Tactile, smell, and taste engagement is a durable human urge that interpretation underuses

Evidence

Another characteristic very pronounced in younger children, partly because of their lack of inhibitions but carrying over in no little degree through life, is the love of personal examination through three senses other than sight and hearing. Most notable is the urge to know “what it feels like.” Interpretation in the past has failed to make full use of the opportunities for satisfying this tactile urge, and at present interpretation for children is making much more use of the experience than is that for adults. The naturalists, perhaps, have the best chance to employ the smell and taste experiences, and some of them do it very effectively. At the door of the Little Red Schoolhouse in the Cook County Forest Preserve, I saw a small bag hanging from a nail; the label underneath read something like “Smell it. What is it?” Without a second thought I reached for it and sniffed the herb that was within. My own act was instinctive. — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 348

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle on smell and touch as overlooked interpretive channels — tavernessence reconstruction, ‘Smell it. What is it?’ stations, odor memory as history pedagogy. Could fold into Eco-Justice’s listening/observation method thread.
• XREF: Connects to the polyad’s listening/observation-as-method thread: this is multisensory observation named as pedagogy, parallel to Oliver Sacks’ perceptual accounts and the Course in Miracles-style re-tuning of attention. — connects to: Recreating era-authentic odors belongs to historical interpretation as much as period furniture does — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 351; Urbanization makes preserves the sole source of plant-taste-and-smell knowledge for millions — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 350; Guided trails extend interpretation to smell, taste, touch, and hearing — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 712