Browsing by Subject "historic preservation"
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Item Building Carpentry into Nevada's Secondary Curriculum, One Nail at a Time(2014) Littlewood, Carolyn W.; MA in Historic PreservationIn order to practice historic preservation, one must possess the skills and the know-how to do so. This thesis research examines the possibility of implementing the building skill of carpentry into secondary education in the public school system at a time when there is a decline in the building trade professions. The focus is on vocational education in secondary education in Nevada and the surrounding states and examines why carpentry and the skilled building trades are important. Shifts to national standard-based curriculum and how this affects vocational education is also explored. The thesis research includes a survey of educators, state-licensed building contractors, and students to gain their opinions and perceptionson six areas pertinent to the issues related to the need for the skilled building trades, specifically carpentry. The hypothesis for this research centers on three areas: 1. If carpentry were added to secondary education, would it provide a student with a life skill? 2. Would carpentry help reduce the high school drop-out rate? 3. Would carpentry contribute to the state’s work force? The findings from this research demonstrate the need and the desire for the education in the building skill of carpentry to be added to the curriculum in secondary education in Nevada’s public school system.Item A Case for Storied Landscapes: Wilderness and Historic Preservation(2013) Kirn, Laura Ann; MA in Historic PreservationThis treatise presents a new framework for addressing cultural resources in the context of wilderness designated under the 1964 Wilderness Act. To this end, it presents a contextual history of the concept of wilderness on early federal public lands, and of the overlay of early federal historic preservation mandates. Using analyses of federal policies for both wilderness management and historic preservation, it traces late 20th century developments in both mandates with an emphasis on lands under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. This policy analysis is augmented by in-depth studies of four court cases with decisions pertinent to my thesis topic, and detailed case studies of wilderness management in three National Park Service units. My thesis research considers the principles, theories and concepts of both historic preservation and wilderness to derive a new typology of heritage values specifically applicable in wilderness management. These values are then integrated with the parameters and restrictions of the Wilderness Act to support a new framework for managing cultural resources in wilderness. My treatise closes with a discussion of this framework, and recommendations for new directions in managing America’s cultural heritage in wilderness. Wild places and the cultural heritage resources within them are priceless and irreplaceable. My findings support the idea that we can realistically and sustainably manage both, and indeed that it is crucial for the health of both that we do so. Understanding the human history of wild places is a vital part of addressing their complexity. Embracing their human dimensions is key to overcoming the myth of uninhabited wilderness. And wilderness historic preservation, through integrative and nuanced critical thinking, is not only possible but imperative.Item Curtain Call: The Role of Historic Theatres in the Revitalization of Erie Canalway Communities(2013) DiBella, Gina M.; MA in Historic PreservationHistoric theatres capture the fascination of all who enter their treasured performance halls. Rehabilitated theatres have the added advantage of making a positive impact on their communities. This thesis proposes that the reuse of a historic theatre can play a role in the revitalization of a community and provides evidence from a number of examples in a study area, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in New York State. The Erie Canal, once a catalyst for community growth, economic development and social change, has evolved into a recreational and tourist attraction and is now part of a congressionally-designated National Heritage Corridor. Historically, theatres contributed to the growth and prosperity of a community. Today, their operation and reuse as part of the Canalway Corridor can have a similar effect. The wealth of successful historic theatre rehabilitation projects within the Erie Canalway Corridor – from nineteenth century opera houses and music halls, to early- twentieth century vaudeville stages and motion picture palaces – proves that reuse of a historic theatre can have a positive impact on its community. This study uses five areas of opportunity – architectural and historic integrity, business structure, sustainability, programming, and community impact – to examine existing programs. Central to the information gathered for this study were several interviews with theatre staff using a questionnaire specifically-designed for the project, and site visits to more than a dozen historic theatres in the region. This method of research allowed for an informed analysis of the five areas of opportunity, enabling the thesis to highlight best practices used