Award Date
August 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
First Committee Member
Andrew Kirk
Second Committee Member
Susan Johnson
Third Committee Member
Deirdre Clemente
Fourth Committee Member
Michael Green
Fifth Committee Member
William Bauer
Sixth Committee Member
Susanna Newbury
Number of Pages
249
Abstract
“From Extraction to Attraction: Case Studies in Historic Preservation, Heritage Tourism and Interpretation” examines four interpretive sites in Nevada—Virginia City, the Springs Preserve, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, and Walking Box Ranch—to explore tensions over shared authority at these significant public history sites and landscapes. Nevada’s economy and environment, historically shaped by mining, ranching, and military activities, underwent a transformation with the decline of extractive industries and the rise of tourism. This transition affected the use, management, and preservation of public lands, with tourism becoming the primary identity. These changes presented challenges and opportunities for environmental advocates and public historians who wished to interpret and preserve critical sites and landscapes. This dissertation uses interpretive sites to link geographically diverse attractions that share a history of complex relationships between tourism, federal land management policies, cultural sovereignty, and environmental preservation. Each site reflects important changes in perceptions of the desert landscapes and demonstrates the tensions between various stakeholders, including federal agencies, miners, ranchers, and local communities as they collaborated and contested the fate of these historic sites. This dissertation explores the concept of "shared authority" in public history, where stakeholders collaborate and contest interpretive narratives. Shared authority underlies the interpretation and meaning making of objects, sites, or historical figures. It is inherent in how stakeholders understand and interact with interpretive sites. It analyzes how relationships with land management agencies and changing views on public use and access influenced Nevada's public history landscape. In examining shared authority reveals that it is often unequal among stakeholders, with tensions surrounding whose interpretation of the historic site and land use takes priority. Overall, shared authority is often aspirational, and public historians should strive to achieve more equal authority at these sites. By exploring these case studies, the dissertation addresses key questions about Nevada’s history, including the role of evolution of “one-industry economies,” the influence of federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on that process, and the significance of the regionally specific environmental context for each of these interpretive site case studies. Each of these case studies serves as an excellent example for public history practice as it evolved in the twentieth century and as it is practiced today. By better revealing the context for historic preservation efforts in these four Nevada case studies this dissertation provides new insights on the relationships between tourism, federal land management policies, and contested desert environments
Keywords
case studies; interpretive sites; landscape; Nevada; public history; tourism
Disciplines
History
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Figanbaum, Paige, "From Extraction to Attraction: Case Studies in Historic Preservation, Heritage Tourism and Interpretation, 1945-2010" (2024). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 5113.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/5113
Rights
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