You are on page 1of 11

8th US/ICOMOS International Symposium

Interpretation Along Route 66


by: Taylor, Michael R.; Kaisa Barthuli; Andrea Sharon

“…the path and road stood for some intense experience: freedom, new human
relationships, a new awareness of the landscape. The road offered a journey into the
unknown that could end up allowing us to discover who we were and where we
belonged.” John Brinkerhoff Jackson, A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time

Introduction
The challenges of interpreting significant cultural corridors are many, and often include
complexities of geographic distance, layering of history, and diversity of cultural themes.
Historic Route 66 characterizes many of these challenges, as the corridor is more than
2,400 miles in length; and passes through hundreds of communities along the length of
the route. An additional challenge is the corridor’s relationship to the recent past, a period
of time that is often under-valued or little understood.
This paper will discuss how the National Park Service (NPS) Route 66 Corridor
Preservation Program is working with stakeholders including private property owners,
nonprofit organizations, and government agencies, to address issues of interpretation
along the cultural corridor. The NPS program, established in 2001, is directed by the
United States Congress to provide financial and technical assistance to stakeholders for
historic preservation of the corridor. One of the roles of the NPS program is to encourage
and support grassroots interpretive initiatives, in a deliberate effort to maintain the
“idiosyncratic nature of the Route” (Public Law 106-45.) The diversity of interpretive
medium and approaches such as wayside exhibits, museum and visitor center exhibits,
oral history, and literature is presented in the paper. The needs, strengths, and effects of
these grassroots interpretive efforts are discussed.

Historic Automobile Highways and the Significance of Route 66

The United States ushered in the automobile age in the early part of the 20th century, and
with it came the symbiotic relationship of the car and the highway. History will look at
this car culture era as pivotal in how people interact and conduct their daily lives. Auto
highways can unite and provide efficient means to travel long distances. But they can
also divide as witnessed by highways slicing through neighborhoods of the
disenfranchised, separating the “haves” from the “have nots”. Highways have dictated
how we live today, and how our city and suburban plans have developed.

As J. B. Jackson states in A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time, “… the road has long
suffered from neglect by historians and students of the landscape: dismissed as an
unsightly, elongated, crooked space used by merchants and ravaging armies and highway
robbers…”

1
Historic automobile highways throughout the world are finally being considered as
important parts of our 20th century heritage. Highways such as the German autobahn
system, the early scenic Swiss auto routes, the Pan American Highway, and the designed
roads within the U.S. National Parks are just a few examples. Even the U.S. interstate
system, considered by many to be the largest man-made structure in the world, is gaining
recognition as a seminal social phenomena that has changed, for better or worse, the way
people interact and travel.

Route 66 is one of the best known of these highways. Even though its period of
significance spanned only six decades from 1926 to 1970, the name of this historic
corridor is recognizable by millions of people all over the world. Some would be reticent
to consider placing Route 66 in the same category with other historic routes in the world
such as the Silk Road, Camino de Santiago, the Tokaido Road, and the many Caminos
Reales in the former Spanish Empire. However, Route 66 is representative of the
enormous significance and large-scale impact of the automobile on the development,
history, and culture of America. It is unique among other historic automobile highways
because of its phenomenal relationship with the arts, and its popularity as an all-weather
route connecting the industrial Midwest to the California coast.
Created in 1926, Route 66 cut across America through eight states from Chicago to Los
Angeles linking rural communities to urban ones, and permitting an unprecedented flow
of ideas and economic growth across the country. It saw the migration of Dust Bowl
refugees; World War II troop movement; large-scale settlement of the West; and the
advent of car culture and automobile tourism. For many people in the United States, the
highway has come to symbolize the spirit and freedom of America, and the pursuit of the
American Dream. It has gained legendary status through literature, song, film, television,
and personal experiences, and represents an important developmental chapter in
American history.
The National Park Service and Route 66
Historic automobile highways are similar in many respects to officially designated
National Historic Trails (such as the Oregon and Santa Fe) in that they are linear cultural
resources with stories to tell, many of them thousands of miles long, crossing diverse
cultural landscapes, and representing diverse public and private ownerships. However,
historic highways differ from historic trails in that most historic highways are still in use,
thus posing the challenge of balancing growth and safety needs of the traveling public
with the need to preserve the character defining features of the highway. There is also no
established program to deal exclusively with the preservation of historic highways in the
United States, as there is with historic trails through the National Trails System Act of
1968. Nonetheless, in response to the public’s desire to preserve the rich resources of
what many have termed the “Mother Road,” the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program
was established by Congressional directive. This unique program is administered by the
National Park Service’s National Trails System in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Designed as a
“seed,” or stimulus, program, it is scheduled to legislatively terminate at the end of fiscal
year 2009, at which time a non-federal entity (or entities) will continue the program’s

