Press Room Contact 2011 2010 2009 2008

WSRE Press Room

PBS Program Looking for Historic National Park-Related Items

PBS' POPULAR HISTORY DETECTIVES SERIES ISSUES A CALL FOR HISTORIC ITEMS RELATED TO OUR NATIONAL PARKS IN LEAD UP TO THE DEBUT OF KEN BURNS'S THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA IN FALL 2009

Do you, a family member or a friend have an item around the house that has something to do with one of our nearly 400 national parks, monuments and historic sites that might be of historical significance? Did you ever wonder about its background or the story it could tell?

In a lead up to PBS' eagerly anticipated fall 2009 debut of Ken Burns's new documentary series, THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA, the hit series HISTORY DETECTIVES is calling for national park-related items with historical significance. The four dogged history detectives want to know what gems your readers have hiding in their attics, basements and garage.

All items having to do with America's national parks will be considered for possible on-air investigation. The outcomes will be broadcast during the seventh season of HISTORY DETECTIVES airing throughout summer 2009 with the owners of the chosen items being interviewed nationally on PBS.

To submit an historical item for consideration go to: www.pbs.org/historydetectives and click on the "Submit Your Story" box in the lower left corner of the homepage.

From Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA captures some of nature's most spectacular locales yet is a story of people from every conceivable background who devoted themselves to saving portions of America's land and seascapes. Among the lengthy cast of characters profiled in the series is:

­ James Mason Hutchings, a magazine publisher who was one of the first people to promote Yosemite and who sought to develop a resort hotel on the land.

­ John Muir, a deeply religious mountain prophet who found inspiration in Yosemite and then inspired generations of parks enthusiasts.

­ George Masa, a Japanese immigrant whose photographs of the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee served in the fight to protect the region as a national park.

­ Chiura Obata, another Japanese immigrant whose highly acclaimed paintings of Yosemite gave Americans a fresh perspective through which to see their beloved landmarks.

­ Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who persuaded Congress that a swamp in southern Florida, the Everglades, should be set aside as a national park.

­ George Melendez Wright, a park ranger from San Francisco who recognized the need to preserve the parks' wildlife in its natural state.

­ Adolph Murie, a young biologist and protégé of Wright who was instrumental in reforming park policy so that wildlife - even predators - would have the same protections as the land itself.

­ Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman who used his personal fortune and genius for promotion to create a National Park Service.

THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA is directed by Burns and co-produced with his longtime colleague, Dayton Duncan, who also wrote the script. The 12-hour, six-part documentary series is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.

HISTORY DETECTIVES is an audience favorite, a critical success and an armchair historians' must-see and airs nationally during the summer on PBS. Exploring historical objects and the stories behind them, the series crisscrosses the country delving into legends, folklore and personal histories to discover potentially extraordinary objects in everyday American homes. The series is a co-production of Lion Television (UK) and Oregon Public Broadcasting.

HISTORY DETECTIVES is hosted by the four history detectives: Wesley Cowan, founder and owner of Cowan's Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio, and an internationally recognized expert in historic Americana; Elyse Luray, an appraiser, licensed auctioneer and historian of popular culture; Gwendolyn Wright, professor of architecture, planning and preservation and professor of history at Columbia University; and Tukufu Zuberi, head of the sociology department and director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Beginning in summer 2009, the detectives will be joined by new guest co-host Eduardo Pagán, professor of history and American studies at Arizona State University.

HISTORY DETECTIVES is truly interactive television: three-quarters of the items investigated on the series are culled from thousands of viewers' submissions and chosen for their potential historical significance. Of these, close to 30 items a season are investigated by the four accomplished history detectives, who travel coast-to-coast utilizing forensic technology and detective work to uncover an item's origin, validity and worth. Bottom line - is it the real thing or a fake?