Vernacular Architecture Forum Untitled page

Letter from the Editor

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 17:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the May 2021 issue of VAN. Use this link for the full May 2021 issue, and if you missed the last issue because of some technical glitches on our end, here is the April 2021 issue link as well. Don’t forget that we have our Virtual Conference 2021 at the end of this week, May 21-22. Lots of great papers and some wonderful breakout sessions too. See the VAF conference website for details. You will also find another preview image from the tours being planned for the VAF annual meeting and conference in San Antonio in May 2022--mark your calendars! We have some updates on the team of volunteers who bring you VAN, and some wonderful highlights of publications, lectures, and awards shared by our members. Lots of opportunities for conferences, jobs, and other resources are listed as well.

Enjoy the news and hope you join us for the conference this week—free to members!

Christine

VAN Editor

VAF Virtual Conference May 21 and 22: Free to members!

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:50:00 GMT

VAF’s website has all the details you’ll need to attend our conference virtually, including the schedule and information about the program. This year we will have two days of events, on Friday afternoon the 21st of May and all day Saturday the 22nd of May.

This year the conference is free to all VAF members, so be sure to check in advance to be sure you can log in. Remember there are multiple membership levels, several quite affordable, and this might be a good time to join or suggest it to your colleagues and students. If you are already a member, please consider a small donation to VAF.

We are going to try something new at the end of the day Friday – break-out rooms where we can gather in smaller groups for discussion and socializing built around our programs and interests. There will be rooms for B&L, the Special Series, for the African American Field Schools, for the New England Chapter, for a potential Tidewater Chapter, for continued discussion of field work after the panel earlier in the day, and for authors to present information about their new books.

Looking forward to seeing you then!

Claire Dempsey

VAF President

dempseyc@bu.edu

VAF 2021 Virtual Plenary Session: Fieldwork Futures Friday, May 21, 3:30pm CDT

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:40:00 GMT

Session leaders Brent R. Fortenberry, Tulane University, and James Buckley, University of Oregon

Panelists:

Sarah Lopez (University of Texas, Austin)
Arijit Sen (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)
Elaine Stiles (Roger Williams University)
Danielle Willkens (Georgia Tech)

The 2021 VAF Conference plenary session examines the nature of contemporary vernacular architecture fieldwork. Fieldwork Futures provides a space for reflection and discussion of the importance of field-based research in the work of vernacular architecture historians in the past and considers the possibilities for new practices in the future.

Methods of documenting the physical qualities of ordinary buildings and landscapes have been at the heart of VAF members’ work from the organization’s inception. In the 21st century, new research and engagement questions challenge the way in which we investigate the material remnants of the past as embedded in the present. Tape measures and sketchbooks remain key tools for fieldwork, but fieldworkers now bring along digital technology to collect digital data and audio recorders to gather ethnographic information. Researchers and practitioners also have novel sociological and ethical considerations as they document everyday structures and map out the broader impacts of scholarship and knowledge production not just for the academy, but also for stakeholders and communities. Fieldwork in vernacular architecture studies now closely mingles the tangible and intangible past more than ever before, and champions community engagement as a critical component of the methodological and interpretive process.

Four fieldwork scholars will present vignettes of their current methods of fieldwork to set the stage for a broad discussion of the social and technological challenges facing field-based research today.

Sarah Lopez and Arijit Sen explore how their fieldwork integrates ethnography and community engagement in exploring the historic built environment in Texas and the Upper-Mid West. Elaine Stiles will discuss how fieldwork and survey efforts can incorporate the recent re-thinking of the historic preservation policy process, and Danielle Willkens examines how digital technology can be integrated into design engagement through an Atlanta case study.

The session organizers will then facilitate a conversation among all attendees aimed at identifying key principles of field-based practice in our field.

Virtual Conference Breakout Rooms Friday, May 21, 5:00 – 5:30 pm, CDT

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:35:00 GMT

At the end of our presentations on Friday, conference attendees will have opportunities to gather in smaller groups to chat, just like a real conference…. We have assembled seven breakout rooms, themed discussion groups for more informal conversation. Or maybe a zoom cocktail party? Please come.