by theatres in the study. Because of the number of extant historic theatres in the Erie Canalway Corridor, New York State, and throughout the United States, this thesis confirms the importance of historic theatres as catalysts for community revitalization.Item Focusing on the Present While Honoring the Past: LGBTQ Preservation as a Model for Revised Historic Preservation Practice(2023-05-21) Maguire, Molly; MA in Historic PreservationAs the field of historic preservation seeks to tell more complete stories, there is a disconnect between efforts to engage with diverse histories and many of the tools available to historic preservation practitioners. Traditional historic preservation tools are designed to preserve historic fabric and are, therefore, not always in alignment with community-based preservation in these underrepresented and historically ignored communities. Many marginalized groups have not historically had access to the stability of property ownership or have lived transient lives shaped by discrimination and displacement that have permanently affected the way they relate to and form attachment to place. This treatise explores these ideas through an analysis of Chicago’s LGBTQ community from the early twentieth century through the formation of its most visible gay neighborhood in Northalsted in the 1970s. In response to this disconnect with traditional preservation tools, this treatise proposes suggestions for how preservationists can support current LGBTQ communities by incorporating sense of place into preservation work and deferring to community values. Two community-based development projects in Northalsted provide one potential model for a more flexible approach to historic preservation that doesn’t rely on the strict preservation of historic fabric.Item Heritage Species for Historic Preservation(2023-05) Cohan, Elizabeth; Lytle, Melanie; Gonzales, Jackie; Lookingbill, Todd; MA in Historic PreservationThe United States has no standardized concept to recognize nonhuman species of cultural significance. This thesis argues that the field of historic preservation should play a role in cultural species documentation to fill this gap. To achieve this, preservation practice must expand the documentation process to include culturally significant nonhuman species to fully understand the complex historical relationship between species, people, and places and manage cultural landscapes holistically as dynamic systems. This thesis provides an overview of policy and practice, explains cultural landscape documentation and programs, discusses a brief legislative and regulatory history of the nature-culture divide, and provides examples of how nonhuman species are typically captured through current documentation methods, focusing on the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Register of Historic Places (National Register), Cultural Landscape Inventories (CLI), and Cultural Landscape Reports (CLR). I introduce a new concept to identify culturally significant nonhuman species: heritage species. The heritage species definition and criteria are grounded in existing frameworks such as ethnobiology’s Cultural Keystone Species (CKS) and World Heritage Species. I apply the proposed heritage species concept and evaluate example heritage species, including Mexican free-tailed bats along Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas and old-growth trees within Glencarlyn Park in Arlington, Virginia, against the National Register. This study finds that heritage species can fit into existing documentation methods within our preservation framework and presents a set of five actionable options geared toward historic preservation professionals which act as possible steps forward to integrate heritage species into documentation. Out of these proposed actionable options, this study suggests preservation professionals document heritage species and their habitat, heritage species habitat, when appropriate rather than the living species itself; this approach fits more easily into the existing place-based framework. Beyond proposed actionable options, additional recommendations to update preservation practice include updates to the current cultural landscape guidance published by the NPS. The proposed heritage species concept is intended to serve as a catalyst for preservationists to update preservation practice from a peoples-first to a living-species-first approach. This paradigm shift has many implications for communities and resource managers regarding the Section 106 process and integrated resource management. This study aims to initiate conversations about integrating species, people, and places within historic preservation theory and practice to reconcile how to preserve living landscapes.Item HISTORICAL SOCIETIES AS VEHICLES OF PRESERVATION: A STUDY OF NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES(2018-04) Nolan, Kathleen; Bradley, Betsy; MA in Historic PreservationThousands of local historical societies operate throughout the United States and often act as the first or only preservation-related organization with which the public interacts. The multiplicity of historical societies and their analogous missions create the potential for the promotion and practice of preservation to become significantly more wide-spread at a local level. Considering this potential, this