INDE Week 12

Tomorrow is our last day at Independence National Historical Park and it seemed to come out of nowhere. It feels like just yesterday that we were being issued our i.d. cards and badges and going on our first tour of the park. Since then, we have met hundreds, if not thousands of people from around the world, worked special events, aided injured visitors, walked in a parade, got to handle historical artifacts, play a reproduction glass armonica, traveled to Washington D.C., survived Leadership Camp, witnessed the 20 millionth visitor to the Independence Visitor Center, saw mayors, former governors, potential presidential candidates, Charlie Manuel, and so much more. It has been a great time, and we couldn't have worked with a better park staff.


During our last week here, we got a chance to meet up with the Valley Forge ProRangers and have a brief training and practice with the fire arms trainging simulator. As our instructor, Ranger Hopf put it, "it's like a Wii on steroids". The simulator puts you in realistic situations with individuals that could be in any park, and allows you to learn the best way to deal with an unknown situation, and when to use force.

The system is a great learning tool for siutational awareness, assesing people's behavior, decision making, reaction time, firearms accuracy, and much more.

Independence Naational Historical Park (Week of Aug 1st)

As the weeks wind down here at Independence National Historical Park we have been working primarily with the law enforcement rangers in the park. We got a bit of a taste earlier in the summer, but not to this extent. We have been going on routine foot patrols with various rangers and ensuring that all areas of the park are safe for visitors and local residents alike. Being in the center of a large city, the LE rangers at Independence have to deal with a lot of the same issues that the local city police have to deal with, while also performing their various duties for the park. One of those tasks for the park that we were able to help with was the collection and deposit of the donations.

Along with Ranger Vauls, we aided in the transportation and counting of several thousand dollars in coins that were donated to The Friends Of Independence National Historical Park over the last few months.

Then, we were able to help the Safety Officer here at the park to compile, organize and distribute the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for all the chemicals that are used within the park. These forms contain all the information that is needed for the safe storage and handling of the chemicals, as well as instructions on what to do should there be an accident involving the chemicals. The MSDS sheets are key to operating any park safely.

As the week went on, we were able to shadow some of the law enforcement rangers as they were called to handle several less-than-willing individuals in the park. We were able to see firsthand the physical tactics that these rangers learn throughout their career. The way they were able to stabilize an escalationg situation so smoothly and with relative ease really says alot about the training that we will be receiving.

Independence National Historical Park..Update

While just settling back into work after our amazing week at Leadership Camp, I thought I would include a few photos from the 4th of July which we didn't get to post before we left.

The events of the 4th of July had been building more than a week ahead. Since Philadelphia, and more specifically, Independence Hall is often considered the birthplace of our country, what better place to hold the historic celebration.

The events culminated with a parade down Chestnut and Market Streets in Philadelphia, and thanks to The Friends of Independence National Historical Park, a group that we work with closely at the park, we were given the opportunity to walk in the parade and be the center of attention among the thousands of people who were there watching.

We then broke for leadership camp, then when we returned we were able to spend a few days with the Administration department (now called Business Services). While many people see this as a dryer more sedate part of the park service, Business Services are integral in almost every aspect of the park, from land acquisition, contracting, buying, uniform regulations and ordering, and controlling the parks near 25 million dollar budget, and much more. It gave us a great and different perspective on how much work is involved in everything that gets done within the park.

We are looking forward to our upcoming day with the Public Relations department..

Independence National Historical Park Week 5

This past week, Sarah and I had the privilege to work with the CRM or Cultural Resource Management department for an in-depth look at what makes Independence National Historical Park one of few "Icon" parks in the region. The CRM department includes the historians, archivists, museum curators, archaeologists, and historical architects that overlook all of the historical and cultural assets here at the park.

Our week started out in the archive department. In addition to be given a tour of the facility that houses most of the park records and important documents, we were given an idea of how they manage so much information. However, because many of the important documents and records predate computers, the department has the massive task of cataloging all of the information digitally. This is important so that future generations will be able to benefit from the information that has been collected here.

Part of our task while working in the department was organizing some of the archival photographs of Independence Hall. It gave us an interesting look at how the hall has changed over the past 100+ years.

