Resources That Inspired and Influenced Us
From Christina Cid:
I have had the honor of learning from Indigenous knowledge holders from the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs in Oregon. I extend my gratitude to Valerie Switzler and Radine “Deanie” Johnson, who are featured in the First Foods: Roots and Berries with Warm Springs Traditional Gatherers video, as they continue to share their gifts of knowledge with me. Recalling Celilo: An Essay by Elizabeth Woody, the eighth Poet Laureate of the state of Oregon, is a profound essay exploring the cultural significance of Celilo Falls and the need to learn from Indigenous wisdom and respect for the land.
The Native Plants and Food Curriculum Portal hosts five comprehensive educational toolkits focused on native and naturalized plants and foods of the Pacific Northwest. The curricula are infused with Indigenous wisdom, narratives, and traditions. While designed primarily for Native audiences, educators from all backgrounds will find value in these resources, which can also serve as a blueprint from similar initiatives in other regions.
From Rachel Galan & Maggie Leysath:
The Danger of a Single Story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | TEDGlobal
Recorded at TEDGlobal in July 2009, novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice. Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories, and she warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
From Wiwien T. Wiyonoputri:
I study interpretation because I was moved by a personal interpretive program (Luckily, I found the attached old picture of the moment!) It was a 15-20-minute program at the slave quarter at the Carter's Grove Plantation (Virginia, USA), delivered by a lady interpreter in 1994 when the plantation was still under The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Right after her fun yet thought-provoking program, I asked the organizer of the trip, “What was that I just experienced?” and he said, “It was an interpretation.” It really clicked to me.
From Theresa Coble:
I grew up in suburbia. I spent a lot of time in the north woods of Minnesota (think LAKES, canoes, campfires, northern lights, and loons). And eventually, I got my Ph.D. in forestry. I’ve wrestled with the ready plentitude that defines the U.S. consumer experience while also taking full advantage of modern shopping conveniences. Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book and webpage engages the question of how to live life as an intentional and whole human being, especially as it relates to family, food, and home. If you have a desire to grow, cook, preserve, and serve high quality food to family and friends, this book is for you! There’s laughter, wisdom, guidance, and inspiration. How has this book influenced my interpretive journey? For me, interpretation asks us to integrate the things we care about into meaningful, holistic, and productive action. Barbara Kingsolver is an interpretive guide for that journey.
From Amanda Berlinski:
The amazing team of women (and a few good men) I worked for and with at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, had the most influence on my interpretive career. My supervisor advocated for me to attend NAI conferences (where I learned about the four-truth framework for the first time). She also wrote me letters of recommendation to participate in national trainings, including a National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) Study Circle. My teammates kept our programming going while I engaged in professional development and were always ready and willing to try whatever new interpretive techniques I talked with them about piloting, like mission-based dialogue. I absolutely would not be where I am today without the support and critical friendship of my inspiring colleagues. I’m so grateful to all of you!
NNOCCI is a network of individuals and organizations in formal and informal education, the social sciences, climate sciences, and public policy. By speaking about climate change consistently across the country, NNOCCI is changing public discourse to be positive, civic-minded, and solutions-focused. Image by Maris Wicks, 2017, shared courtesy of NNOCCI.
From Pamela Blair-Bruce:
We Must Decolonize Our Museums | Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko | TEDxDirigo
Recorded at TEDxDirigo in November 2016, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko shares the urgency of museum decolonizing practices and offers three ways to approach the decolonization of museums.
From Carol Fitzsimmons:
As an educator and lover of children's books, Byrd Baylor captures a certain simplicity, peace, and reverence for the land in her beautifully illustrated book Your Own Best Secret Place. I have used this book and many others from her collection to guide groups in thinking, listening and finding new ways to sense place.
From Delia Lister:
A warm recommendation for the classic 1984 National Geographic video with Jane Goodall, Among the Wild Chimpanzees. The film is about her years long study of chimpanzee behavior in Tanzania. She was the first woman I can remember seeing in the role of a scientist and a storyteller.
Dr. Jane Goodall just before discussing the Jane Goodall Institute’s work promoting health, gender equality, and conservation at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on October 27, 2015. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of State/public domain.
