HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #3 - Guidelines for Plaques & Interpretive PanelsCity of San Luis Obispo, Community Development, 919 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3218, 805.781.7170, slocity.org
TO: Cultural Heritage Committee
FROM: Brian Leveille, Senior Planner
SUBJECT: Guidelines for Plaques and Interpretive Panels on City Property
Discussion: At the CHC meeting of April 22, 2019, the Committee agreed to
agendize a discussion to establish guidelines for plaques and interpretive panels.
Please see the attached proposal prepared by Committee Member James Papp to
guide the discussion. The intended use of guidelines is to provide a framework
and guidance guidance for the composition and review of future proposals for
plaques and interpretive panels on City property.
Attachment:
Draft Guidelines for Plaques and Interpretive Panels on City Property
Packet Page 19
Meeting Date: June 24, 2019
Item # 3
Plaques and Interpretive Panels on City Property
Definition
A plaque or interpretive panel is not a sign and does not fall under city signage regulations,
which focus on commercial signage. Text accompanying a statue or other historical
physical representation is considered a plaque.
Standards and Guidelines
Plaques and other historic markers are usually placed at the initiative of individuals,
organizations, and ad hoc groups. The content and presentation of plaques and interpretive
panels on city-owned property is approved by the Cultural Heritage Committee, which
reflects the community’s interest in accuracy, relevance, sensitivity, and accessibility. City
guidelines for plaque and panel content are based on the standards that the Secretary of
the Interior has established for recognition of historic properties and limits information to
that which is
1. documentable
2. historically significant
3. sensitive to racial, gender, and other bias
Accessibility is based on the Smithsonian guidelines for accessible exhibition design,
including visual and language accessibility.
Documentation
Content of plaques and interpretive panels shall be limited to information that can be
confirmed by primary sources that are publicly available for examination, such as
contemporary letters, oral histories, business and government documents, and
newspapers. Secondary sources such as later histories may be used if their primary source
material for a particular fact is clearly referenced. Interpretation based on primary
documentation is acceptable.
Significance The National Register of Historic Places defines significance as the
association of a site, building, or landscape with
Criterion A. events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of
our history
Criterion B. the lives of significant persons of our past
Criterion C. characteristic of a type, period, or method of construction; the work of a
master; high artistic value; a significant and distinguishable entity whose components
may lack individual distinction
Criterion D. the yielding of information important in history or prehistory.
The National Register further defines significant persons of our past as “individuals whose
activities are demonstrably important within a local, state, or national historic context. […].
[…] It must be shown that the person gained importance within his or her profession or
group.”
Packet Page 20
Information on a plaque should be about what is significant, not merely interesting, in such
a person. For instance, a historical figure’s children would only be mentioned if they were
also historically significant or if the subject’s claim to historic significance were based on
her or his parenthood rather than accomplishments in some other sphere. Personal or
professional activities not associated with the person’s significance should be omitted in
preference to expanding on significant activities.
The National Register defines a historic resource that is characteristic of a type as “an
important example (within its context) of building practices of a particular time in history.
[…] Examples of properties associated with design and construction: A house or
commercial building representing a significant style of architecture; a designed park or
garden associated with a particular landscape design philosophy.”
On a plaque or interpretive panel for such a resource , it will be important to define the
historically significant style, period, or construction method and (if known) designer or
maker of the resource. The city strongly recommends seeking the judgment of professional
historians, architectural historians, or archaeologists for statements relevant to their areas
of expertise.
Sensitivity
Plaques and interpretive panels should not use language in their own voice that is likely to
offend a reasonable person against whom such language might be directed. For example,
the standard for language about Native Americans is whether it would likely offend Native
Americans, not whether it would offend a non–Native American. At the same time, the
“reasonable person” legal standard does not preclude language that might possibly offend
anyone.
Historically significant quotations that are insensitive are allowable but may need
contextualization.
It is important for today’s audience to have available clear, uncensored views of the past,
however unpleasant that past may be. Facts are not in themselves offensive; interpretation
or treatment of facts may be. We are not required to apologize for the past, but modern
interpretive material may be necessary to contextualize it.
Plaque or panel content and language should take care not to treat different groups in
different ways. For instance, women historical figures should not be referred to by their
first name when male historical figures are generally referred to by their last name, and
women should not have their activities in the domestic sphere highlighted while men are
discussed in the public sphere.
Accessibility
Metallic plaques, though an important expression of permanence, inherently do not meet
Smithsonian guidelines for visual accessibility, having non-contrastive type. The typeface
should therefore be large enough to compensate as much as possible. Interpretive panels
are more accessible because of their ability to use visual contrast, break up text, and use
illustrations.
Short, simple sentences increase linguistic and cognitive accessibility.
Packet Page 21
Current practice in plaques and interpretive panels suggests focusing on that part of the
narrative that is locally peculiar while leaving general terms (such as “Gothic” or
“Gardenesque”) for the audience to research or web search on its own. A plaque or panel
writer may, however, reasonably expect that the audience will not do further research and
can choose to explain general terms and relate them to the person or thing the plaque or
panel commemorates.
Plaques are generally 75 to 300 words. Interpretive panels are generally a maximum of 500
words.
Packet Page 22