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| Manning the Desk |
I spent
another week within Visitor Services and Resource Education. Most of which, was
spent at the front desk fielding questions and explaining the battlefield’s trail
network. Something different from my experience at the desk a few weeks back
was all the different visitors coming in with Pokémon GO open on their phones.
It’s sort of a touchy subject among staff, but some are embracing it. I believe
it is a good opportunity to rope in a new generation for engagement in Civil
War History. Our education ranger has her work cut out for her in devising a
possible program that incorporates the new game.
I also went on a trip to the
National Archives at College Park. I accompanied the Chief of Museum and
Library Services, her intern, and an intern from the Historic Preservation
Training Center to do research on Antietam. The HPTC intern was attempting to
find information on the Burnside Bridge before the Battle of Antietam. The
Chief of Museum and Library Services was searching for more information on the
time Antietam Battlefield was under the administration of the War Department.
The nature of the research process was impressive. The first thing we did was dig
through binder catalogs for any keywords surrounding the Battle of Antietam. We
got a little creative in some instances by defining key words. Once we found a
promising box, we had to fill out a pull slip and turn it in before the
predefined pull times. The rest of the day was spent looking through various
records that were close to the subject matter. The highlight of the day was
finding the Antietam National Battlefield Master Plan. This document was the
planned transfer of leadership of the site from The War Department to the
National Park Service. The maps included the property line that was color coded
in order to label the historic farm plots and area for further acquisition.
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| The Master Plan |
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| Photograph of Middle Bridge |
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