From Heather Waterman:
The history podcast Uncivil, by Gimlet Media, set me on the road to this PhD program in Heritage Leadership at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Uncivil’s ability to tell the untold stories of the Civil War from the people who did not get to tell their stories is powerful. I appreciated their approach to tying the issues of the past to the realities of the day.
From Kristanti Wisnu Aji Wardani & Armely Meiviana:
The person who first introduced us to interpretation as an approach was Mrs. Wiwien Tribuwani Wiyonoputri. She made us learn the theories of interpretation that we had only been practising. As it turned out, knowing interpretation as a discipline helped us in the practice of making an interpretation program.
Freeman Tilden's Interpreting Our Heritage was the first interpretation book we read, like most people in the interpretation career. It became a kind of framework when we designed an interpretation program. It formed the foundation of our understanding of interpretation, just like Interpretation: Making a Difference on Purpose by Sam H. Ham.
Since we’re interested in museums, Beverly Serrell's Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach helped us see and assess collection labels when visiting the museum. Serrell's book also became a guideline when we made the games we discuss in our article. Likewise, Interpretive Planning for Museums: Integrating Visitor Perspectives in Decision Making by Marcella Wells, Barbara Butler, and Judith Koke provides a strong influence to give significant consideration to visitors when interpretation planning in the museum.
Museum Hack has also been a source of "spirit" and ideas for us when developing our interpretation program.
Kylie Christian:
One of the most influential texts I read during my early academic career was the work of Sappho. I was a lover of all things ancient, and to find an ancient Greek female voice in the mix was liberating. Ever since, I have sought the lost voices of our world, seeking the best way to bring them into the public realm, interpret them and create curiosity about them. Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BCE) is often called the "Tenth Muse" due to her irrevocable influence on culture that has lasted long past her lifetime. She is best known for her lyric poetry, and whilst much of her work has been lost, fragments of her poetry have survived and continue to be studied for their beauty and emotional complexity.
Donna con tavolette cerate e stilo (cosiddetta "Saffo") [Woman with wax tablets and stylus (so-called “Sappho”)], a fresco portrait measuring 37cm x 38cm and held at Naples National Archaeological Museum. Image in the public domain.
From Angélica Erazo-Oliveras:
The person that has influenced my interpretive career the most is Frances W. Horne, an artist, academic, botanist and a woman distinguished in a field led by men. In the 1900s, she visited Puerto Rico, and, from her artwork, I can tell she fell in love with my Island and illustrated hundreds of watercolors of its flora and fauna. Her artwork is astonishing and she was able to interpret, through art, one of my favorite aspects of my country: the flora borinqueña.
Original watercolor of Miconia foveolata by Frances W. Horne for Flora Borinqueña, held at and shared courtesy of New York Botanical Garden.
From Pamela R. Owen:
Poetry has always inspired me to express myself and to truly listen to the voices of others. As an undergraduate student enrolled in a poetry writing course, I was asked to read “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop and then write a poem about an object in a similar style. I was taking a mammalogy course that semester, so I wrote a poem about one of the bat study skins in the lab. The experience taught me another way to express my thoughts and feelings about nature, and “The Fish” remains one of my favorite poems to this day. You can read the poem here on poets.org, a fabulous website to search for poems, biographies of poets, and other poetry-focused resources. This online resource is produced by the nonprofit Academy of American Poets.
Elizabeth Bishop in her Vassar College senior yearbook portrait, in 1934. Image in the public domain.
From Linda Meanus & Lily Hart:
Written as I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder, by Sliammon Elder Elsie Paul, with University of British Columbia professor Paige Raibmon and Elsie Paul's granddaughter Harmony Johnson, is a collaborative work that exemplifies the model of what the group called "transformational listening," which we aspired for in our project. This method, as the authors share, enables "us to not just gather new 'facts' but to glimpse alternate ways of being and knowing, to make visible our own assumptions and intellectual foundations, is a transformative experience of learning and unlearning." We listen for stories, but also teachings, and with humility. We highly recommend Written as I Remember It for not only being a model of method but also a beautiful gift of teachings and stories.