Further discussion after the Plenary: Fieldwork Futures

Jim Buckley and Brent Fortenberry

Join the speakers Sarah Lopez, Arijit Sen, Elaine Stiles, and Danielle Wilkins to continue the conversation stimulated by our Panel on fieldwork.

New Books

Kim Hoagland

Are you yearning for the book exhibit at an in-person VAF conference? Are you afraid you're missing books that have been published during the pandemic? In this fast-paced session, authors of newly published work will discuss their books and why you might want to buy them.

Buildings & Landscapes

Michael Chiarappa and Lydia Mattice Brandt, co-editors

Have questions about how to publish your research in Buildings & Landscapes? Join the coeditors for an informal Q&A. Potential topics for questions may include the peer review process, image permissions, or how to transform your conference paper into a research article.

The VAF’s Special Series: Present and Future

Thomas Carter, editor.

Come, visit, and talk about the series, its mission, books currently in progress, and areas/subjects you think need to be covered. We also want your feedback on the possibility of a new introductory text, to replace Invitation to Vernacular Architecture. What would such a text look like? How can we make it more inclusive? Can you think of potential authors?

VAF’s African American Field Schools

Louis Nelson, University of Virginia

The Andrew Mellon Foundation has generously awarded funding to VAF and UVa to sponsor and support multi-year summer field schools that will investigate African American cultural landscapes and historic sites. VAF’s goals in this effort are to elevate projects that center African American cultural landscapes and historic sites and to catalyze a new and more diverse wave of scholars and practitioners prepared to do this work. This round table is an opportunity to learn more about this initiative and to ask questions of the program lead.

Tidewater Chapter for VAF

Marcia Miller and Jeff Klee

Let's catch up and talk about establishing a new Tidewater chapter. We can brainstorm ideas and field trips as well as talk more generally about how work is going in the time of COVID.

New England Chapter

Nicole Benjamin-Ma and Peter Michaud

Come catch up with friends of New England and the Chapter. Share your recent projects and your new research strategies. How has COVID affected your work? What are the advantages afforded by working from home and virtual programming? How can we incorporate these innovations into Chapter activities? Let’s use this opportunity to gather our thoughts about our experience as researchers and stewards over the past year.

VAN Team Welcomes Two New Editors

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:30:00 GMT

A big welcome to Marisa Gomez Nordyke and Melanie (Fuechsel) Millman, who over the summer will be taking over the editorial duties of the newsletter.

Marisa first got involved with VAF during the Savannah conference in 2007 when she and Daves Rosell were co-editors of the field guide. Now living in Texas, Marisa is currently a PhD candidate in Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. As the new VAN Editor she will be coordinating the team and bringing you the new and improved monthly newsletter.

Melanie joined the VAF in 2016 as a student ambassador with University of Mary Washington. She works out of New Jersey as a CRM archaeologist (AECOM) specializing in GIS and graphic design. As news editor she’ll be bringing the VAN to social media.

Did you miss the April VAN?

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:25:00 GMT

If you didn’t get your April VAN, you are not alone. The VAF website had some technical difficulties when our platform made some changes. Thanks to some eagle-eyed members who called it to our attention and to the diligent sleuthing of David Bergstone our website administrator, the wrinkles have been ironed out. But it may have meant that your April VAN email went directly to your spam folder. We are so sorry about that, and don’t want you to miss out. So if you didn’t get your last issue, or if you just didn’t get a chance to read it last month, here is the April VAN issue link again. And if you are looking for past issues, each full VAN issue is always available on the VAF website under the publications tab. Happy Reading!

Update on Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant for Field Schools

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:20:00 GMT

Dear VAF Friends and Colleagues:

Some of you will have heard that the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded VAF (in partnership with UVA) a substantial grant to support a series of new field schools documenting African American places (buildings and cultural landscapes) in partnership with African American communities, institutions, scholars, and students. This is an important and exciting new opportunity and you can find the link to find out more about the program here.

In short, the program will fund three different field schools, each to run for two seasons. Each of the funded field schools will have a leadership team that includes expertise in documentation, African American history and culture, and community engagement. Each field school is expected to build and sustain a relationship of mutual trust and reciprocity with their community partners and to offer public sessions that disseminate the work of the field school back to the community.