treatise explores the efficacy of historical societies as vehicles of preservation of the historic built environment and the effect of their relationships with governmental history and historic preservation agencies on that efficacy. Through an examination of the historical societies in New Jersey and the State’s history and historic preservation agencies, this treatise research examines the capacity and efforts of New Jersey historical societies in promoting and practicing preservation and explores the levels and types of support offered to historical societies by state governmental agencies. This study’s major findings include the need for increased capacity among historical societies and the inequity of preservation-related funding distributed by New Jersey’s history and historic preservation agencies due to a lack of connections between those agencies and historical societies, as well as a lack of professional capacity among societies to apply for and implement that funding. Utilizing the information gathered in this treatise, I lay out a plan for improving the relationship between historical societies and state governmental agencies and for expanding historical societies’ opportunities to lead local preservation. This study’s recommendations include the development of diverse boards and programming by historical societies and the establishment of a Local History Services program in New Jersey like that of the Wisconsin Historical Society. With the implementation of progressive changes made concurrently by local and state level governmental agencies and by historical society organizations, I conclude that the preservation movement throughout New Jersey could develop into a powerful, unified force that strengthens and expands the singular heritage of the State.Item In the Minds of the Living: The Adaptive Reuse of Monuments and Memorials(2018-06-06) Gilman-Forlini, Jackson; Orthel, Bryan D.; Bradley, Betsy; Lytle, Melanie; Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies; MA in Historic PreservationSince 2015, the removal of Confederate monuments from public spaces across the United States has caused the public to question the permanency of monuments generally and their role in perpetuating cultural heritage. Traditionally, Western-style commemorative monuments and memorials were intended to be immutable carriers of memory. In contrast, a historical study of monuments reveals that the public tacitly changes their symbolic meaning over time as collective memory changes. In this unstable commemorative landscape, the public assignment of heritage value to monuments can be contested, inverted, re-contextualized, forgotten or abandoned. How should historic preservationists respond to these changes to ensure that monuments and memorials continue to serve the social needs of living people? This study draws from a body of research across several disciplines including historic preservation, history, philosophy, literature, psychology, and others. This evidence will be used to argue for the adaptive reuse of memorials through a democratic and participatory process similar to what is outlined in the Burra Charter. The challenge for preservationists is to mediate the historical value of memorials with their contemporary cultural heritage values since adaptive reuse may require physical changes to the original artifact that are incompatible with its historical appearance. To allow for future changes in collective memory and cultural value systems, modifications to memorials ought to be reversible or temporary, in most cases. As a means of reconciling potential conflict between historical and present value systems, this study advances treatment options—mainly site-specific art installations—guided by philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of the “heterotopia” or a space in which multiple conflicting or contradictory ideas can coexist. Among monument types, this research particularly focuses on “living memorials” or memorials that also serve as utilitarian buildings since these places pose the greatest opportunity for adaptive reuse.Item Industrial Storytelling: Preservation and Adaptive Use at Waterfront Redevelopments in the Puget Sound Region of the Pacific Northwest(2013) Felber, Lynette L.; MA in Historic PreservationPuget Sound waterfront redevelopments that visually communicate their histories of industrial use will best achieve sustainability, cultural meaning, and authentic placemaking for local residents. Preservation, design, and interpretation all contribute to this industrial storytelling. Hence, one major criterion for success is the extent to which a redevelopment has cultivated its extant resources. Historic buildings, structures, and artifacts should set the keynotes for site design and new construction. A second corollary, or criterion, evaluates how well developers, architects, and planners create a genuine sense of place, primarily through preservation and design, but also supplemented with interpretation. Finally, a third criterion focuses on ethical storytelling. A highly- effective project will mediate among competing values to convey its diverse history and promote narrative continuity, a layering of temporal evolution. Telling the stories of a site’s industrial precedents is an ethical mandate because it is essential to a community’s