The living History program in this Park was conceived in a garage while eating a picnic lunch. This was during a break from moving a whole charter school to another location. The date was just before 9/11. Inside on picnic tables were two fathers chomping away and shooting the breeze. Jim Gale, Chief of Interpretation, suggested to playwright, Peter Charlot, that a Living History program about Professor Thomas Jaggar would be an excellent experience for Park visitors. Thomas Jaggar, though not as renowned as John Muir, Thomas Jefferson, or Ben Franklin, deserves to be at least recognized. Jaggar founded the first geologic observatory dedicated to saving lives. He also co-founded the Park itself. Jaggar's vision, though his name is lost to history, is the individual who inspired the idea of predicting geologic hazards worldwide. His dream remains as urgent now as it did then.

The program, "A Walk into the Past," introduces visitors to Professor Jaggar and his times. Entering into its 4th year, the presentation has been seen by thousands of visitors. This is easier said than done. The experience takes place in a 16 by 18 foot underground laboratory that still has original seismographic equipment. The visitors experience April 13, 1912. The interpreters recognize the visitors as having come a long way by ship, train, horse, and carriage. This is 1st person Living-History. It is a remarkable instrument to engage the guests in reliving a time when women did not have the vote. There were only four airplanes in America. Teddy Roosevelt was running for president, and, the Red Sox won the World Series.

The Living-History interpreters are Peter Charlot and Sandra MacLees. They are contractors for the Kilauea Drama and Entertainment Network, a non-profit community theater. Peter Charlot originally came to the area to write and produce a script on Thomas Jaggar in 1986. This was the 75th anniversary of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. Charlot is an actor, writer, and director dedicated to Island issues. He directs this program, as well as performs as Professor Jaggar. He performs with Sandra MacLees who in real life became Jaggar's wife. Yet, in this performance, they are acquaintances.

Sandra Maclees became a professional storyteller in 1978. She has performed and taught storytelling for thirty years. Sandra was a featured performer in storytelling festivals in six of our states. She has been a featured performer at the Hawaiian "Talk Story Festival" for the last 10 years. She is one of the Hawaiian artists in the catalog of the U.H.Manoa, Outreach College. Sandra has been certified as "an Artistic Teaching Partner" by The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

The combination of the two brings to the public's awareness not only the work of Jaggar but the startling attitude toward women in those days. Mrs. Maydwell is a suffragette, Jaggar thinks this is foolish. Mrs. Maydwell in inspired by the spirualism of the volcano. The Professor scoffs at such quackery. The entire program takes forty minutes. It has been performed over 600 times.