2
purpose. Route 66 is the first automobile highway in the United States to receive multi-
year funding from Congress to assist in its preservation and continued use.
The program collaborates with private property owners; non-profit organizations; and
local, state, federal, and tribal governments to identify, prioritize, and address Route 66
preservation needs. It provides cost-share grants to successful applicants for the
preservation and restoration of the most significant and representative properties dating
from the route’s period of outstanding historical significance. These properties include
the familiar transportation related properties such as motels, gas stations, cafés; the
engineered road and associated road features such as bridges, culverts, and guard rails;
and the all encompassing cultural landscapes.
Cost-share grants are also available for research, planning, oral history, interpretation,
and education/outreach projects related to Route 66, for the purpose of gaining insight
into the history, context and significance of the highway, as well as to preserve the stories
and experiences of the people and culture of the road. The program also serves as a
clearinghouse of preservation information, and provides limited technical assistance.

National Park Service and Interpretation

NPS has been a leader and role model in professional interpretation in the United States
and internationally for many decades. In the 1950s, NPS hired Freeman Tilden, a
journalist, to visit the national parks and evaluate their interpretive programs. After
visiting many park areas, viewing many indoor and outdoor exhibits, and attending many
ranger-led interpretive programs, Tilden developed several principals that defined
effective interpretation. These principals were the “mantra” for professional interpreters
up until 1996. At that time NPS reevaluated and updated their definition of effective
interpretation. Almost ten years later, this new definition has been accepted by most of
the other land management agencies in the USA as well as non-federal visitor-use
facilities such as museums, state and local parks, private nature centers, etc.

The biggest shift in the definition of interpretation is that rather than the ranger,
volunteer, docent, etc. providing the interpretation for the visitor; the interpretation
happens within the visitor. So, a personal service such as a guided walk, or a non-
personal service such as a museum exhibit, provides the visitor an interpretive
opportunity. It is up to the visitor as to whether they take that opportunity or not.

The essence of this “opportunity” is that it provide the visitor a connection to the
emotional and intellectual values inherent in the resource. The person and/or the media
serves as a catalyst for the visitor to make those connections. The emotional connections
are those “universal” concepts that we as human share regardless of culture, country, or
continent. These would include family, community, safety, fear, love, death, hate,
survival, etc.

One of Tilden’s concepts that has not changed in 50 years is the essence of why we even
provide interpretive opportunities in the first place, and that is—through interpretation
comes understanding; through understanding comes appreciation; and through
appreciation comes protection. We protect those things we appreciate!

3
The application of interpretive techniques along historic corridors is different from those
within the boundaries of a National Park. Usually there is no controlled visitor
experience, and there are no entrance stations. Many travelers along historic corridors are
“accidental tourists” who may suddenly see a sign indicating they are on an historic
route, or find a wayside exhibit along the road that interprets the location in context with
the corridor. The stop at a wayside exhibit may be just to get out and stretch after hours at
the wheel. The challenge is to transform these people’s momentary interest into
captivation.

Interpretation that is effective, and that makes places come alive, is usually brief. It gets
to core ideas quickly (Payne). NPS interpretive strategies strive to stimulate that
exhilarating sense of connection with place, and to bring to life the most compelling
aspects of a story. Interpretation that presents large amounts of text or too many panels,
tends to interfere with the visitor’s ability to experience the story that is waiting to be
conveyed. The profession has learned when to interpret, and when not to interpret; what
to interpret and what not interpret. It has evolved to be sensitive to the country’s multi-
cultural complexity. The NPS philosophy is in-line with the philosophy put forth in the
Ename ICOMOS Draft Charter, in that “interpretive programs must play second fiddle to
the actual place, that they remain discreet; and that the authenticity of the site – in
whatever way the host culture or associated communities may conceive it to be – never
be sacrificed for the sake of an interpretive program” (US/ICOMOS Newsletter, number
3, third quarter of 2004). Of course, along a 2,400 mile route such as Route 66, there are
many opportunities for interpretation without being obtrusive.

