A. A necessary ingredient of a successful public humanities project is interaction between the humanities scholars and non-academic members of the community. How well did these groups cooperate in this project?

This project did not lend itself well to extensive interaction with the general public, nor was it designed to do that until near the end when we prepared to present the characters since it primarily involved research to develop characters for presentation. We had intended to participate in a public meeting announcing the final report of the Taskforce on the Future of Columbus-Belmont State Park, since the taskforce, or more properly the project director's participation in the taskforce, was the genesis of the project idea, but that meeting was not held during the project period as expected. Throughout the project we were primarily concerned with identifying viable characters who met the criteria we established for inclusion and researching them as thoroughly as possible. [See Note A] Due to changes in federal funding, discussed below, for Hickman County, it became clear midway through the project that we would not be able to present the characters as we initially intended when we applied for the grant. We maintained contact with both Hickman County, through Judge/Executive Greg Pruitt, and the State Parks Department, through Ed Henson and Brooks Howard, and looked for a future opportunity to present the characters in the Park on a regular basis. Once we identified Civil War Days at Columbus-Belmont State Park as an appropriate occasion for the initial presentation of the characters and identified two students and one alumnus from Murray State as the presenters (and they agreed) [Andrea Askew, Robert Superchi, and Jerry Wooten] that part of the project, presenting the characters, went smoothly. In this we worked with the Civil War Days Committee and Park Manager William Stevens.

B. Please describe the participation of the humanities schoilar(s) for this program.

William H. Mulligan, Jr. served as project director throughout the project. He supervised the research and development of the characters, recruited the presenters, and served as liaison with the Hickman County Civil War Days Committee. Anthony Q. Cheeseboro and Lesley J. Gordon, both on the faculty at Murray State shared their expertise regularly as needed throughout the project. In Dr. Cheeseboro's case this was until he left Murray State in early July of 1996 and in Dr. Gordon's after she joined the faculty in late August of 1995. Joseph E. Brent of the Kentucky Heritage Council consulted about the project frequently by phone and attended meetings in Murray with project staff to discuss the project's progress. He also assisted in identifying material from the American Missionary Society and in other ways in our effort to develop African American characters.

C. Were you able to remain faithful to the work plan outlined in the KHC grant aplication? Which aspects, if any, of the plan were difficult to fulfill and why?

This is the hardest question to answer and it is impossible to answer simply yes or no as posed. We were able to develop characters for a first-person interpretation program and present them at Columbus-Belmont State Park, which is what we set out to do. So, in a general sense, the answer is yes. However, because of changes in federal funding for summer youth programs, about which we learned midway through the project, we were not able to pursue the original plan for implementation. A meeting with State Parks officials at about the same time that we learned about the changes in federal funding was not encouraging due to revenue shortfalls in the department. We made what we felt were necessary and appropriate adjustments. We continued to develop characters without a clear target date for presentation. We lost the interaction between research and preparation for performance, which had been intended as dynamic part of the project. The full consequences of this loss, if any, are impossible to gauge. The development of the individual characters also proved significantly more time consuming than anticipated and the development of the planned African American characters posed particular problems that we had not fully anticipated. Coordinating the work of students and making the process part of their education added more time to the development of each character than had been anticipated. Working alone on scripts, as was the project director's prior experience, is more streamlined and proceeds much more quickly than the approach taken here. In one case material we had every reason to expect to use - letters written from Columbus by a young women during the Civil War and donated to Murray State University some time ago -- were impossible to locate. This was very frustrating and searching for these letters was very time consuming. The whereabouts of these letters, which several people have described to us in some detail and which should be in the Pogue Library at Murray State, remain a mystery. This young woman is a character we thought, based on what we were told while discussing the project with others prior to developing the proposal, we could develop quickly and use as a model -- instead we spent a fair amount of time pursuing the material without success. This was a major disappointment and another delay in the project.

