The purpose of this guide is to help provide an unified level of interpretation to the visiting public. It also serves to assist individual interpreters as they participate in the fun and challenge of presenting a reasonably historical accurate picture of the fur trade era to the public. The guide is not intended to be an exhaustive listing of all pertinent fur trade information and interpretation insights.

Any and all aspects of this guide are open to scrutiny and discussion. Historical facts are to be as accurate as we know them (even if we opt to "bend" them for the purposes of presentation).

Teachers and students may find the guide useful for classroom projects and research. You are free to use the information as you see fit but please give credit to the White Oak Society (or the listed citations).

Please Note: This guide is an ongoing "work in progress." Comments and suggestions should be directed to John Powers, Avant of the White Oak Nor'westers interpreter crew via the White Oak office: 33155 State Highway 6, Deer River, MN 56636 or via email through White Oak's web site: http://www.whiteoak.org or directly to him at djpowers@cpinternet.com.

The guide consists of a main section and a series of appendices. Each section has been converted into a PDF for use with Adobe Acrobat Reader©. Click to download a free copy of the Acrobat Reader application. To download a file, click on the download icon next to the document you want. You can also download a zip file containing all the documents in PDF format by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the list. There is also a zip file with the documents in Word Perfect (WPD) format.

Contents
(PDF) 92KB	Main	This section introduces the guide and covers the following topics: White Oak Interpretation Setting/Scenario; Fur Trade Society and Roles; Notes on Interpretation; Discussion Topics Possible Skits / Activities.
(PDF) 36KB	Appendix A. Roster of Interpreters	Listing of people who interpret at White Oak (either as Nor'Westers or as casual volunteers).
(PDF) 40KB	Appendix B. Glossary	Short glossary of basic fur trade era terms.
(PDF) 29KB	Appendix C. Historical Setting	List of dates to help set a context for our interpretation.
(PDF) 1.7MB	Appendix D. Geography and Maps of Interest	Listing of some area place names (some in French and/or Ojibwe) and several maps of NWCo districts and posts.
(PDF) 33KB	Appendix E. 1802 Listing of NWCo Employees	Listing of the number of employees by type by district.
(PDF) 40KB	Appendix F. Value of Goods in terms of Beaver Skins	Trade value of goods in beaver skins.
NA	Appendix G. Material Goods of the Fur Trade	[This appendix is not completed. Our intent is to include the matrices developed by the North West Brigade and published it is Journal, Vol X (with permission, of course).]
(PDF) 77KB	Appendix H. Some Basic French / Ojibwe	A primer on French and Ojibwe languages taken from White Oak's teaching manual.
(PDF) 20KB	Appendix I. Resources	An evolving list of books, magazines, and movies.
NA	Appendix J. "How to" Interpret	[This appendix is not completed. Eventually it will be a basic guide to interpretation with liberal borrowing from such excellent sources as Old Fort William and Pine City (with permission, of course).]
(PDF) 730KB	Complete Set	This is a self-extracting zip file containing compressed copies of all the guide documents. After you download this file, double click on the file name on your computer to extract the files to a location of your choice. You will need the Acrobat Reader to view the files.
(WPD) 720KB	Complete Set	This is a self-extracting zip file containing compressed copies of all the guide documents in Word Perfect format. After you download this file, double click on the file name on your computer to extract the files to a location of your choice.