Historic Resource Study for Fort Vancouver, the Village, and the McLoughlin House
Project ID: P21AC12275
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: Portland State University
Fiscal Year: 2021
Initial Funding: $130,000
Total Funding: $130,000
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Cultural
National Park: Fort Vancouver NHS
Principal Investigator: Deur, Doug
Agreement Technical Representative: Langford, Theresa
Abstract: Fort Vancouver holds a unique place in the history of colonial and contested sites in the Pacific Northwest. A modern, thorough, and inclusive study on these resources will greatly add to the public and academic discourse on how to appropriately consult with partners, and manage, preserve, and interpret these types of sites. In addition, this study will provide information for enhanced and additional public interpretive products and programs. PSU graduate students may be invited to participate in hands-on project research as well as public presentations.
Performance Goals – In coordination with the National Park Service (NPS), the recipient will oversee the research and writing of a multi-author Historic Resource Study (HRS) for Fort Vancouver, the Village, and the McLoughlin House at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (FOVA), as well as coordinate the development of excerpts for use as published articles. A HRS provides a historical overview of a park (oftentimes during a specific era) and identifies and evaluates cultural resources within historic contexts. It synthesizes all available cultural resource information from all disciplines in a narrative designed to serve managers, planners, interpreters, cultural resource specialists, and interested public as a reference for the history of the region and the resources within a park. Currently, the foundational historic information on these resources comes from studies done in the 1950s and 1970s and is outdated. Many more references and sources of information are available now, and research questions have evolved to be wider and more inclusive.
The goal of the project is to produce a comprehensive study of these primary park resources to further knowledge in the field of colonial and contested sites. Project participants will need to be subject-matter specialists in the fields of anthropology or history, though this specialty may be academic or through recognition of their position as a tradition keeper within their own cultural group. The recipient will also coordinate the development of publishable articles addressing the topics addressed in the HRS, and oversee at least one public presentation of findings, timed to coincide approximately with the bicentennial of the construction of the historic Fort Vancouver.