A Sense of Place: Stories of Stewardship from the National Park Service

Project Details

The podcast “A Sense of Place: Stories of Stewardship from the National Park Service” introduces the people who take care of America’s parks. You’ll meet search and rescue rangers. A wilderness manager who called Yosemite National Park home. A cartographer and a writer whose maps and brochures guide visitors.

You’ll see parks in new ways. As experiments in social reform. As places where interpretive rangers and visitors contemplate big ideas. As spaces where the National Park Service aspires to hire a diverse and inclusive workforce. Each episode dives into the Park History Program’s rich oral history archives to find stories that are moving, funny, and wise.

Subjects or Themes

National parks, National Park Service, cultural resources, natural resources, Yosemite National Park, race, gender, African American, cartography

Project Language(s)

English

Time Period

Geographic Location

Project Categories

Content Type

Oral history, images, sound, text

Target Audience(s)

Creators

Lu Ann Jones, oral history program coordinator, Park History Program, National Park Service
Lia Nigro, information specialist, National Park Service
Emma Courtland, podcast producer
Robin Miniter, podcast producer

Year(s)

2019 - 2020

Host Institution / Affiliation / Project Location

National Park Service

Labor and Support

The Park History Program was able to take advantage of National Park Service funding for special projects to hire experienced podcast producers to help us showcase the oral history interviews that we have conducted and archived--and to understand the many decisions that have to be made during podcast production. Production occurred, in fits and starts because of busy schedules, over the course of a year. "A Sense of Place" was a team effort. Podcast producers who were also trained in oral history at Columbia University met the challenge of building audio stories from existing oral history interviews. They guided the development of the eight episode's themes and the narrative arc of the series. The producers and NPS staff collaborated to write and edit scripts. The producers oversaw audio production and music selection, and they coached the podcast host's delivery. An NPS information specialist designed a website to support the podcast and complementary text, photos, maps, and other resources. She also insured that all website elements were accessible for all users.