identity and need for continuance of a familiar landscape. These narratives should be conveyed through an organic process grounded in the site’s past. For example, at Granville Island in Vancouver, British Columbia, the first case study site, authentic placemaking was derived from the site’s historic layout, materials, and original resources. When these components are translated into a redevelopment, they produce the materialized narrative with the most historic integrity. The site should be recognizable to residents and interesting to tourists, but also communicate its history to new generations. This visibility is particularly necessary when original resources have been lost, as in the case of the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma, the second case study. The industrial narrative is, therefore, best developed through sustainable preservation practices, design standards that evoke the original sense of place, and conscientious interpretation. The Waterfront District in Bellingham, the third case study, is an undeveloped site that could benefit from cultivating these elements. Ultimately, the communities that establish a well-conceived program for redevelopment to enhance their extant resources will articulate the most compelling, multilayered stories for their residents, and those of the future.Item LOST EDGEHILL: URBAN RENEWAL, COLLECTIVE AGENCY, AND GENTRIFICATION IN A SOUTH NASHVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD(2024-05-15) Mahan, Drew; Betsy H. Bradley, Ph.D.; MA in Historic PreservationIn 2022, the Nashville Chamber of Commerce announced that the city was growing by 98 individuals per day. This explosive growth has put an unprecedented strain upon the city’s historic resources, predominantly affecting historic neighborhoods occupied by people of color. As historic preservation professionals, it is our mission to tell the fuller American story, and in this case the fuller story of Nashville. The portion of the Edgehill neighborhood that this study focuses on has been the site of erasure, followed by a period of community-based activism to prevent a large-scale housing project, and concluding with hyper-gentrification in the past decade. In the late 1960s, the Nashville Housing Authority documented the area, resulting in a collection of 35-millimeter slides that show the Edgehill neighborhood on the cusp of demolition. The images were captured to justify the buildings impending demolition. This collection exists as the only photographic evidence of the buildings that once existed there. This thesis project explores these themes from 1940 to the present day, using Nashville’s Edgehill neighborhood as a model. To combat erasure and the loss of the memory of a neighborhood, the project utilizes an archival collection to tell the story of a place that no longer exists. Using social media as a medium, the project seeks to keep Edgehill’s memory alive, inspire a new generation of preservationists, create a forum for conversations surrounding Nashville’s growth and gentrification, provide access to a previously unseen photo collection, and tell the fuller Nashville story. This study produced two products: this framework paper and a social media project. From August to December 2023, I posted archival images from Metro Housing and Development Agency’s photo collections housed at Metro Nashville Archives to Facebook and Instagram. The images and stories in those posts went on to inform the content in this paper and vice versa.Item Louisville StorySites(2018-07) Skinner, Emily; Eleuterio, Sue; Kymaani, Roxanne; Gordon, Becky; MA in Cultural SustainabilityThe purpose for this capstone project is to produce a web-based product which showcases the intersection of story and place in Louisville, KY’s historic cultural landscapes. My guiding question is: How can historic preservation methods be incorporated with creative use of personal narratives surrounding place to enhance the cultural vitality of communities? The project invited three local residents to share their stories around a significant historic site in their community that is meaningful to them, specifically individuals who are passionate about historic sites that are at risk or neglected. These stories are then used in collaborative partnerships through creating digital stories, presented through videos on the website louisvillestorysites.org through an interactive map, which aim to amplify community impact in areas of the city where community input has not been valued, through showcasing cultural connections to place through the power of storytelling. These digital narratives shine a light on significant historic sites in Louisville, KY that are, were, or could, benefit from historic preservation methods. They also emphasize the vital relationship between the built environment and the community stories that give them significance.Item LOVE OF PLACE: COMMUNICATING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WELLBEING AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION(2023-12) Christopher Jensen; Melanie Lytle; Cynthia Olnick; Thompson M. Mayes; MA in Historic PreservationThis thesis argues that love of place and wellbeing are fundamental aspects of historic preservation, and that historic preservationists should engage with the public to emphasize how preservation can