If you are interested in applying, please review the website and then reach out to me to share your interest and begin a conversation about designing your proposal.

Best,

Louis Nelson

Preview #5 of Tour Sites for VAF in Texas, May 2022

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:00:00 GMT

Because FDR wanted to keep Texas in the Democratic fold, VAF members will see many landscapes of the New Deal. These include several military installations, but also the River Walk, La Villita, and especially Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo. Federal funds allowed for a thorough reconstruction/restoration of the building, and the recreation of quarters for Native American converts and for soldiers assigned from the presidio in town. Though the mission church as a whole is heavily restored, the façade is remarkably intact, complete with “ultra-baroque” statuary and other carvings in stone. Also intact is the baptistry window, known, thanks to romantic myth making of the 1920s and 1930s, as “Rosa’s window.” VAFers will enjoy sorting out the very old from the relatively new and contemplating what was then (for Texas) the still quite novel idea of historic preservation.

Michael Allen received funding for project on mass housing

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:50:00 GMT

VAF member Michael Allen recently received funding from the Divided City Initiative, an Urban Humanities Initiative, for the project “Mass Housing in the United States and Yugoslavia: Crossing the Transatlantic Divide.” Working with Vladana Putnik Prica of the University of Belgrade, he will be convening a workshop, symposium and edited volume examining connections between mass housing projects of the Cold War era in the US and Yugoslavia. For more information, see the project website.

Lydia Mattice Brandt published guidebook on SC State House Grounds

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:30:00 GMT

VAF member and Buildings & Landscapes editor, Lydia Mattice Brandt, has published a guidebook on the South Carolina state house grounds, examining two centuries of history of its landscape, buildings, and many monuments. The South Carolina State House Grounds: A Guidebook is now available from the University of South Carolina Press. Brandt also hosts a 4-episode podcast tour of the site, produced with Historic Columbia and a grant from South Carolina Humanities.

Tom Hubka won Historic Preservation Book Prize

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:25:00 GMT

The University of Mary Washington’s Center for Historic Preservation announces the winners of the 2021 book prize. The prize has been awarded annually since 1989 to the book (or books) with the most potential for positively impacting the discipline of historic preservation in the United States. One of the two winners this year is VAF member, Tom Hubka for his book How the Working Class Home Because Modern, 1900-1940. Read the full announcement and details of the prize here.

Robert Mellin presented lecture on the construction of his house in Nicaragua

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:20:00 GMT

VAF member Robert Mellin presented a lecture to the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects (NLAA) on April 14, 2021 titled “Learning from the Vernacular” about the construction of his house in Granada, Nicaragua.

Meredith Drake Reitan’s work in the Bunker Hill neighborhood featured on podcast

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:15:00 GMT

VAF member Meredith Drake Reitan was part of a research team featured on the Save As podcast. She will be presenting the work in progress during Session One at the VAF Virtual Conference on May 22.

Bunker Hill Refrain focuses on a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles that has a deep and storied history. Subdivided in 1867, the neighborhood was originally home to some of Los Angeles’ most distinguished residents. As the city grew towards the west and south, a diverse mix of families, seniors and low-wage workers replaced the early settlers. At the midpoint of the twentieth century, planners and policy makers began to make the case that the area was blighted. With the establishment of the Bunker Hill Urban Redevelopment Project in 1958, the hill and the housing on top of it was demolished to make way for high-rise towers and cultural institutions. Between 6,000 and 9,000 individuals were displaced.

The aim of the project is to deepen our understanding of the demographics of Bunker Hill by making use of household survey cards compiled by the Works Progress Administration in 1939. These cards contain valuable, and as yet untapped, information about the inhabitants of Bunker Hill dwellings, including their ownership status, length of residence, rent, and race or ethnicity. During the project’s first phase, researchers have culled a data set of approximately 5,000 cards that reflect the boundaries of the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project area. Because much of the data was hand-written, the WPA cards need to be manually transcribed. This is a time-consuming process that requires hundreds of staff hours. To address this challenge, the project team will crowdsource the data transcription using ZOONIVERSE, an online platform designed to support and encourage Citizen Science – the voluntary participation of members of the general public to describe and analyze scientific data. It is a pioneering tool in a library and public history context.

