Tilden’s provocation principle derives from Emerson’s Divinity School Address

Evidence

Even though these words were written fifty years ago, for the professional park, museum, or site interpreter none of these principles are outmoded or outdated. Upon first reading them and then comparing them to Tilden’s definition of “interpretation,” the discerning reader may be struck by the seeming contradiction that Tilden conceptualizes interpretation as an “educational activity,” yet he states in principle number four (perhaps the most important of the six) that the chief aim of interpretation is not “instruction” per se but “provocation.” Tilden apparently drew the notion of “provocation” from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1838 Divinity School Address, in which Emerson, in discussing “intuition,” said: “Truly speaking, it is not instruction but provocation, that I can receive from another soul.” — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Shows Tilden’s method of borrowing a pedagogical maxim, analogous to how this course curates cross-field sources. — connects to: Interpretation cannot be fully captured by any single definition — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 70
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what else did Tilden draw from Emerson/Concord transcendentalists for his interpretive philosophy? Later essay ‘Two Concord Men in a Boat’ appears.