Last night the Civil War Institute posted a video of National Park Service historian David Larsen discussing issues related to interpretation at historic sites. Larsen worked as a training manager for interpretation at Mather Training Center. Unfortunately, he recently passed away. I am embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of him before last night. This interview was conducted in 2000. I haven’t watched all the videos, but I plan on doing so over the next few days. Below is Part 1. Listen to Larsen’s definition of interpretation, which you can find between minute 3:00 and 4:30.
[Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5]Here is Larsen’s “Gun Talk”.
I only met David a few times, but he was a great interpreter and trainer. At the park where I work we are using his Gun talk video to reexamine how we use a musket in our interpretive programs.
Nice to hear from you Dan. From what I’ve seen I get the sense that David was well liked and highly respected. His passion for history and interpretation comes through vividly.