INFORMATION CENTERS

Interpretation and education are activities that help visitors discover why a park exists and the significance of its resources. The National Park Service uses a variety of built structures to carry out this mission, including visitors centers, museums, contact stations, scenic overlooks with interpretive wayside panels, and kiosks at trailheads.

A hierarchy is often developed in which visitors begin their experience at a visitors center where exhibits and introductory films offer a broad orientation to the park. Later on, museums and other contact stations may focus on more specific themes. Finally, resources are interpreted 'on location' with plaques and wayside panels, allowing visitors to experience firsthand the tangible natural and cultural resources the park offers.

Scenic overlooks are a good example of this. They are strategically constructed to capture the most spectacular views of the park, while remaining accessible by automobile and unobtrusive on the natural landscape.

Generally, during the early twentieth century, interpretive and educational structures were constructed to harmonize with the resources they were interpreting. Use of rustic logs and stone were common.

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MARY JANE COLTER (ARCHITECT)

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, architect for the Fred Harvey Company at Grand Canyon National Park, blended the vernacular architecture of the Southwest with the Arts and Crafts movement. She had a great interest in archeology and ethnography. Before starting a project Colter would spend months studying and sketching native American ruins. Three of her works, Hopi House (1913), Hermit's Rest (1914), and Indian Watchtower at Desert View (1932), influenced the designs of National Park Service and concessions structures for twenty years. Colter's use of native stone and massive timbers joined with details of Spanish colonial missions and native American pueblos and dwellings brought about functional visitors facilities that harmoniously rise above the Canyon's rim.

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