"Interpreting" means, roughly, making the physical aspects of the
historic site meaningful to visitors. For example, at Sutter's Fort
we have a reproduction of a farm wagon that was used in the 1840s to
move to California from Missouri. I like to tell people that it is
the "1840's moving van". That leads into discussions about what was
carried, how many yoke of oxen were needed, how much it cost to
provision yourself for the journey, how long it took, etc. That
discussion is an "interpretation" of the wagon. You can do a similar
type of thing with a building, with clothing, with cooking equipment,
etc. And it can be done in "third person", when you say that "they"
did this; or in "first person", when you speak as the person doing a
task, or owning a piece of equipment, e.g. It takes more practice to
do it in first person (and a lot of studying of all aspects of the
period you are interpreting), but that is something I enjoy doing.
Joan Jurancich
At 08:36 AM 6/20/2007, you wrote:
What does interpreting mean?
On Jun 20, 2007, at 8:19 AM, Joan Jurancich wrote:
At 08:54 PM 6/19/2007, you wrote:
I'm going Wednesday night to turn in my application to be a
volunteer at a local historic site. They do 1860's. Nothing fancy,
it's a farm house, but it looks like it could be fun. I've met
some of the other ladies and they're nice.
Wish me luck. I don't know if they're going to interview me
tomorrow or have me come back later, but I'm nervous I'll say
something stupid and they won't want me. I got turned away from
another volunteer job at a site once because I didn't have any
experience 'interpreting'. I'm hoping this one goes better. They
seem a lot more low-key.
Those of you who do volunteer work at sites, how did you get the 'job'?
Dawn
Out here in Sacramento, I am a long-time docent at Sutter's
Fort. We have training classes for new docents, so you are not
expected to know a great deal about the Fort when you begin. The
interview to be accepted as a docent trainee is to make certain
that you know what function of a docent is (you need to like
interacting with visitors) and to make certain you do not have
unrealistic ideas of what you can do. Most places are in need of
volunteers, so I am surprised that any place turns down people
without giving them a chance to learn how to interpret to the
public. Interpretation is something than one learns, primarily by
doing (being a chatterbox is not a handicap ;-) ).
Joan Jurancich
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