Postscript
Part of the purpose of history is to study events and people of the past — considering the motivations, interconnections, and consequences involved — to create an understanding that helps us contextualize our present and navigate our future. History is a field of knowledge that changes over time. Histories are commonly revised, sometimes to account for new facts, but more often to shift the focus on a historical event. These shifts often highlight a different perspective or examine different historical actors (sharing the stories of factory workers instead of bosses or politicians, for example). These revisions allow us to gain new meanings from history. As our ideas, values, and social contexts change over time, historians reexamine the past and write new histories to inform our new questions and interests. Dr. Keith L. Nelson and Dr. Spencer C. Olin began developing the Great Park Walkable Historical Timeline and its companion handbook in the early 2000s. They volunteered their time as professional academic advisors to the Orange County Great Park Corporation and the Great Park History Committee. The Great Park unveiled the physical timeline and the handbook in 2013. In January 2024, the City of Irvine hired Historical Research Associates, Inc. (HRA), to update the timeline and the handbook. In this case, HRA revised some of the interpretations of people and events in the original Walkable Historical Timeline. The revisions are intended to make these histories more relevant to current issues and more accessible and useful for contemporary audiences. This 2025 update effort adds new timeline entries to this handbook and to the physical timeline at the Great Park. This edition ends in 2019. As Dr. Nelson and Dr. Olin envisioned, the public history program at the Great Park will continue to grow. It will be shaped by the surrounding communities so as to tell their stories and celebrate their shared past. Future revisions of this text are welcome and inevitable. History is happening all around us, and the Great Park reflects an appreciation of the past and a shared commitment to the community’s future.
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