National Park Service UsingChris Mackowski Videos

The National Park Service is now featuring a series of short videos on its Web site produced by a St. Bonaventure University journalism professor.

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, created the videos to help promote Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (FSNMP), a Civil War park in central Virginia. The videos appear on the park’s Web page.

Two of the videos highlight the unique features of FSNMP, and two of the videos highlight the park’s internship program. A fifth video, also aimed at prospective interns, will appear later this month.

“Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park is the second-largest military park in the world,” explained Mackowski. “The park encompasses four battlefields that span 18 months of the Civil War. We tried to capture, in just a few short minutes, a bit of the spirit of the park. Hopefully, people who watch the videos will be inspired to know more.”

Mackowski worked with NPS historian Kristopher White to produce the videos. The two planned the content of the videos and split the videography and interviewing duties; Mackowski handled the editing.

“One of our main goals was to promote the park as a prestigious place for college students to gain internship experience,” said White, who started out as an intern several years ago, and now, as a staff historian, works formally and informally with the park’s interns each year. “This park has a long legacy of producing some notable Civil War scholars, and our internship program provides a way for that legacy to continue.”

FSNMP’s internship program is coordinated and supervised by historian Greg Mertz.

“Interns play an important role in our park because, during the summer months when we’re at our busiest, the interns provide services that we’d not otherwise be able to provide, such as tours, research assistance, and additional visitor services,” Mertz explained. “We want to continue to attract top talent, so we thought the videos would be an additional way for us to show prospective interns what our program is all about.”

The videos run two to three minutes each. One video features members of the staff providing an overview of the park’s unique characteristics. Another features the staff discussing why they enjoy their work as historians. The third offers specific details about the internship program, and the fourth talks about the historians and scholars who’ve worked at FSNMP.

“The stories tell themselves,” said Mackowski, adding that the videos feature no narration. Instead, sound bites from interviewees provide the details. “We placed a strong emphasis on the pictures. Despite the carnage that once took place on those battlefields, some of the scenery today is just beautiful, so we tried to highlight that.”

Mackowski, who volunteers as an historical interpreter and tour guide at FSNMP, has collaborated with White on a variety of projects over the past 12 months, most recently on a journal article published last December.

Mackowski has taught in the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure since the fall of 2000.

The videos can be viewed at:
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/supportyourpark/hisinterp.htm
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/supportyourpark/intern.htm
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/historyculture/index.htm