Six universal principles govern effective heritage interpretation
Evidence
. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile. … 2. . Information, as such, is not interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information. But they are entirely different things. However, all interpretation includes information. … 3. . Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are scientific, historical, or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable. … 4. . The chief aim of interpretation is not instruction but provocation. … 5. . Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase. … 6. Interpretation addressed to children (say, up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it will require a separate program.
— Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 75
Categorization
DEFINE: The six principles themselves, which the reader states is the explicit purpose of this read.
XREF: Principles 4 (provocation not instruction) and 1 (relate to visitor) map to Eco-Justice’s ‘teach’ expansion. — connects to: Tilden designed the six principles to become instinctive habits for interpreters, not textbook rules — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 48; Tilden codified interpretive practice rather than inventing the field — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 68; Interpreters still contest additions to Tilden’s six principles — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 83 (+4 more)