Robert L. Hart collection, 1986

ArchivalResource

Hart, Robert L., 1947-. Robert L. Hart collection, 1986

Robert L. Hart collection, 1986

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/775354530

Information contained in the Custer Battlefield internship project papers span the years of 1902-1986, with the bulk of the information pertaining to the recent period from 1947-1986. A weakness of the collection is its Euro-American perspective; only one Native American was interviewed. Additionally, observations on interpretive activity from 1963-1969 are not by interpretive staff members. The Collection has been organized into a single series. The tapes are most important for the detail they convey concerning day to day public interpretive operations, the gradual implementation of the concept of interpretive balance, the tensions and controversy associated with the Centennial observance of 1976, and the increasingly important interpretive role of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association. Additional topics covered are relations between the National Park Service and Native American Groups, relations between the National Park Service and the Little Big Horn Associates, relations between the Custer Battlefield administrations and local critics, interpretive drift within the National Park Service, the development of living history programs, the 1984-85 archaeological project, and the interpretive effect of the varied managers charged with administering Custer battlefield and its interpretive program. The internship report, Administrative History Research on the Changing Interpretive Program: Custer Battlefield, 1940-1986, is a lengthy analysis of the larger part. The internship report details the background, development, and conduct of the project, as well as making suggestions for future research. Interviews were conducted with seventeen present or past National park Service employees involved with Custer Battlefield interpretation. They include two superintendents, five historians, seven seasonal and permanent rangers, two chiefs of maintenance, and one archaeologist. Four members, officers, and employees of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association were interviewed. They include one president, one member of the board, one Centennial Committee member, and one interpreter. Also interviewed were the chairman of the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee, Inc. and one local amateur historian and battlefield critic. Significant interviewees include Western historians Robert M. Utley, Donald G. Rickey, Jerome A. Greene, Merrill J. Mattes, Robert A. Murray, and anthropologist Margot Liberty. Other interviewees include: Clifford R. Arbogast, James F. Bowers, Allan J. Clark, James V. Court, Michael H. Downing, Robert W. Hartung, Albert F. Jacobson, Michael J. Koury, Neil C. Mangum, Clifford L. Nelson, Mardell I. Plainfeather, Eldon G. Reyer, Carolyn R. Riebeth, Heyward D. Schrock, Douglas D. Scott, Harold Stanton, and Henry Weibert.

49 items.

New Mexico State University