Harmony in interpretation requires grounding activity in the site’s own true history

Evidence

On one occasion there was a “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” at Arlington House. Now that is not in harmony, someone might say. But if they did so say, they would be ignorant of the fact that George Washington Parke Custis was noted for his sympathy with the Irish cause of freedom, in that day when it was a burning political question. He wrote an ode to “Young Ireland,” gave many addresses on the subject, and threw himself into the ardent dispute with all his accustomed vigor. It was in harmony, this celebration, and it helped to people that mansion. It was animation. — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 478

Categorization

• XREF: Directly instantiates the earlier claim that interpretive accuracy/harmony must connect to the actual people and history of the place, not generic or anachronistic color. — connects to: Genuine knowledge of a place requires material grounding and crossing disciplinary boundaries — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 543; History as ground must be conceived as an absent cause resisting reification — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 2294; Interpretation must translate scholarly findings into visitors’ lived identification — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 319 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Genuine knowledge of a place requires material grounding and crossing disciplinary boundaries #corroborates (0.75) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 543
• History as ground must be conceived as an absent cause resisting reification #complicates (0.72) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 2294
• A visitor’s understanding is ample once interpretation meets the visitor at their own expertise. #qualifies (0.72) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 541
• Interpretation must translate scholarly findings into visitors’ lived identification #responds-to (0.70) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 319