It was really interesting to see even how work practices have changed over the years. While it may be difficult to see at this size, but the above picture from the early 20th century shows two painters painting the highest points on Independence Hall. Something tells me OSHA would have a problem with their method today....

Later in the week, we got to spend some time with the museum collections here at the park. There are several facilities around the park that house the vast collections in temperature and climate controlled environments to ensure they last as long as possible.

We then helped do a museum inventory that must be done multiple times a year to ensure no part of the collection goes missing. We were able to handle some artifacts and tools that date back to the 1700s. It was interesting to learn that many museums only display a small fraction of what is actually in their collection, and Independence National Park is no exception.

Hopefully we can update after we get to spend some time with the resident archaeologists and historical architect here at the park.

Independence Week 3

Week three has brought us to the maintenance department, which some have called the heartbeat of the park. We began the week meeting Jean Marra, the chief of maintenance here at INDE. He explained the integral role that all the different maintenance divisions play in keeping the park running in a safe, clean and presentable fashion. We were shown the FMSS and PMIS programs that manage work orders, and spent some time in the Purchasing department to see how they can possibly manage all the materials that are needed to keep the busy park in service.


90+ degree weather and Polyester shirts were no match for us, or the rest of the grounds crew. We spent some time mulching and planting some Wave Petunias along the Liberty Bell block in preparation for the upcoming Freedom Week festivities. It was an eye-opener to see all the hard work that these grounds crews do everyday. They were even kind enough to give us some tips for staying cool and functional as the temperatures climbed.


Then moving to the exact opposite side of the temperature spectrum, we were able to spend the better part of one of our days in the chiller plant. In order to efficiently cool many of the historical buildings throughout the park, the chiller plant cools and pumps massive amounts of chilled water through a maze of underground pipe-work to the various buildings throughout the park. The sheer size and magnitude of this operation is amazing.

Here I am inspecting a section of pipe that runs underneath Independence Hall. This type of system is vital to a historical park like INDE because in order to best preserve the centuries-old structures and artifacts, regulating the humidity and temperature of the buildings is absolutely necessary.

Independence National Park- Week 1

Our first week at Independence National Park in Philadelphia has been nothing short of amazing. Sarah and I were both very excited to get started, but were not quite sure what to expect. However, our supervisor, Paula Rissel immediately helped us to feel right at home. She introduced us to dozens of people from all different divisions within the park, and everyone was extremely welcoming.

Our first few days were spent learning the organization and layout of the park. Located in downtown Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park is not very large in size compared to other National Parks, however, it services thousands of visitors every day. As the week went on, we toured all of the buildings controlled by the park, and tried to soak up as much historical knowledge as possible. We were given guides from both the Law Enforcement side and the Historic Interpretation side, which gave us vastly different perspectives on the inner-workings as well as historical significance of the park.

Independence National Historical Park also has a close relationship with the National Constitution Center (which is on park land, but not run by the park), so in order to be able to aid visitors to the park, as well as brush up on our history, we were given the opportunity to tour the NCC and see all of the exhibits.

Sarah was pumped that she got to arm-wrestle Ben Franklin in Founders Hall here at the NCC

More recently, we have been working with the Interpretation and Visitor Resource department, which is essentially the front line of the operation here at Inde. Individuals in the Interpretation department serve as guides and information aids for all the visitors to the park. They are the ones responsible for leading tours through the various buildings, providing the history and explanations of the various exhibits and artifacts, as well as keeping general order in the occasionally hectic areas of the park.

We were even able to spend some time at the front desk at the Independence Visitor Center. Because of the historical significance of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, this park is one of the premier destinations for people visiting Philadelphia not just from across the country, but from around the world! Thousands of people walk through these doors every day, and for some, it is their first visit to site where the U.S. gained its independence, and for others, it is a refresher course from that field trip they took here in 5th grade.

The more seasoned staff gave us all the information we needed to know, and were extremely helpful when we were unsure of an answer. Sarah and I had a great time hearing all of the different accents throughout the day, and agreed that it was very rewarding being able to help people through the park.