Route 66, NPS, and Interpretation

In the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Act of 1999 that established the NPS Route 66
Corridor Preservation Program, Congress directed that:

“The Secretary (of Interior) shall assist in the preservation of the Route 66
corridor in a manner that is consistent with the idiosyncratic nature of the Route
66 corridor”

There are probably very few instances in which Congress has used the word
“idiosyncratic” in an official congressional Act. What was Congress’ intent? From a
number of public scoping meetings held along the 2,400 mile route in the 1990s, NPS
heard requests for the federal government to provide technical assistance and cost-share
grant funds for preservation. Implied in these meetings was the desire to not have the
federal government develop an overall interpretative plan or approach for the route, but
rather to maintain the idiosyncratic character of the route through various interpretive
media expressed locally along the road by grassroots, local, and/or regional entities. In its
Route 66 Special Resource Study, NPS stressed to Congress the importance of the
idiosyncratic nature of the road.

4
The Act also states: “The Secretary (of Interior) shall develop a program of technical
assistance in the preservation and interpretation of the Route 66 corridor.” The key
word here is assistance. The Act does not instruct the federal government to lead or
manage interpretation. So what role can the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program play
in interpreting the corridor?

Route 66 - Fact and Fiction


America has always had a love for the highway. The arts have nurtured this obsession
with roads through such works as: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, William Least
Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways, the movie Easy Rider, and the plethora of songs written
about highway travel, such as Get Your Kicks on Route 66. The most widely known
image of Route 66 is the one of two young Anglo men in a corvette from the Route 66
television show who are looking to find themselves on the open road. The story evokes
the “good old days” of the 1960s with fast cars, wide open spaces, roadside architecture,
and beautiful people filling the screen. Re-runs of these episodes are still being shown in
Europe and Asia and are one of the reasons for such widespread international recognition.

But how about the lesser known stories? There are many layers of history to be told along
most historic corridors, and Route 66 is no exception. Much of Route 66 follows the 35th
parallel that has served as a natural travel corridor for millennia. Along many parts of the
route, traces of the Trail of Tears, the Santa Fe Trail and the Camino Real de Tierra
Adentro National Historic Trails are underneath the pavement. There are many American
Indian stories to be told, many stories of the early Spanish and French exploration and
settlements, and the later conquering of the West by the Anglo culture. During the time
Route 66 was commissioned, the road was known as Bloody 66 because of the tragic
accidents caused by traffic congestion and fast cars. There are many stories as well about
how Route 66 was rerouted around downtown areas to alleviate congestion, leaving
businesses along the former route without customers. Termed the Road of Flight in
Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Route 66 was used as a migrant route for people searching
for better lives during the Depression. There was segregation of services along the road,
as there were along most roads throughout the country. Even though the road was public,
the services were not. If you were Black and traveling along the route up until the 1960s,
you could not sleep at just any motel, or eat at just any restaurant, or gas up at just any
filling station. You had to know where to stop for the services, or you were in trouble.
This was also many times the case with Latinos, Indians, and other minorities.

Identification of existing types of interpretation on the road

The road interprets itself


Interpretation of Route 66 is really the experiencing of Route 66. In many ways it
interprets itself. Even though Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1985, 85% of it
can still be driven. Route 66 is traveled by thousands of people every year who are
seeking an “authentic” American experience. The route has become a heritage tourism
destination for regional; national; and especially, international travelers. This heritage
tourism brings economic enrichment to many small, rural communities. Travelers want to
experience the car culture on the open road, the wide-open spaces, traveling for days

5
without borders, visiting drive-in theatres and drive-up diners. The visitor knows that to
travel Route 66 is to experience the “real thing”; that is, the authentic, idiosyncratic
America, which is very different from the formulaic Disneylands. Route 66 has no
pretensions, no waitresses with canned chained mantras such as “my name is Laura and I
will be your server today”. The waitresses, and other service professions, are often the
best, first person, interpreters the road offers.

