Gold Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Public Outreach and Education in Washington, DC

Summary

This is an abstract from the ""Is There Gold in that Field?" CRM and Public Outreach on the Front Lines" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological review and compliance in Washington, DC, is handled by the DC Historic Preservation Office, a unique hybrid that operates as a local city/county agency as well as the SHPO. Typically, the DC HPO Archaeology team does not conduct compliance activities, but we do employ federal and local compliance mandates to require—nudge, coax, cajole, and wheedle—federal and local agencies to include public outreach and education elements in mitigation plans. We are especially pushy about projects on District-owned property and push for consultants to give presentations to the public at local venues and to develop educational materials. We also encourage consulting firms to participate in outreach events or to volunteer with us. Creating effective outreach activities and developing a cadre of volunteers to help present them to the public takes time and effort. We observed a hunger for neighborhood-level historical and archaeological information (stories) that create a sense of place for new residents and that demonstrate deep-seated ties of the extant community. In a highly educated city with deep levels of income disparity and gentrification pressure, we find that the gold standard is the goodwill and sense of community we generate through public outreach.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• "Is There Gold in that Field?" CRM and Public Outreach on the Front Lines

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32648