Using Digital Technologies to Enhance Public Interpretation and Increase Access at Booker T. Washington National Monument

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Adventures in Spatial Archaeometry: A Survey of Recent High-Resolution Survey and Measurement Applications" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The site of Booker T. Washington’s birth and enslavement in Hardy County, Virginia, has been honored since 1945 when the farm was purchased to serve both as a memorial and a school. Eventually incorporated into the National Park system in the 1950s, this site has been the focal point of various historical landscape research endeavors, seeking to interpret experiences of slavery, the Civil War, and emancipation. For over half a century, shifting sociopolitical climates, development of archaeological landscape theory, and increases in applications of multivocality in site interpretation have impacted research motivations and directly affected the trajectory of park interpretive frameworks. This paper discusses ongoing efforts to incorporate digital technologies to more readily engage a public audience in the conversation behind academic research agendas, and explore the complexities of interpretive strategies at a National Park Service site that highlights complex and compounded histories.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Adventures in Spatial Archaeometry: A Survey of Recent High-Resolution Survey and Measurement Applications   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37628.0