Freeman Tilden on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Freeman Tilden (August 22, 1883 – May 13, 1980) was one of the first people to set down the principles and theories of
Freeman Tilden (August 22, 1883 – May 13, 1980) was one of the first people to set down the principles and theories of heritage interpretation
Heritage interpretation refers to all the ways in which information is communicated to visitors to an educational, natural or recreational site, such as a museum, park or science centre. More specifically it is the communication of information ...
in his 1957 book, ''Interpreting Our Heritage''.
Tilden was born in Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.
History
Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...
, and developed his writing skills as a newspaper reporter.
His work with the United States National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
(NPS) inspired generations of interpreters across the world and continues to be a definitive text for the discipline. According to thematic interpretation
Thematic interpretation is an approach to heritage interpretation originally advocated by Professor William J. Lewis (University of Vermont) and subsequently developed by Professor Sam H. Ham (University of Idaho). In the thematic approach, an inte ...
expert, Sam H. Ham, Tilden's quotation on page 38 of ''Interpreting Our Heritage'' (which was taken from a US National Park Service administrative manual) has become one of the most cited phrases in the interpretation literature worldwide:
Legacy
Tilden is the namesake for the NPS's annual Freeman Tilden Award, awarded regionally for excellence in interpretation.Works
*''Second Wind: the Plain Truth About Going Back to the Land'', 1917 *''Khaki: How Tredick Got Into the War'', 1918 *''A World In Debt'', 1936 *''Interpreting Our Heritage'', 1957 *''The State Parks: their meaning in American life'', 1962 *''Following the Frontier With F. Jay Haynes, Pioneer Photographer Of the Old West'', 1964 *''The National Parks and What they mean to you and me'', 1968References
Further reading
* *External links
* People from Malden, Massachusetts American conservationists American naturalists 1883 births 1980 deaths Heritage interpretation 20th-century naturalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers {{US-bio-stub