EARLY CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON BARN BUILDING AND MODERN-DAY EFFORTS TO PRESERVE: CAN THE HISTORIC BARNS OF PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO, BE SAVED?
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2005
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MA in Historic Preservation
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To obtain a complete copy of this thesis please contact Goucher College Special Collections & Archives at archives@goucher.edu or (410) 337-6075.
Abstract
A drive through Putnam County, Ohio, reveals the role that agriculture has
historically played- and continues to play- in the county's economy. This agricultural
focus means (1) many historic barns are extant and (2) those barns face demolition in the
name of progress. Putnam County represents just one narrowly located geographic
example of the problems faced by those who wish to preserve historic barns across the
country. This thesis examines the effects of the teardown culture perpetuated by more
than a hundred years oftaste-making by agricultural journals, then explores and analyzes
bam preservation programs across the country and how aspects of those programs might
be adapted to use in Putnam County. Finally, the thesis considers the questions raised in
evaluating the integrity of historic barns, which typically have progressive building
histories and may even have been moved over time. Taking the seven aspects identified
by the National Park Service as determining the integrity of a structure - location,
design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association- and interpreting them
with a specific, critical eye toward barns, this thesis suggests baseline criteria that may be
used by the preservation community at large to evaluate the integrity of historic barns. In
conclusion, suggestions are made to conduct a survey of Putnam County's extant historic
barns; pilot outreach, incentive, apprentice, and workshop programs are also suggested as
catalysts toward future preservation efforts.