A04_SOW.pdf

Scope of Work

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail - Seeking Sacagawea

A. Background

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail In 1978 Congress established the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail as part of the national trail system (NTS) as one of four original national historic trails. Today, the trail is approximately 4,900 miles in length connecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to near present-day Astoria, Oregon. Following the historic outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, including the preparatory section from Pittsburgh, the trail connects 16 states:

Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

Description

Sacagawea is one of the most easily recognized and commonly misremembered women in early American history. She is nearly as symbolic of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as the captains themselves. Information about Sacagawea remains tangled with romanticized myths and misconceptions. So little is definitively known about her true origins that scholars and tribes alike cannot meet a consensus on the spelling and origins of her name. There are more than 200 years of historical documents, oral histories and myths related to Sacagawea.

The NPS seeks an analysis of existing scholarship and oral histories. The contractor will comb historical sources and peer-reviewed journal articles. There are oral history from several tribes on Sacagawea and all of these will be given equal weight to each other and to other published historical sources. They will also give equal weight to oral histories and carefully document the competing oral histories related to Sacagawea’s life.

The final deliverables will include an interpretive guide: Seeking Sacagawea, Guide to Best Practices, revision of the NPS People page on Sacagawea, development of new interpretive materials and a review of all LECL Sacagawea materials to ensure that the best practices are being followed.

B. Project Description

The Seeking Sacagawea project will work to gather, assess, and synthesize current relevant scholarship and oral histories related to the life of Sacagawea. Resources available to learn and teach about Sacagawea are plentiful but they are generally Eurocentric, full of myth or outright falsehoods and fall short of exploring the difficult topics of indigenous identity and forced marriage.

The project will develop and implement a comprehensive approach to gather all available historical documents, oral histories, and other information on her life. Equal weight will be given to oral histories as western historical documents. The NPS acknowledges that there are many competing views on scholarship related to her life (i.e., family origin, time, and place of death) and these issues will be treated with sensitivity. Where competing narratives exist, the NPS and contractor will determine how to present both in a way that gives them context in the greater interpretation of her life. This project will support the America 250 focus areas of acknowledging and honoring indigenous peoples and the contributions of women.

From the review of scholarship and oral history, this project will produce a guide for NPS sites and trail partners to use when interpreting Sacagawea. The guide will include easy to use language and explanations. It will give interpreters, volunteers, and partners the high-quality, high-level tools to guide and coach them in sharing the story of Sacagawea with sensitivity and clarity.

The contractor on this project will connect with experts from sites and partners along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The NPS and the trail have cultivated partnerships with various organizations, sites, and tribal organizations over many years. The NPS has digitized public presentations that took place inside the Tent of Many Voices during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

This project will work on developing or revising a variety of interpretive products. The NPS has a “people” page for Sacajawea, Sacagawea (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov). This serves as the main NPS page for Sacagawea, and we need to ensure that this page is as accurate as possible and provides all relevant perspectives. Sacagawea’s story is interpreted at several NPS sites including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Knife River Indian Villages, Nez Perce National Historic Site and the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Updating this web content has the potential to reach visitors to the websites of each of these sites. The contractor will also develop 6-10 place assets (example: Sacagawea’s Story (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)_ These articles will tell the story of Sacagawea through place with each story being georeferenced with GIS coordinates.

C. Scope of Work Measurable results for this project can be divided into three areas:

1. Research and meta-analysis: This project will work to gather, assess, and synthesize current relevant scholarship and oral history related to the life of Sacagawea. The contractor will develop and implement a comprehensive approach to gather all available information on her life, documented history, and oral history. Equal weight will be given to oral history as western historical documents.

The NPS acknowledges that there are many competing views on items related to her life (i.e., family origin, time, and place of death) and these issues will be treated with sensitivity. Where competing narratives exist, the NPS and contractor will determine how to present both in a way that gives them context in the greater interpretation of her life.

