National Parks Traveler Podcast | Historical Interpretation in the National Parks

How do national parks develop their interpretive materials? What influences come into play when a park begins to outline its approach and the direction it takes when crafting educational materials for visitors? Is the National Park Service careful to take a truthful path when presenting history?

Those are topical questions considering the Trump administration’s efforts to rid the National Park System of interpretive materials that disparage Americans.

But political influences on park messaging are not unique to the Trump administration. Robert Pahre, a political science professor at the University of Illinois, has been studying the effect of politics on national park interpretation in the past. He joins us to discuss what he’s found in that research, and to weigh in on what’s going on today in terms of political pressures on the National Park Service.