- (October 2007) WASHINGTON, D.C. - Robert K. Sutton, for the last dozen years superintendent of Manassas National Battlefield Park, has been named chief historian of the National Park Service. (NPS).

The NPS press office in Washington called the post "one of the most prestigious historian positions in the federal government."

The chief historian is responsible for coordinating historical studies for NPS at the national level, ensuring the quality of documentation of historic sites within the parks, and providing guidance on interpretation.

Sutton, who has a Ph.D. in history, succeeds Dwight T. Pitcaithley. He left in 2005 and the position has been filled by acting chiefs. Edwin C. Bearss preceded Pitcaithley, serving from 1981 to 1994.

Sutton, who was to start at his new job Oct. 1, said one of his primary focuses as chief historian will be to help the Civil War parks "gear up" for the war's 150th anniversary, which starts in 2011.

"We're trying to develop a template," Sutton explained. "All the Civil War battlefield parks are interested in doing the best job we can, and I'm very interested in that." He added, however, "I don't want to run the show. I'll help coordinate things to make sure we're all talking together."

Sutton demonstrated his administrative and innovative skills in 2000, when he planned a watershed NPS symposium, "Rally on the High Ground," that was held at Ford's Theatre. The key outcome was a broadening of interpretation at Civil War parks to include the "causes and consequences" of the war - the social, economic, political and cultural aspects of American life that had often been overlooked.

Sutton noted that the Ford's Theatre event was actually an outgrowth of a 1998 gathering of NPS Civil War superintendents in Nashville dubbed "Holding the High Ground."

"Many of us were anxious to expand our interpretation. We'd done some unscientific demographics at the parks. Although we were getting a lot of visitors - 11 million a year - the mix was not great."

Sutton brought to the symposium leading scholars of the Civil War period to address a range of issues. About 500 NPS employees attended. Sutton was able to get live coverage on C-SPAN.

In the aftermath, he said there was "never an edict" to the parks to broaden their interpretation, but many chose to do so. Still, he said, the traditional interpretation remains an essential element at the all the Civil War parks.

"We don't want to dilute what we do on the military side," he explained. "That's what most of our visitors are interested in. But now many parks have really started to deal with issues leading up to the war, events in the war that are not military-related, and events after the war.

"Some are looking at what life was like for the common soldier. What we've done, and I think it is very positive, is to try to make the parks more like history classrooms," with a broad range of Civil War-related interests.

Sutton said as chief historian he will also look ahead to the hundredth anniversary of NPS in 2016, when congressionally funded centennial park projects will be under way.

"As chief historian, my main focus will be to get my office to devote a huge amount of attention to the parks," he said. "Coming from a park myself, I have a sense of how this office can help parks."

A native of Oregon, Sutton got his doctorate from Washington State University. He began his NPS career as a park ranger with Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington, in 1970. He has served as architectural historian with the NPS Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, historian with Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia, and assistant superintendent and historian at National Capital Parks-East in Washington.

He received the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award in 2000 for his work at Manassas. He assumed the superintendent's post at the battlefield park in 1995.

Sutton has also served as museum curator with the Oregon Historical Society, historian with the Oregon State Parks, and assistant professor in the History Department and director of the Public History Program at Arizona State University. Since 1991 he has served as adjunct professor of history at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

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