Interpreting the Cultural and Natural Resources of the Mississippi River Valley
October 7-8, 2003
New Orleans
Old U.S. Mint
400 Esplanade Avenue

Free and open to the public

Background

A major task of government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector is interpretation of the natural and cultural resources of the United States to the American people.  This is particularly true in 2003, the year of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase.  A major interest of museums, visitor centers and heritage tourism is the interpretation of the 200 years of American experience in the Mississippi River Valley and the earlier prehistoric and colonial periods.

Purpose

The conference will bring together federal, state, and local governments in addition to non-governmental organizations and the private sector to improve interpretation for the benefit of the American public.  The main objective of this conference is to make participants aware of the state-of-the-art methods and techniques to accomplish their own interpretive objectives, and to leave with the tools, information, and inspiration to follow through on those tasks once the conference is completed.

Description

This conference will consider the many ways that the Mississippi River Valley is interpreted and how we could improve interpretation of the natural and cultural resources of the river and its tributaries.  We will consider the full range of interpretation from historic sites and trails to the latest developments in high technology interpretation.  This is a networking and partnering conference; a major goal is the exchange of ideas and the best practices of interpretation.

The proposed two day conference will be the 6^th Randall L. Gibson conference on the Mississippi River organized by Tulane University, the National Park Service and the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Previous conferences covered cultural heritage, environmental history, drainage in New Orleans, heritage tourism, and Comparing Rivers: The Mississippi and the Niger.  Information about the Gibson conferences is available at http://www.edwinlyon.com/gibson.htm .

Preliminary ideas for conference agenda

• Resources for interpretation: The Mississippi River Valley

• Interpretive methods

• Case studies in natural and cultural interpretation of the Mississippi River

• New institutions and programs in the Valley

• New directions in interpretation

• High-tech interpretation

• Partnerships in Mississippi River interpretation

• Interpretation of Native American history and culture

• Interpretation of African American history and culture

• Interpretation of water resources structures and programs

• Interpretation of the natural environment and ecotourism

• Outcome based and experienced based interpretive planning

• Marketing for interpretive sites and facilities

• Funding for interpretation

• Interpretive exhibit planning, design and contracting and objective driven exhibit planning/design.

• Sustainable interpretation

• Next steps in Mississippi River interpretation

Organizers

Edwin Lyon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Tulane University

Joan Exnicios, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Tulane University

Pat Tiller, National Park Service

Colin MacLachlan, Tulane University

Sponsors

Tulane University

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

National Park Service

Results of Conference

It is anticipated that this conference will result in increased partnership opportunities between the agencies having responsibility for interpretation of the cultural and natural resources of the Mississippi River Valley.

Pre-Conference Workshop