FORT UNION Administrative History

Figure 12. Acting Chief Ranger T. J. Sperry and Ranger Frank Torres were two key players
during the 1991 living history program.
Courtesy of Fort Union National Monument.

While making progress toward the goal of attracting more visitors, the park interpretive program suffered a temporary setback in 1973. Fifty percent of the permanent staff--administrative clerk Theresa Fulgenzi and Superintendent Claude Fernandez--transferred in June, just before the summer tourist season. Assuming the duty of acting superintendent, chief ranger-historian Robert Arnberger was unable to concentrate on his primary duties. Also the Arab oil embargo of 1973 curtailed American tourism. The gasoline shortage caused a substantial decrease in visitation. The park's offsite talk and presentation schedule became less active for the same reason. [45] The park staff, however, did not await the recovery of visitation. Instead, the new administration, headed by the recently arrived superintendent, Ross Hopkins, worked hard to make the interpretive program more attractive.

The previous experience gained from the rifle and uniform demonstrations revealed to park administrators that a living history program might be successful. In early 1960s, historian Dale Giese introduced an idea of living history for the interpretive program. Occasionally, he arranged for a few "frontiersmen" and horses to wander among the ruins in order to give visitors a sense of frontier life. Since then park personnel had periodically worn old Army uniforms and fired weapons for visitors. Those activities often stimulated people's curiosity to ask questions about the fort's past. [46]

One day, a couple of girls from Texas burst into the visitor center, where historian Bleser was on duty. He was wearing a period reproduction uniform of an 1883 sergeant-major in the 23rd Infantry. The girls asked if there were any Indians around as in the old days. Bleser jokingly replied that there was one right now who was out chopping weeds on the grounds, pointing to Ralph Lujan, a Taos Pueblo youth working at the fort under a ten-week neighborhood youth corps program. Delighted by his presence, the two girls dashed out from the visitor center and ran to Lujan. They asked him to autograph their trail guides. When the girls came back, they topped off Bleser's day by asking, "did you capture him?" [47]

Despite positive reactions from visitors, the uniform and rifle demonstrations did not develop into a living history program until the 1970s. Becoming less creative and energetic in his late years at the fort, Superintendent Hastings, a conservative bureaucrat, showed little interest in such an idea of living history. He neither encouraged nor prevented rangers' initiatives. [48] Under Superintendent Fernandez's administration, living history gained more ground but his short tenure passed the opportunity to develop a living history program along to his successor.

When Superintendent Hopkins, a military history fan, arrived at the fort, he decided to undertake a departure in interpretation by shifting emphasis to living history. Living history in the National Park Service by the early 1970s, had been a "trendy" concept and the thing to do in interpretation. It was natural that Hopkins plunged Fort Union into the living history arena. Intending to attract more visitors, Southwest Regional Director Frank F. Kowski supported Hopkins' approach. [49] In 1973, planning for a living history program became one of the primary goals. As a loyal friend of Fort Union, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association continued its support of visitor services. In September, Hopkins requested financial assistance. The association donated $1,000 as "seed money" to begin the program. The following month the organization gave the monument an additional $4,000 to purchase uniforms, equipment, firearms, and other items. By the end of the year, approximately $6,000 had been donated for the project. [50]

Beginning in April 1974, on weekends, the park staff, dressed in clothing of the nineteenth century, portrayed military and civilian life on the frontier post. Offsite talks and presentations promoted the theme of living history. Anticipating a full-scale program for the busy tourist summer, Hopkins hired three seasonal employees: Walter Hood, C. Susan Love, and Paul S. Shampine, all from the Texas A&M campus. After two months of dress rehearsals, the living history program deputed on June 16. Waiving the regular entrance fee for the day, Superintendent Hopkins extended an invitation to all residents of Las Vegas and the region. At noon, retired regional director Frank F. Kowski and the present director Joseph Rumburg opened Fort Union's living history program by firing the six-pounder howitzer. Echoing the past, it announced the birth of a new era of interpretation. [51]

With daily presentations throughout the summer, the living history program offered visitors a chance to see nineteenth-century frontier life. Shampine wore a blue coated uniform of the First Colorado Volunteers and Hood posed as a civilian craftsman while Love, in bonnet and wide-skirted calico dress, portrayed an army wife. In front of tents erected behind the visitor center, they demonstrated to visitors the daily routines of frontier army life. The more popular reenactment included woodstove cooking, cloth dying, soap making, candle dipping, and weapons firing. In order to make the program more meaningful, the living history personnel involved visitors. For instance, one Sunday the park rangers were making plum duff dumplings. Instead of watching, some visitors stepped in to knead the dough. After they were cooked, the dumplings were handed out for the visitors to taste. [52] Although many of these replica uniforms and primitive demonstrations were not historically accurate, they stimulated the visitor's interest in the ruins. As the Denver Post said, people felt that they had "relived at old Fort Union." [53]

The living history demonstrations recessed over the winter and resumed the following May. To do an even better job in the second season, chief ranger Robert Hoff and seasonal ranger Stephen Walker went to Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas to participate in a Park Service course, "Camp of Military Instruction." [54] During the week of intensive training, they learned much about military life, which helped improve the living history program. A few days after they returned, the monument's living history program began another season.

To kick off the living history program for the summer of 1975, Susan Love and Paul Shampine were married in an unusual style at the fort on June 8, creating much drama for the opening day. Everyone who attended the wedding--bride, groom, flower girls, bridesmaids, parents, and even the Methodist minister Terry Voss--was clad in period clothing. Because this was the first wedding held at Fort Union since the 1880s, it received considerable publicity. Several local and regional newspapers including the Denver Post reported the event with detailed articles and photos. [55]

During the second season, the living history program improved in both quantity and quality. As part of the demonstration, the interpreters kept fresh ground coffee, which was the frontier soldiers' main beverage, hot and available for sampling. Occasionally, visitors tasted the soldier's typical meal of salt pork and hardtack. For the first time, a blacksmith's forge operated near the tents. Among the interpretive personnel, each individual had specific assignments. In addition to his performance, he was required to tell of his unit's role in the past, explaining all related topics to the visitors. [56] The park rangers no longer waited for a crowd. They were as likely to be talking to two people as to twenty-five. [57]

Both the visitors and the staff, but particularly the latter, were delighted with the results of the living history program. The well-prepared program not only stimulated the public's desire to ask more questions but also induced them to stay at the site longer than before. Where the average visitors used to spend an hour at Fort Union, they were now likely to be there twice as long. Visits of four or five, and even six hours, were not unusual. [58] The magnetism of living history was amazing.

The park administration exploited the success of the living history project by extending it beyond the monument's boundaries. Whenever there was an opportunity to give a talk or a demonstration in the local community, Fort Union sent its personnel. The biggest offsite presentation of 1975 took place at the De Vargas Shopping Center in Santa Fe. Because of inflation and the energy shortage of the previous year, the state of New Mexico and the Park Service promoted local tourism aimed at New Mexicans. Encouraging people to "rediscover" New Mexico, the state government and the Southwest Regional Office co-sponsored an "inflation vacation exhibition" at the De Vargas Mall from June 11 to 14. While all eleven national park sites in the state shared a booth, Fort Union had its separate display with the theme of "living history in the Old West." Led by Shampine and Love, the Fort Union team, all in period clothing, contributed the event's best presentation. [59]