The African American characters initially proposed presented several problems, both in research and presentation and are the least well-developed and realized part of the project. For the characters we were able to develop fully we had letters and diaries and other sources that spoke to the specific experiences of those individuals and gave us significant portions of those experiences in their own words. We were not able to identify such material for African American characters. We did not want to present African American characters who were qualitatively different from the other characters or in any way weaker. William, Robert Hancock Wood's slave body servant, was developed using the sources that were available, but he is not as strong a character as we had hoped to develop. In terms of presentation, the African American student I had in mind for William left school and was not available - given the short time ultimately available to set up implementation, this was an insurmountable problem this time. We spent a substantial amount of time tracking down slave narratives from Kentucky collected by Fisk University and the WPA during the 1930s and any other similar sources we could identify. None of those we found, however, were from the area around Columbus or close enough to use. Slavery was not a monolithic experience and we wanted a person and material from the Columbus area. Those we did find were simply too far removed to be useful in this project. We looked a great deal of material and spent a considerable amount of time on this. The American Missionary Society materials that Joe Brent helped us locate similarly did not prove to be as useful as we hoped in getting first-person accounts of slavery in the river counties. The AMS was active at Columbus, but the material we found did not support the creation of a character. If the information on African American regiments had not been lost in a fire we might have been able to investigate pension applications before the project ended to develop an African American soldier, but that was not the case. Since this would have required a trip to Washington, DC, which was not in the budget, it is unlikely. This is a very high priority for follow up and will be accomplished by the end of 1997.

Late in the project, during the preliminary stages of another project, we found some material at the University of Missouri-Rolla that was relevant to this project that gave us another potential character - the federal official sent to Columbus to transfer the cannons, dispose of surplus property, and put the cemetery (since moved) in order. There was neither time or money to develop this character fully, but it is another for future development.

Many things, of course, went well. The staff at the Tennessee State Archives were very helpful in finding the papers of Robert Hancock Wood, a Confederate Captain who served at Columbus under Polk, fought in the Battle of Belmont, and then served through the war, and loaning a microfilm. This greatly reduced the cost of developing Captain Wood since the full transcript of his letters is more than one hundred pages. Doing all that in Nashville would have been prohibitively expensive. His letters, primarily to his wife allowed a multifaceted character to be developed. Additional material from the local historical society in his hometown, Bolivar, TN, filled in the rest of his life. Captain Wood can be presented at a number of points in his life and is an unusually rich character.

The Tennessee State Archives and the staff of the local history room of the Memphis/Shelby County Library greatly assisted in our efforts to research Sally Law. She, too, can be presented at several points in her life emphasizing different aspects of a full and interesting life and illuminating a range of aspects of the Civil War in the South.

We were able to develop three characters in much greater depth than we had hoped. Given the number of perspectives from which they can be presented - there is sufficient material on Wood to focus solely on his experience at Columbus from his arrival with Polk through the battle to the evacuation of the fort by the Confederates in March 1862; or on his larger War experiences; or as an older man returning to a scene of his youth and reflecting back on his life. The exact perspective can be chosen by the interpreter based on their age or interest - or it can be changed to keep the program fresh when it is presented on a regular basis. Mrs. Law can be presented immediately after the Battle which she witnessed from a riverboat and came ashore to help nurse wounded soldiers, at a point during the war when she was a leader of the Southern Mothers League, or later in her life when she can reflect back on her experiences at Columbus, during the war generally, or afterward when she played an important role in the organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. A similar variety of perspectives are available for Pvt. Chauncey Cook, the Union soldier from Wisconsin. In a sense we have ten characters, including the slave William, that can be presented or combined into an on-going interpretation program in the Park, used in one day or weekend events, of developed into one person shows on the Kentucky Chatauqua model - the character could age during the performance as they entered the different stages of their life that are documented.