Zachary Violette received the SAH Spiro Kostof Book Award

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:10:00 GMT

In April, VAF board member Zachary Violette received the Society of Architectural Historian's Spiro Kostof award for the publication of his book The Decorated Tenement: How Immigrant Builders and Architects Transformed the Slum in the Gilded Age. This award was established in 1993 at the Society's Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, in recognition of Spiro Kostof's extraordinarily productive and inspiring career that was ended by his premature death in December 1991. In the spirit of Kostof's writings, the award will be given to interdisciplinary studies of urban history that make the greatest contribution to our understanding of the growth and development of cities.

Carla Yanni promoted to Distinguished Professor

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:05:00 GMT

VAF member Carla Yanni has been promoted to Distinguished Professor, Art History Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Multiple VAF members collaborated on special issue of Material Culture Review journal

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Storied Spaces: Renewing Folkloristic Perspectives on Vernacular Architecture. A Special Issue of Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture materielle (Volume 90-91, Fall 2019/Spring 2020). Read the issue here.

Editors: Michael J. Chiarappa and Gabrielle A. Berlinger

Articles by: Elijah Gaddis, Puja Sahney, Gloria M. Colom Brana, Meghann E. Jack, Michael J. Chiarappa, Thomas Carter

Interviews with: Robert Blair St. George, Michael Ann Williams, Bernard L. Herman, Gerald L. Pocius, Henry Glassie

At the 2018 Vernacular Architecture Forum conference in Alexandria, Virginia, Michael Ann Williams organized a panel that sought to re-affirm the role of folkloristic approaches to the study of vernacular architecture. In the papers that were presented, and in the comments that were delivered by Gerald Pocius, it was clear that the distinguishing features of folkloristic inquiry—the relevance of place and region, the primacy of fieldwork and ethnographic rigor, and recognition of a building’s capacity to communicate cultural values—still hold a grip on the field. But an acute consciousness of these tenets, and their connection to the tradition of folkloristic inquiry, has been decidedly quiet in recent years.

Encouraged by Thomas Carter and Gerald Pocius, and further supported by Richard MacKinnon in his former capacity as Editor-in-Chief of Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture materielle, a variety of folkloristic approaches to vernacular architecture have been assembled in a special issue of the journal dedicated solely to the topic (Vol. 90-91, Fall 2019-Spring 2020). Accompanying the articles are insightful interviews with Henry Glassie, Robert B. St. George, Gerald Pocius, Michael Ann Williams, and Bernard Herman. For VAF members, the special issue contextualizes how the study of vernacular architecture assumed a compellingly new place in North American folkloristics amidst the expanding scope of historical and cultural inquiry of the 1960s and still exerts its influence today. While the very source material we categorize as “vernacular architecture” was well entrenched among those who studied North America’s architectural history and regional cultures, it can be said—with certain authority—that folkloristic handling of built environments instituted a wave of methodological and interpretive perspectives that then, and now, ripple well-beyond the folklorist’s immediate disciplinary boundaries. In calling for renewed attention to folkloristic approaches to vernacular architecture, the collection of articles and interviews emphasize how the folklorist’s artifact-centered and artifact-driven approaches resonate in an interdisciplinary mix with historians, architectural historians, historic preservationists, anthropologists, geographers, and museologists.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Vernacular Architecture Forum (2019), this special issue of Material Culture Review highlights the role that folklorists have played in vernacular architecture studies in the United States. How did folklorists contribute a distinctive approach to the study of commonplace structures and landscapes as the field was emerging, and how are new generations of folklorists offering critical perspectives today? This collection of essays is the culmination of academic panels and roundtable discussions that folklorists convened at the Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF), the American Folklore Society (AFS), and the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) between 2015 and 2018. The impetus to host these reflective conversations was a collective concern: “Where have all the folklorists gone?,” we asked at the VAF, and “Where are all the vernacular architecture scholars?,” we pondered at the AFS. As a result, established and emerging scholars whose work bridged the two fields came to the table at each conference to examine the historic overlap of folklore and vernacular architecture studies, to consider how these fields have distinguished themselves over the past 40 years, and to envision their future contributions to the invaluable study of our surroundings.

