Creating tours that are interesting and educational for visitors (and guides!) is a challenge every historic site faces. Great Tours! helps you focus clearly on the material culture and significance of your site and then shows you how to use that focus to train and energize your guides. You will be able to move your tours to a fresh new level that is engaging and educational for visitors of all ages and abilities.
Readings and workshop activities frame the process throughout and allow you to develop what is most appropriate for your site, while working to strike a realistic balance between ideals and every day reality. Great Tours! offers a unique combination of theoretical guidance and practical activities, supplemented by reproducible forms and a bibliography and index, that make it an invaluable resource for anyone involved with planning tours and training guides.

Published in cooperation with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Visit their web page.

By Barbara Abramoff Levy; Sandra Mackenzie Lloyd and Susan Porter Schreiber

Part 1 Foreword
Part 2 Acknowledgments
Part 3 Preface
Part 4 Part 1: Developing the Thematic Tour
Chapter 5 Introduction
Chapter 6 Chapter 1. Preparation: Assemble the Facts
Chapter 7 Chapter 2. Planning: The Theme Development Team and the Roundtable Workshop
Chapter 8 Chapter 3. Creating: Writing, Testing, and Revising a Thematic Tour Online
Chapter 9 Sample Materials
Part 10 Part 2: Training Guides to Give Thematic Tours
Chapter 11 Introduction
Chapter 12 Chapter 4. Site Specifics and Historical Context
Chapter 13 Chapter 5. Material Culture: The Physical Evidence
Chapter 14 Chapter 6. Interpretive Themes and the Thematic Tour
Chapter 15 Chapter 7. Communication: Audience and Presentation Techniques
Part 16 Part 3: Managing Guides Effectively
Chapter 17 Chapter 8. Managing Guides Effectively
Part 18 Index
Part 19 About the Authors