Overall, we fully developed four characters in sufficient depth to allow their presentation at several different times in their lives. This allows a great deal of flexibility for presenters and interpreters who work with the characters. They are real people with a range of experiences to share. We were able to present the characters as part of a major community event in Hickman County which attracted a large audience and gave the project significant exposure. It is no longer just a concept, but something real and substantial. Those who are in a position to establish the interpretation program now have seen it and have also seen the very strong, positive response by those who enjoyed it during Civil War Days. We were able to remain faithful to the spirit of our proposal and its larger goals, while compromising and adjusting as required by changing circumstances in the details and specifics. Even though we were not able to do all that we wanted in the way we set out to do it, and experienced some difficulties I am glad we did this I consider it a success. We ended up with something of real value.

D. How was this project publicized and promoted? What was your most effective form of publicity?

At the beginning of the project the Murray State news bureau sent out a press release describing the project to their usual distribution list of regional media. When we moved to present the characters as part of Civil War Days publicity was handled by the publicity committee. Project Director Mulligan did a radio interview with Murray State's public radio station, WKMS, but the main publicity was handled by the Hickman County committee, headed by Melissa Muscovalley. She is assembling a clippings file and copies will be forward to KHC as soon as we receive it.

E. How helpful were KHC staff members in assisting you throughout this process?

KHC staff were very helpful, offering advice and encouragement especially as we moved towards presentation of the characters. Due to competing demands on the time of the project director we were not able to follow up fully on all of these suggestions. We probably should have called on the KHC staff for assistance earlier and more frequently than we did.

F. Was your budget adequate?

The grant we received was very generous and we had additional support from the State Department of Parks. Additional funds would have been helpful because the budget did not allow us to follow up aggressively on late developments or discoveries or to adjust for information discovered during the project. We were locked in to the plan we had developed based on a very general consideration of what could and should be done. The budget was based on a specific number of trips to a predetermined number of repositories. If we had had the money it would have been very productive to go to the National Archives in Washington to pursue research on African American troops in the pension applications and the various reports filed from Columbus, which are not available elsewhere. In planning it was not clear that local sources would not be sufficient and there is a ceiling on how much money can be requested. Now that we have demonstrated the value this type of program can add to the Park I expect we will be able to obtain funding to develop additional characters at some point in the future. In projects like this, however, you never have enough money, so I guess there is no fair answer to the question. If we had had more money available we could have done a lot more research, but there is no guarantee it would have resulted in much more of a final result within the time available. There are no guarantees with this kind of research, sometimes you go down paths that lead to a dead end as we did on several occasions. We did as much as could, with the money we had to work with, given the sequence in which things developed.

G. Did the audience repreenta mix of people from different backgrounds?  Please describe your audience in terms of factors such as gender, age, vocation, and ethnic backgorund. What groups, if any, were particularly well represented?

At the two presentations of the characters we were able to put on there was a large, but hard to define, audience. I am sure there was a wide ranging mix of people from different backgrounds, whatever that means, on both the Friday evening (at the opening ceremony) and the Saturday (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) presentations. The Friday event was outside in a picnic shelter by the bluff. Each character, actually two of the three due to work schedules, delivered a brief (5 to 8 minute) monologue to introduce themselves as part of the opening ceremony. The shelter was full, standing room only, and there were many people standing within range of the sound system - probably several hundred. There was a great deal of movement on the fringes of the crowd, however, hard to avoid in an outdoor event. The audience was roughly evenly divided between men and women; many were older adults, although there was a significant number of families with children, and other adults. Their response to the program was warm and enthusiastic based on the volume and length of the applause. We also heard from many of them who recognized the participants the next day and offered congratulations and positive comments. On Saturday each character was stationed in an appropriate area in the Park and interacted with both casual visitors and those on structured walking tours between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. They were "in character" telling about their involvement at Columbus and responding to questions as the character. There were a large number of people in the park and they interacted with nearly one thousand people during the day. One large group of visitors who took the walking tour were in a youthful offenders program; most visitors were white, although their ethnicity is impossible to define precisely - if, as is likely, they were mostly from the Jackson Purchase, they were then probably mostly Scots-Irish; there is no way, really, to tell what vocational groups were represented or which groups, if any, were especially well represented given the format used. Most people in attendance were mature adults, evenly divided, roughly, between men and women. African Americans were not well represented, but were present, in the audience as far as could be determined. The overall reaction to the program by visitors who spoke with the interpreters and by the Civil War Days committee was overwhelmingly positive.