Grounded in ethnographic methodology, folklorists draw upon deep engagement with individual builders and users of vernacular spaces, in addition to closely documenting material forms. The merging of discourse-based analysis with formal object study allows for a complex interpretation of both sense of self and sense of place. This relationship-driven and object-based approach reveals how people design and read their physical surroundings in relation to their histories, current conditions, and aspirations. Rather than define a boundary between the fields of folklore and vernacular architecture studies, therefore, this collection illuminates the interdisciplinary roots that bridge the two pursuits and investigates how the diverse methods of adjacent disciplines such as cultural geography, anthropology, philosophy, art history, and history became synthesized in folkloristic training to create a particular approach to the study of vernacular architecture.

In this volume, readers will discover research and writing that demonstrates how close listening, deep fieldwork, attention to interior spaces as well as exterior structures, affective experience, and the interpretation of built environments through the lenses of gender and race in addition to class, all define the folkloristic approach.

Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada conference May 27-June 1

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:50:00 GMT

The Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC-SEAC) will hold its first digital conference Architecture in the Clouds: 46th Annual Conference May 27-June 1.

The program and registration details posted on the conference webpage.

SAH/MDR Architectural Research Funding applications due May 30

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:45:00 GMT

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH/MDR) is dedicated to open and informed advocacy for the built environment in the Pacific Northwest, while celebrating and promoting the people and cultures that shape and preserve it.

The Marion Dean Ross Chapter invites applications for the Elisabeth Walton Potter Research Awards. The goal of this award program is to further awareness and knowledge of the architectural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. The chapter will provide limited funds for focused projects that increase understanding of the region’s built environment and produce tangible results (including articles, books, oral histories, podcasts, local exhibitions, etc.) that can be made available for interested scholars and students.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Awards are available to members of the chapter (please note the student membership is free).
Award amounts shall be no less than $500.00 and no greater than $2,000.00.
The Executive Committee of the chapter shall review applications and determine recipient(s) of the award(s).
Criteria for acceptance include a realistic scope and timeline, as well as demonstration of a strong, original research question.
Current CV highlighting relevant education and experience.

Successful recipient(s) of award(s) shall present a summary of work to the membership at the annual meeting of the chapter following completion of the project.

Deadline for submission of application – May 30, 2021.
Date for awarding of grants – June 14, 2021.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Please use the following format when applying for the award:

NAME of applicant with full contact information.
PROJECT NAME: A short descriptive title for the project.
DESCRIPTION: Briefly describe the project, including the genesis, purpose, and need. Explain its contribution to the understanding of architecture in the Pacific Northwest. If site specific, describe location.
PRODUCT: Describe specific anticipated results of the project including, if applicable, quantity, users, accessibility, educational benefits or other pertinent information. Describe how Marion Dean Ross Chapter support will be acknowledged.
TIME FRAME: State the estimated length of time to complete the project with anticipated beginning and end dates.
AMOUNT: Specify the amount of money being requested. State the total amount to complete the project. If the amount requested from the Marion Dean Ross Chapter is less than the total, indicate how the remainder will be raised, so that the completion of the project is assured.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Successful applicants will be invited to report on their use of the award at a meeting of the Marion Dean Ross Chapter or in one of its publications. Any research project funded fully or in part by the chapter should acknowledge this support in print or verbally, as appropriate. A product (either digital or physical) resulting from chapter support should be deposited in the Marion Dean Ross Chapter Archives, University of Oregon Libraries.

Please submit the application to the chapter president via email (as an attached file) or surface mail. Include contact information – address, phone number(s), email address – with a cover letter or email message.

2019-2021 Chapter President: Dr. Amanda Roth Clark, 300 W. Hawthorne Rd., Spokane, WA 99251, 509-777-4482, amandaclark@whitworth.edu

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship in Architectural History/Historic Preservation at UPenn due June 1

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:30:00 GMT

The Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship in the area of public history and the built environment within the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. The fellow will be expected to teach two courses during the academic year of August 2021 to May 2022 and through their research contribute to scholarship and public programming at the school. We are particularly interested in candidates who can teach in the subject areas of American architectural history and theories and methods of public history (especially as related to historic preservation and the construction of heritage).

