also relates back to Levy’s advice on volunteer

management. It is important to remember that the Red Cross does not have a great deal of

resources to support their interpretive program, but the training and support of their interpreters

could certainly be improved. Additionally, our redesigned tour serves the mission of the Red

Cross just as DAR’s tour served their mission—a key improvement that our visit to the DAR

helped us to recognize and achieve.

For information on donor relations, we turned to Lincoln Cottage Curator Erin Carlson

Mast. As a newer historic site Lincoln Cottage has been thinking creatively about building donor

relationships, and since we were also starting from scratch in the development of our Founders’

Day proposal, we thought Erin’s advice would prove especially useful. Erin stressed the

importance of “building in time for the donor to chat with key personnel,” and this became a key

component in all the proposed aspects of our donor day.44 At Lincoln Cottage, they have a

special giveaway for donors—a copy of Lincoln’s Sanctuary by Matt Pinsker, the book that was

written specifically for and about the Cottage. Erin sees the book as serving two purposes—first,

as a free gift (which everyone likes), and secondly, to inform the donor about the importance of

the Cottage beyond even what their visit can show them. The Lincoln Cottage also has a great

giveaway for the end of the regular tours (a bookmark with membership information on the

back). The information included on this bookmark, as well as the cultural history trading cards

provided to us by Professor Franz, served as a model for our trading cards.45 Erin suggested that

43 Margaret Piatt, “Engaging Visitors Through Effective Communication” in Jessica Foy Donnelly, ed, Interpreting Historic House Museums (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2002), 231.44 E-mail from Erin Carlson Mast, February 20, 2009.45 Theory Trading Cards, http://www.theorycards.org.uk/

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we also explore what the Red Cross has to offer in terms of archival materials (especially

objects) that we could allow donors to see. In her words, “seeing that kind of stuff can be

magical, and is an easy way to make even a regular tour suddenly seem special. Maybe that’s the

ticket. Having a senior staffer greet, get the history tour, then see something from the archives.”46

This inspired our inclusion of special objects viewing session during Founders’ Day.

Finally, the tour of National Public Radio (NPR) headquarters was most useful due to

their ability to connect the tour to their mission and success. They also emphasized their focus on

moving forward, and one example of this was their use of podcasts (among other things). In all

that they’re doing, NPR seems to be focusing on changing and adapting in order to succeed, and

this definitely comes through in their tour. By the end of the tour at NPR, you truly felt guilty if

you did not contribute—in a good way. Their tour demonstrated to visitors how important their

work is and how much support they need in order to continue providing the services they are

known for. This is something that we hope our revised tour, etc. do for the Red Cross. NPR is an

especially useful model since they are an organization whose mission is not particularly historic,

but they are able to use their tour and historic content to encourage donations and highlight the

importance of their organization. After a tour at NPR, visitors truly feel that they have seen

something special, and we also hope to inspire these feelings in visitors to the ARC. This

emphasis on the “special” and the feelings that are hopefully inspired in visitors when such

information is presented relates directly to Tilden’s principles, especially his focus on

interpretation as provocation and revelation.47 For each of our three models, the interpretation—

whether directed towards a general audience or donors in particular—should provoke them and

46 E-mail from Erin Carlson Mast, February 20, 2009.47 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007), 18.

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reveal things about the organization in question that they might not have been familiar with

previously.

Conclusions

This project provided many invaluable lessons about historical interpretation. Good

historic interpretation must be carefully planned and thought out, but a good public historian

doing historic interpretation must also be flexible and capable of responding to unforeseen

challenges. Our group certainly learned the challenges of working at a site whose mission is not

primarily historic, and crafted our arguments and products accordingly. Research has taught me

how to advocate for the utility of history; good public history can achieve incredible things, and

in the case of the Red Cross it will hopefully inspire citizens to action while also teaching them

important lessons about their past. As David Carr explains, public history helps people to see

connections and build empathy while also “feed[ing] flames that illuminate the human capacity

to imagine the possible.”48 Civic engagement is an important new trend in the field, especially as

it relates to historic interpretation, and our project at the Red Cross gave us practical experience

with in pushing for such engagement. Finally, I learned the importance of a big idea and themes

in historic interpretation—without these, visitors won’t necessarily retain much of the

information they learned during their visit, and the experience certainly will not have the impact

it otherwise could. Good historical interpretation takes time, but when done well, it can have far-

reaching effects. Hopefully our project with the Red Cross demonstrates all of these lessons and

functions as effective public history and historic interpretation.

48 Carr, 37.

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