Those tasked with interpreting the significance of historical sites like Mount Vernon must weave together the often contradictory threads that contribute to the nation’s story.
Allison Wickens, Vice President of Education at the Mount Vernon historical site, provides some background on historic preservation and interpretation efforts at George Washington’s home, a site weighed down by a complex tapestry of some of the most significant, most impactful, and most shameful aspects of American history.
According to Wickens, “Historic interpretation happens at the intersection of the historic site, the visitors who come to it and the staff who ascribe meaning based on their scholarship and the society in which their institution exists.” In the case of Washington, his leadership of the early republic is marred by slaveownership, while his warnings about political partisanship ring truer than ever.
Historical interpreters must not ‘interpret nostalgia,’ as Wickens puts it, although it is up to visitors to decide whether Mount Vernon’s presentation of Washington’s legacy successfully avoids this trap. For Wickens, “Successful historic interpretation allows us to see ourselves in the past, but it also energizes us to be involved in the world around us today while also looking ahead.”
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