The sensory stimuli of the open road make the experiences real and alive: the slower pace
of two lane roads, opened car windows where you can experience muggy air, or a brisk,
fall chill. The “thump, thump” of the car traveling over the concrete-seamed road. The
smell of horse pastures and freshly cut hay. The sights of the landscape, of billboards
enticing travelers to stop to see live rattlesnakes, of farmers in the fields, of vernacular
house and vernacular art, of the roadside architecture with its gas stations, cafes, and
motels. The sounds of nature, of local radio stations such as the ones in Navajo through
western New Mexico announcing specials at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. The contours of
the road as it winds around hills and mesas, instead of through them. The commonplace,
the vernacular, becomes special. For many, these sensory experiences don’t need to be
interpreted.

Guidebooks/maps
One of the most widely used forms of interpretation is the guidebooks and maps that have
been developed by historians, researchers, nonprofit groups, and others. These are
available for travel in the individual states, and also for the national route. As different
authors produce them, they vary in their approach, content, and format, and are typically
readily available through bookstores, and Internet sources.

Signs/markers
Since Route 66 was decommissioned, the various Departments of Transportation (DOT),
in collaboration with Route 66 Associations and tourism offices, have marked exits along
the interstates (that usually parallel Route 66 by within a half-mile) with distinctive
“Historic Route 66” signs. In addition, many DOTs have marked the actual highway
corridor to serve as pathfinders for those traveling the route. Some of the historic
properties along the corridor have signs that have been installed by either private business
owners, or by non-profit organizations. Within the last few years, Hampton Inn has
placed 66 interpretive “points of interest” signs, with the company logo and a brief
description of the property’s history, at prominent transportation-related properties along
the route. Hampton’s placement of these signs were many times done with media fanfare
and work days where Hampton Inn employees would refurbish an historic property.

Visitor centers/rest stops


Each of the eight states has visitor centers and/or rest stops for the traveling public on the
interstates near Route 66. Many of these facilities direct travelers to the old road, and
provide informational brochures about Route 66. Some are Route 66 themed where the
public is made aware of the Route’s importance through interpretive panels, three
dimensional exhibits and audio/visual media. Two states that have capitalized on this are
Texas and Illinois.

6
Wayside exhibits
There are numerous pull-offs along the corridor where wayside exhibits have been
installed by various entities. These range from a wayside exhibit installed by the Illinois
Route 66 Association interpreting a barn roof billboard; to wayside exhibits prepared and
installed by the U.S. Forest Service interpreting historic road beds west of Flagstaff,
Arizona; to the Bureau of Land Management interpreting the road alignment through the
Mohave Desert. There are instances as well of schools becoming actively involved with
interpreting the road. For example, a high school teacher in Towanda, Illinois developed
course curriculum that involved his students in a multi-year project to develop and install
outdoor interpretive panels on an abandoned two-lane stretch of Route 66 pavement,
which now serves as a walking trail for both visitors and the local community.

Independent and city museums


Active interpretation along the corridor appears in small to medium sized museums
operated by local municipalities, non-profit groups such as Route 66 Associations, and
individuals. The majority of the exhibits in the museums are designed and implemented
by local volunteers or paid local staff. The style and content of exhibits often depends on
the amount of staffing and annual budgets. Some are open part-time or by appointment
only. Many combine the interpretation of local Route 66 history with the history and
traditions of the locale. Some of these museums have received public funding to design
and implement the exhibits, and in some instances, to build a museum building or
rehabilitate a historic structure such as a gas station or café for exhibit space. Others are
developed by private and locally raised funds. There may be as many as thirty of these
types of facilities along the route.

Larger museums
There are a few larger museums, two of which are run by the states of Oklahoma and
Missouri, whose purpose is to exclusively interpret Route 66. These facilities have
professionally designed and fabricated exhibits, and full time staffs, along with a core of
docents who work to provide visitor services. Other larger museums are not located on
Route 66, but have incorporated Route 66 exhibits. Of particular note is the Smithsonian
National History Museum in Washington D.C. which has installed its largest exhibit ever
titled “America on the Move”, in which Route 66 is one of the main themes interpreted.

