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Dryness has an outsized impact on nature in parks, but temperature and precipitation are poor indicators.

In 1913, a memorial fountain was dedicated at President's Park in memory of two United States officials who drowned on the RMS Titanic. Francis Millet, who served on the Commission of Fine Arts and took part in the design of the National Mall, and Archibald Butt, a Major in the U.S. Army and a presidential military aide, were popular, well-respected men.

Do the inscriptions in the Jefferson Memorial represent Thomas Jefferson's beliefs and philosophies? In this education activity for 8th-12th grade, students will compare an inscription in the memorial to an earlier draft, and to the original text of the Declaration of Independence. They will analyze how shortening or editing a quotation can change its meaning. To extend the lesson, they will compose their own suggestion for an inscription in taken from the Declaration.

Have you ever been misquoted or had your words taken out of context? In this introduction to the Jefferson Memorial Education series for 8th-12th grade, students learn about the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission and are introduced to the selection process for the inscriptions on the chamber walls. Then they will begin to consider how editing a quotation can change its meaning. How does the design of a memorial affect how a person is remembered?

The inscription on the northeast wall of the Jefferson Memorial is a conglomeration of words and sentences pulled from five different sources. Does it accurately represent Thomas Jefferson's beliefs about slavery and liberty? In this education activity for 8th-12th graders, students will compare the inscription with the primary sources and analyze the meaning of the quote in context and then compose their own inscription. How should the memorial present slavery?

These oddball objects have more recently been described as "sippy cups for men." But mustache cups were all the rage in the late 1800s, proving that men's style has never been out of fashion.

Learn how to examine petroglyphs and pictographs and their context in time and space.

The Midden is the Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park, published each summer and winter. Find out the latest going on at Great Basin National Park, Nevada in resource management and research. Th Midden - Great Basin National Park: Vol. 22, No. 2, Winter 2022

For thousands of years, humans have entered caves and made their mark. From rock writing to historic inscriptions, these cultural resources capture a moment of the composer’s life. Such is the case for the more than 200 historic inscriptions within Snake Creek Cave in Great Basin National Park.

People in the past carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs to mark the cycle of the sun, moon, and stars; solstices; and the changing seasons. They tracked time by creating solar calendars that interacted with light and shadow as the sun moved across the sky. When unique astronomical events took place, they documented the moment in stone. Learn more about the purpose for these images.