2. Produce a guide for NPS and partners related to best practices of interpretation of Sacagawea called Seeking Sacagawea: Guide to Best Practices. From the review of scholarship and oral history, the project will produce a guide for NPS sites and trail partners to use when interpreting Sacagawea. The guide will include easy to use language and explanations. It will give interpreters, volunteers, and partners the high-quality, high-level tools to guide and coach them in sharing the story of Sacagawea with sensitivity and clarity. Resources available to learn and teach about Sacagawea are plentiful but they are generally Eurocentric, full of myth or outright falsehoods and fall short of exploring the difficult topics of indigenous identity and forced marriage. The goal of this project is to provide an opportunity for partners and the public across the country to find a deeper understanding of Sacagawea and her contributions to the expedition.

3. Develop or revise a variety of interpretive products and programs: The project will develop and improve a variety of interpretation products. Top needs include revision of the Sacagawea people page on NPS.gov, interpretive signage, web content and more. The contractor will also develop 6-10 place assets that are georeferenced that tell the story of Sacagawea through place.

D. Deliverables

1. Research report with analysis of scholarship available on Sacagawea. Report will include relevant research, analysis, and a complete bibliography. Format: digital Word document that is 508 Compliant and meets accessibility requirements.

2. Interpretive guide called “Seeking Sacagawea”. This guide will synthesize the information from the research report into useful bits for interpreters. The guide will include vetted information on Sacagawea. The interpretive guide will be a document that interpreters of all levels can use to develop and give interpretive programs and in written interpretation.

Goals:

Format: Digital Microsoft Word document that is 508 compliant and meets accessibility requirements.

• Provide best available historical information on Sacagawea’s life.

• Acknowledge hard historical truths

• Scaffolding interpretive programs from basic matter-of-fact “speeches”, to more complex and nuanced dialogues amongst the public, challenging myths, and misnomers.

• Someone could pick up this guide and make a program out of it.

• Elevate status of Sacagawea as a person in her own right, not just as a character.

• Connect Sacagawea to the lives of visitors today.

• Help partners feel more comfortable, safe, prepared with inclusive storytelling/deferred storytelling.

Outcomes:

• Partners interpret Sacagawea more and in a more confident way.

• Visitors learn about Sacagawea and make connections to Sacagawea’s story and their life today.

• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail positions itself as a trusted source for interpreting Sacagawea and other complicated histories of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail models inclusive interpretive programming for the larger National Trails System.

Audience

• Support staff, interpreters

• Interpretive managers

Interpretive Guide may contain the following:

- Summary of best available information on the life of Sacagawea

- Talking points for an interpretive program

- Compilation of ACE techniques and how they can be applied to Sacagawea interpretation

- Pre-written social media/web content on Sacagawea

- ORACLE questions that can be used to facilitate a dialogue on Sacagawea ‐ Using Sacagawea to discuss modern issues Indigenous rights and broken treaties

Systemic racism ‐ Generational trauma ‐ Voting rights ‐ Boarding schools ‐ Body autonomy/hyper sexualization ‐ Pre-written social media/web content on Sacagawea

3. Review and revise of existing interpretive content to include:

- NPS Sacagawea people page, Sacagawea (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

- Write 6-10 place assets. These articles will follow a format provided by the NPS and will tell the story of Sacagawea through place. Each article will include geolocation information, photographs with credit and information on amenities of each site.

- Other nps.gov Sacagawea content. There are 68 articles on nps.gov shared content that include information about Sacagawea.

- Here are some to focus on:

Sacagawea, The Ultimate Working Mother (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Sacagawea’s Story (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Women’s History Month: Sacagawea (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Hiring of Charbonneau and Sacagawea (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) What Was the Journey Like for Sacagawea? (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Visual Representations of Sacagawea (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Final deliverable shall be provided to NPS in both PDF and Microsoft Word formats that are 508 compliant. All photos used shall be either public domain or have consent for the park service to use. All photos shall be provided as individual files, have a naming convention and include a spreadsheet with file names, alt text, captions and sources of the photos and any necessary permissions.

E. Project Schedule Call to include NPS Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and contractor to discuss project expectations: Within 2 weeks after award.

Research report deliverable due: Within 10 months following award

Interpretive Guide deliverable due: Within 15 months following award Interpretive Content deliverable due: Within 18 months following award Monthly status reports due to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), who will be appointed at the time of award. Samples of the work being performed must be provided if requested.