Oral histories
Highways such as Route 66 are unique in that many people who traveled the road,
worked at its businesses, or built the roadway, are still alive, their stories begging to be
captured. These first person stories make places come alive. Over the years, there have
been scores of oral histories recorded that have been used to interpret the history of the
road. Most of these have been collected by local historical societies or libraries. Many of
these have been used for interpretation at museums and for published articles.

Other interpretive media


In addition to the afore mentioned interpretive media, each state has a Route 66
Association that produces a newsletter or magazine. The extent and type of material

7
covered in the publications varies from state to state. Many of these are available to the
traveling public along the route at restaurants, motels, visitor centers, etc.

There are two national publications that come out quarterly: The Route 66 Federation
News and the Route 66 Magazine. Each publishes articles on research/preservation
related topics, and popular stories about the corridor.

There are frequent articles that appear in the more popular outlets such as the
Smithsonian and Sunset magazines. In addition, numerous videos and other
documentaries have been produced that interpret the popular culture of the road. One
documentary titled Route 66: Neon Road, funded in part by the NPS Route 66 Corridor
Preservation Program, documents the restoration of ten neon signs in New Mexico as told
from the business owners and sign makers perspectives. This documentary, aired
nationally on public television stations, recently won a Rocky Mountain Emmy award for
best cultural documentary.

The Route 66 logo, typified by the Route 66 highway shield, can be found all around the
world. Numerous businesses, having nothing to do with Route 66, have picked up on its
usage.

Analysis of existing interpretation


How do the existing interpretive media effect the visitor experience and what is learned?
Many times, the small, local interpretive efforts can be just as effective at interpreting the
story as the larger, professionally designed exhibits. They are eclectic and unpredictable,
like the road itself. There is a good mix of local, regional, and national perspectives
presented. Granted, some locally designed exhibits may be too text heavy; others may not
be exhibiting materials that are sensitive to ambient conditions such as light and
humidity. But what is alluring to the visitor is the local story of what the road meant to
people: the truck drivers, the café waitresses, the gas station attendants, the road
maintenance crews, the citizens of the communities interacting with the mass flow of
humanity at their front door step every day.

There is the danger of “too many” interpretative stops along the corridor. If there is not
communication among stakeholders along the road, duplication of interpretive stories can
occur, thus running the risk of “boring” the traveler. The “authentic experience” is also
impacted if there is a preponderance of buildings preserved like house museums
(interpretive stops). The challenge is to develop a good balance of interpretive stops, with
buildings that are being used to service the community or traveler, such as motels, cafes,
and gas stations. A positive example is the Palm’s Grill in Atlanta, Illinois. The building
had been used as a café when Route 66 was active, but has not operated as such for a
number of years. After much discussion among the community members as to whether
the property should serve as a visitor center, where one could read about its use as a
former diner, the community instead decided to rehabilitate it as a diner where one can
actually eat a good mid-western meal and learn about its history and the town’s history
from the employees. This is experiencing, and interpreting, the road at its best.

8
The oral histories that have been collected in the past vary in quality, content, and media
durability. Most of these oral histories are not easily accessible to the public or to
researchers wishing to learn more about a particular subject. Up until recently, there was
not a planned effort to interview a good cross-section of persons who had been affected
by the road.

With such a mix of interpretive media, and entities producing the media, there is varied
quality in the visitor experience. This is in line with the sense of independence and
idiosyncratic nature of the corridor, but can have the potential of providing the visitor
with information that can be overly redundant, incomplete, or perhaps not reliable,
making it difficult for the visitor to gain a comprehensive perspective of the road.

Response by NPS
The assistance role NPS is playing in the interpretation of Route 66 is multi-faceted.

Inventory
NPS is creating an inventory of existing interpretive facilities, with annotations as to what
and where the road is interpreted, and to what level. NPS plans on providing a forum for
communication and information sharing between groups. The program is already sharing
information with local, state, federal interpretive initiatives on request.

Developing Historical Context and Statements of Significance


Resources of the recent past present special challenges. In the case of Route 66, its close
relationship with popular culture, for example, has resulted with some frequency in the
creation of romanticized interpretations of the highway, at the expense of historical fact.