H. What do you think the audience learned about the humanities from your project?

It is hard to gauge what people learn from something like this. In first person interpretation you want to maintain an illusion you have worked hard to create that they are talking with someone from the past and in this case we had a mobile audience that either came as part of a walking tour or during their own wandering through the Park. Distributing questionnaires was not feasible and ran the risk of breaking the spell. We hope, and intended, that visitors would see the Civil War from the perspective of people who were involved in it - see their point of view, why they fought or supported the cause they favored, and the impact it had on their lives. In many cases visitors engaged in extended dialogue with the presenters which is what you want to happen. This format allows the visitor to get the information they want, to have their particular questions answered, and move freely. Everything that we saw and have heard indicates that the presenters did a good job interacting with the visitors.

I. Did you have other sponsors for this project?

In developing the characters we had additional support from the Kentucky Department of Parks which funded one of the research assistants for the summer and Murray State University which funded one of the assistantships during the academic year, since this support was above and beyond what the history department normally receives it is appropriate to consider it as a co-sponsorship. In the implementation phase we worked with the Hickman County Civil War Days committee and Bill Stevens, Columbus-Belmont park manager in presenting the characters

J. What were the major strengths of your project?

The major strengths of the project are that it create the resources need for a flexible first person interpretation program at Columbus-Belmont State Park. Further we were able to demonstrate this very powerful interpretive method -- first person interpretation -- in a very powerful setting - the Columbus-Belmont State Park. We presented three first person experiences, of the four developed, that allowed a large number of visitors to see the Civil War from a fresh perspective - or more accurately a series of perspectives - those of actual participants. This reinforces the idea that history happens to real people, not just great men. It also provides an opportunity to consider the role ordinary people play in great events and how their lives are changed by these events. Finally we added a new element to an established event that was well received both by visitors and by the organizers. The major weaknesses were that the funding and other factors described above did not allow the full development and presentation of African American characters. Also, the format used did not allow any orientation to prepare visitors for the first person interpretations that were presented. Normally, there is a transition or introduction that prepares visitors for what they are about to experience so that they know what is going on and can react to it in an informed way. The project director was able to do this on Friday night in introducing the characters to the audience, but on Saturday the dispersed, free-form format for the overall event made this impossible. This is an area to work on for the next time. Publicity tried to prepare visitors, but not all had seen it or fully understood what first person interpretation is.

K. Will there be follow-up of this project/program?

There will be follow up on this project, although its exact nature is uncertain at this point. Copies of the materials developed for each character will be provided to the Kentucky Humanities Council, the State Parks Department, and Hickman County. Individuals are free, and are encouraged, to use the materials to develop their own interpretation of the characters and present them as appropriate. A number of individuals have already expressed such an interest. The Civil War Days committee in Hickman County is interested in making the characters a permanent part of Civil War Days. Copies of the call for proposals for the Kentucky Chatauqua program have been distributed to those who presented the characters on this occasion and to the Civil War Days committee. We continue to pursue alternative funding for the original plan for permanently implementing the presentation of the characters as part of the program at Columbus-Belmont State Park in conjunction with the public history program at Murray State. Several types and some specific characters were only partially developed during the project period. Very late in the project we discovered the diary of the federal official sent to Columbus to dispose of "surplus property" and the ordinance when the fort was decommissioned at the University of Missouri-Rolla . His experience offers the basis for a good character if more can be found in his reports to the Quartermaster's office and in other sources to develop it fully. Similarly, more work needs to be done in pension applications to develop an African American soldier character. The former slave characters, including William, need further development. We have discussed a project that would do additional research on African Americans at Columbus in the National Archives and develop a character and an all weather interpretive sign with the park and have had a very favorable response. It is our current intention to do this during the summer or fall of 1997. A preliminary review of material s in the National Archives is planned for February 1997.

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Updated 4/12/98

Comments: Bill.Mulligan@murraysate.edu