Making a molehill out of a mountain : creating a policies and procedures manual for the Confederate Reunion Grounds.

Abstract

The goal of this project was to assist Dixie Hoover, Site Manager for the Confederate Reunion Grounds (CRG) in Mexia, Texas, in creating a cohesive set of policies and procedures for the site. The CRG was recently transferred from being a part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife to the Texas Historical Commission. After the change in ownership, Ms. Hoover was left with a site that had no clear cut set of policies and procedures for day to day operations. While the Texas Historical Commission had some overarching documents that would apply to all their sites, there was a lack of documentation specifically pertaining to the CRG. Ms. Hoover was left in a difficult position of shifting through various policies, some that just don’t apply to her site, and some that are even out of date or obsolete to answer any questions that she or a customer may have. What I did was to take the documents that Ms. Hoover had and organize them in a coherent and easy to navigate document. The end goal was that this would be primarily an online document due to its size and need for constant updates. Both Ms. Hoover and I recognized at the beginning of this process that it would be a massive undertaking and would not be fully completed by the time I was finished. My purpose was to set up a document that will constantly be added to and updated by other parties than myself and would serve as a formatting and stylistic guide. By the time Ms. Hoover decided that I had reached a stopping point with this project, I had a manual that was 261 pages long and still not complete. This is definitely a work in progress and will continue to be added to and updated in order to match the CRG’s needs.