The NPS program has been instrumental in updating or developing historic contexts in
most of the states through which the highway passes, as well as an overall national
historic context to help alleviate this issue. These contexts are the basis under which
individual National Register nominations are prepared. Each of these contexts contains
information about the history and significance of the road that is concise and multi-
faceted. They put into context the societal issues during the period of significance, as well
as discuss the impacts the road had on such groups as Indians, Blacks, Latinos, road
builders, the trucking industry, and the local businesses. These contexts are available on
the NPS program web site and are available to all media sources. Tied in with this
initiative is the nomination of fifty transportation-related properties along the road. These
nominations can also be used for interpretation at various media outlets such as visitor
centers, museums, informational brochures, etc. As a result of the national register
nomination work, a National Register Travel Itinerary is being developed on the web that
will enable heritage tourists to access information through a GIS program about National
Register properties along the route.

NPS Interpretive Standards


NPS Interpretive Standards are already being shared with partners through our web site
and by one-on-one visits when requested. These standards range from how to develop an
effective story line, to how to fabricate cost-efficient, durable wayside exhibits.

9
Interpretive staff within the National Trails System can also provide the highest quality of
mentoring and training when requested by partners along the route.

Resource guide
The Program also distributes a resource guide in hard copy and on the web that lists
various private foundations and government sources that provide funding for design and
implementation of exhibits, or other interpretive media such as wayside exhibits and
brochures along the corridor. Training opportunities are also posted, such as those
through the AASLH (American Association of State and Local History), and the National
Endowment for the Humanities.

Oral History
The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is in its third year of an oral history project
in which ten oral history workshops have been held along the route to instruct amateurs
on the techniques of collecting oral histories from a cross-section of informants, and how
to use these stories in the future for interpretation. The project has also inventoried,
annotated, and conducted a condition assessment of the oral histories encountered from
over four hundred entities queried, and is investigating which archival repositories would
be most accessible and responsible to house oral history collections from each state.

Conclusions

The NPS Program has been fulfilling its directive from the U.S. Congress to maintain the
idiosyncratic nature of the route, and to assist with its interpretation. Part of the eclectic
experience of traveling Route 66 is appreciating, and learning from, the various types of
grassroots interpretive media sprinkled among the small towns and rural businesses.
These represent the wonderful stories already being told on the road. NPS offers
assistance in telling these stories in ways that can enhance the visitor experience.

Cultural corridors are, in essence, linear heritage sites that should have a prominent role
in discussions dealing with heritage site interpretation as outlined in the ICOMOS Ename
Charter for the Interpretation of Cultural Heritage Sites (third draft). The NPS Route 66
Corridor Preservation Program embraces the charter’s objectives, and acknowledges that
interpretation of cultural corridors is an integral part of the preservation process and
fundamental to positive preservation outcomes.

The ICOMOS Specialized Committee on Cultural Corridors has been very active in
promoting an understanding and appreciation among ICOMOS members and the general
public for the importance of cultural corridors. The thoughtful work evident in the Ename
Charter draft, compliments the current initiatives of the Cultural Corridors Specialized
Committee.

Professional affiliation of the authors:

10
Michael Taylor, Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program Manager, NPS; voting member
of the ICOMOS Specialized Committee on Cultural Corridors
Kaisa Barthuli, Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program Assoc. Program Manager, NPS
Andrea Sharon, Interpretive Specialist, National Trails System – IMR, NPS

Bibliography

Jackson, John Brinkerhoff. A Sense of Place a Sense of Time. New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 1994.

Lowenthal, David. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: The Cambridge


University Press, 1985.

“the challenge of interpreting heritage places.” US/ICOMOS Newsletter number 3 –


third quarter of 2004

Payne, Cherry. “Pearls on a String.” CRM, Cultural Resource Management, Volume 20,
No. 1, 1977.

United States Department of Interior, National Park Service. Wayside Exhibit Guidelines.
National Center for Recreation and Conservation and Harpers Ferry Center, 1998

United States Government, National Park Service Special Resource Study/Route 66.
Denver Service Center, 1995

11

You might also like