Fort Clatsop Administrative History

Interpretation, 1963-1970

Ranger Curt Ahola demonstrating sewing, 1971.
(FOCL photo collection)

When the memorial visitor center was completed and opened to the public in 1963, interpretation was structured to educate the visitor about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its contributions to the development of the nation. During the summer, one or two seasonals were hired to be at the replica to answer visitors' questions about the replica and the Expedition. Because the staff was small, and often not available at the fort, visitor activated audio messages were installed to provide the visitor with a short narrative about the fort and the Expedition's stay during the winter of 1806. All the staff, including the superintendent, spent time at the front desk greeting visitors, answering questions, selling souvenirs from the FCHA sales counter, tallying the number of visitors, and handing out park brochures. Visitation exceeded the numbers expected. School groups visited the memorial regularly on field trips, the numbers doubling from 1963 to 1964 alone. [1]

The visitor center exhibit was designed to treat the entire Expedition, from Jefferson's instructions to the Expedition's end and its consequences. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a wall map, displaying the Expedition's route from Camp Wood, where the Expedition prepared for the trek across the continent, to the Pacific. Sites of important events, points of decision-making, the scientific and geographical information collected along the way, supply and equipment caches, and encounters with American Indian communities were marked along the map. Other exhibits included a discussion of the goals of the Expedition, the construction of Fort Clatsop, the daily routine of life at Fort Clatsop, and the fate of the members after the Expedition. During the development of the visitor center, the memorial was loaned a Northwest Coast style canoe for display as the centerpiece for presenting the Clatsop and Chinook people with whom the Expedition spent the winter. [2] The exhibit also included a diorama depicting the beached whale at Cannon Beach (to which Expedition members travelled in an attempt to procure some of the animal's flesh and oil) and a picture depicting the salt makers' camp at Seaside. Artifacts for the museum exhibit included antique woodworking tools, beaver pelts, sea otter pelt, Northwest American Indian baskets, trade beads and a calumet pipe bowl and stem. While park staff had input into planning the exhibits, the actual exhibits were designed and constructed by NPS exhibit designers at the Western Museum Laboratory in San Francisco, California.

The memorial purchased films about the Expedition, like Encyclopedia Britannica's "The Journals of Lewis and Clark." These films were shown several times daily at the visitor center and also taken to off-site locations, such as Fort Stevens, and shown as part of the fort's outreach programs. Other historical films about western history and American history were purchased over the years. The memorial established a successful film loan program, which is a major portion of its educational outreach programs today. Educational films and videos are loaned to local and regional schools and groups. A slide program, completed and implemented in 1965, was also shown on a regular daily schedule. Created by NPS audio-visual designers, the show consisted of pictures from along the Expedition route and included a taped narration.

During this time period, remodeling projects at the replica continued. According to the memorial's "Historic Structures Report and Furnishings Plan," the replica was to look as though the Expedition members just left, supplying only the idea of their shelter and their furnishings. In 1968, the memorial's revegetation program continued with the planting of trees to screen the replica from the parking lot. The seclusion of the replica from the memorial's modern buildings was desirable to foster an atmosphere similar to that experienced by the Expedition members.

Ranger Curt Ahola demonstrating jerky preparation, 1971.
(FOCL photo collection)

From 1963 to 1970, special interpretive programs celebrated the opening of the visitor center, the 450,000th visitor to the memorial, and the 50th anniversary of the NPS. The memorial also hosted the Oregon Lewis and Clark Trail Commission.

During the 1960s, living history programs and black powder weapons demonstrations gained popularity throughout the National Park Service, especially in the eastern historical sites and battlefields of the American Revolution and Civil War. Living history programs were stimulated through the concept of the living farm and NPS Director George Hartzog encouraged the development of such programs. In 1968, 41 areas reported living history programs and by 1974 the number was 114. [3] In 1968, Fort Clatsop Park Ranger Emmet Nichols began black powder flintlock rifle demonstrations at Fort Clatsop. This demonstration of the weapons and skills of the Expedition would become the key element of the memorial's costumed demonstration programs.