
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 Communication, information is communicated to visitors to an educational, natural or recreational site, such as a museum, National park, park or Science museum, science centre. More specifi ...
in his 1957 book, ''Interpreting Our Heritage''.
Tilden was born in
Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.
History
Malden is a hilly woodland area no ...
, 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 List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
(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
*''Mr. Podd'', 1923
*''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'', 1968
References
Further reading
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External links
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People from Malden, Massachusetts
American conservationists
American naturalists
1883 births
1980 deaths
Heritage interpretation
20th-century naturalists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
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