Since 1985, July has been celebrated as the Nation’s official Park and Recreation Month. The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is the leading advocacy organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation. They publish July’s Journal of the month, the Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research or JUPTRR for short.
This peer reviewed journal presents a medium for unconventional research related to parks and tourism. JUPTRR is published annually and focuses its first special issue (2012) on dark tourism, where one travels to visit locations which have death, suffering, or the seemingly macabre as a main theme (Stone, 2005). This includes ghost tours in Savannah, the Ghost Trolley in Augusta, cemeteries, battlefields, prisons, memorials, and even disaster sites.
Included in this latest issue is an article by Rebecca Casbeard and Charles Booth investigating dark tourism and the relation to post-modernity. Linda Levitt investigates the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, the final resting place for many famous celebrities. The cemetery holds film screenings, festivals, and other events to commemorate the celebrities interred there; but are finding some disapproval from those who feel these events are irreverent.
The Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research is currently available online through Reese Library. For more information about this journal or any other in our collection, contact Melissa Johnson, Electronic Resources and Serials Librarian, at mjohns69@gru.edu or 706-667-4907.