The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who have received their PhD up to three years prior to August 2021. We encourage applications from candidates who: are interested in advancing questions in public history at the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, indigenousness, sexuality, and economic inequality; are applying innovative methods in their teaching, research and scholarship; have demonstrated scholarly and/or professional engagement with the historic preservation field.

More Info/Apply

Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School Summer 2021 call for participants due June 10

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:30:00 GMT

Summer 2021 (Modified)^{^[i]} Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School

Dates: July 6—August 7, 2021

The BLC Field School is a nationally recognized award-winning project that combines immersive learning with civic engagement. The Field School welcomes the participation of members of the community, and it is open to anyone who is interested and can make a full-time commitment (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm) over five weeks. Students are eligible to receive academic credit for the Field School, which may be taken as an Independent Study (3 cr) or Internship (3 cr).

Websites: Thefieldschool.weebly.com; MKEEJlab.weebly.com

For further information, please contact Arijit Sen at senA@uwm.edu

What will be the focus of the 2021 field school?

Our goal is to write urban histories that reflect the lived realities of people in Milwaukee’s marginalized and segregated neighborhoods. In Summer 2021 we will examine community spaces such as streets, sidewalks, alleys, open spaces, gardens, empty lots, and parks. These are sites where community members sustain human relationships and practice mutual aid and self-care. Using methods such as material culture and architectural documentation, history harvests, short and long form oral histories, community led walks, asset mapping, and spatial ethnography, we will document the geography, layout, and stories of everyday life in these spaces.

During the 5-week period, we will learn the following:

Current thinking on concepts such as “black ecologies” and feminist practices of “radical care.”
We will learn how to interview people and will interview selected community residents.
We will learn how to observe and map physical spaces.
We will learn and practice other ethnographic methods such as community led walks and history harvests.
We will search the archives in innovative ways to find underrepresented stories.
We will examine how local community knowledge about place, environment and ecology is produced, nurtured, and passed down to the next generation and how we as scholars can help archive and preserve these forms of knowledge.
Finally, we will plan and stage a final event in August that will include a walk through the neighborhood with stations where we will present our findings.

Detailed Schedule

Meeting times: M-F 9AM-4PM

Location: Washington Park Week 1-2; SARUP Week 3-5

Week 1; July 6-9: Workshops and preparation

Week 2; July 12-16: Oral History and ethnographic data collection

Week 3; July 19-23: Archives and continue ethnographic data collection

Week 4: July 26-30: Analysis and dissemination

Week 5: August 2-6: Dissemination and Final events

August 7, 2021: Final event

^{^[i]} The summer 2021 field school is modified to ensure all pandemic related safety and health precautions. All participants have to be vaccinated. We will not be entering homes and measuring these spaces. We will try and keep most of our data collection to the outdoors. All interviews will be held in ventilated spaces and preferably outdoors. Class meetings will take place in large, ventilated spaces. All safety precautions, social distancing, and masking will be followed by all participants at all times.

Preservation Virginia Announces Most Endangered Places list for 2021

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:10:00 GMT

Virginia’s long and diverse history is evident in the Commonwealth’s historic buildings, sites, and landscapes. However, far too many of these places are vulnerable to damage and demolition caused by neglect, insufficient resources, inappropriate development, and insensitive public policies.

For more than 20 years, Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places list has advocated for these places, and helped to find solutions for their preservation. The intent of the list is to bring attention to threatened historic places in the Commonwealth, and to encourage residents, localities, and organizations to support preservation and revitalization efforts.

Read the full press release with list of sites and map here.

Center For Preservation of Civil Rights Sites Launches Website

Christine R Henry — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:00:00 GMT

The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites invites you to search their curated selection of over 300 resources that explore the intersection of civil rights histories, Black heritage, and the built environment. These resources span a variety of media including books, journal articles, blogs, podcasts, and films.

Explore Resources here.

Have a suggested resource to add? Please email Sarah Lerner, Manager of CPCRS at srlerner@upenn.edu