enhance emotional wellbeing for individuals and communities. In this treatise, I review evidence of love of place and wellbeing presented in prior research, including resources such as Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perceptions, Attitudes, and Values by Yi-Fu Tuan, Why Old Places Matter by Thompson Mayes, and studies such as The Melbourne Lovability Index Industry Report. Through this research, I demonstrated that historic places have a direct link to people's emotional attachment to place, such as love of place. Additionally, I review sources for wellbeing in heritage, such as The Impact of Historic Places and Assets on Community Wellbeing, People-Centred Methodologies for Heritage Conservation, and Heritage, Health, and Wellbeing, which reveal that historic places have a direct impact on human emotional wellbeing. The purpose and scope of this thesis is to help preservationists address love of place, its intersection with wellbeing, and how to communicate with people that historic preservation is valuable and contributes to human wellbeing. This thesis is intended to contribute to an ongoing conversation in historic preservation, with the expectation that future discussions will address regulatory measures and criteria changes related to wellbeing and love of place.Item Re-claiming Lost Landscapes Through Collaborative Ethnography: A Preservation Case Study Centered on Intangible Heritage(2022-12-08) Waters, Nikki A.; Lytle, Melanie M.A.H.P., Director; Lassiter, Luke Eric Ph.D.; Sommers, Laurie Kay Ph.D.; Historic Preservation; MA in Historic PreservationThis thesis shows how collaborative ethnography—as defined by open and deliberate ongoing collaboration between researchers and research participants—can help re-identify lost landscapes through the collection of memory and story and could help former residents strengthen and maintain their place attachment. Memory and story evoke place in ways that more conventional preservation practice often misses. A collaborative ethnography approach to preservation practice can bring places with little to no tangible heritage back into the broader historical narrative and provide richer social, historical, and geographic contexts for places that retain robust tangible heritage. The case study for this project is the pre-1990 landscape of the Limestone Pony Club (LPC) which is primarily centered around Fayetteville and Manlius, New York. While some portions of this landscape are extant, others have been lost to development or no longer retain recognizable physical signs they were once associated with the LPC. A collaborative approach to collecting memory and story brought these lost portions of the landscape back into the historic LPC narrative. This study produced two products—first, a framework document for preservation professionals outlining how to apply collaborative ethnography to preservation practice, and second, a three-part LPC History and Memory Toolkit. The toolkit consists of a story map, a Facebook group dedicated to LPC history and memories, and a narrative LPC history from 1963 to 1989, all developed through this collaborative ethnography approach to traditional preservation research. The Facebook group page also served as a digital ethnographic field site and aided in collecting and reviewing LPC memories and stories. This thesis shows how and why a collaborative ethnography approach is beneficial to preservationists seeking a more people-centered focus.Item Stranded in Time: Protecting Properties Outside the Period of Significance in Existing Historic Districts(2014) Ruff, Carin; MA in Historic PreservationHistoric designation captures a judgment about the significance of historic places and their components at a particular moment in time. The classification of resources within a historic district as historically significant or insignificant, contributing or noncontributing, is made at the time of designation on the basis of association with the district's period of significance. Properties outside the period of significance receive a lower level of protection, despite their location in protected historic places. They are subject to alteration that destroys their integrity, as historic district regulations encourage assimilation to the dominant styles of the period of significance. Resources that later generations might come to appreciate as historically significant may, by reason of their status as outliers in older historic settings, not survive intact long enough to receive informed reevaluation. Such reassessment tends, in any case, to be a low priority in local preservation programs.Communities have options for improving the prospects that out-of-period properties will survive long enough to be reappraised for potential historic significance, and that reappraisal will take place. Design guidelines and the terms of new designations can be crafted in ways that recognize the integrity of the historic places as including varied styles. Periodic reassessment of older judgments of historic significance can be integrated into the preservation planning process. Creative application of newer concepts in the preservation field, including flexibility in the National Register criteria, can help built a public constituency for neglected out-of-period properties and thus motivate their eventual reevaluation.