PreserveCast

On this special edition of PreserveCast we're flipping the script! Normally, our host Nicholas Redding asks the questions and our guests tell us the story. On today's episode Nick will be our storyteller, chronicling one of his first preservation advocacy battles and the hard-won lessons learned that can listeners can heed and use to speak out on behalf of places that matter to their communities. 

Video links, referenced in Nick's "second lesson" to have fun and use creative strategies.

https://youtu.be/G4n93XD9Bt4

Saving communities and historic places from an increasingly unstable climate takes real action – and thoughtful, well-crafted policy. Maryland State Senator Sarah Elfreth is a national leader on this issue and has helped to craft a new funding source to help communities battle climate change and save historic places.

I first met Senator Elfreth outside of a Budget and Taxation hearing to discuss an opportunity to save one of Annapolis’ last standing waterman’s cottages that was imminently threatened by rising sea levels. Since then, we’ve collaborated on a variety of efforts and her work has been recognized nationally for climate resiliency. Saving places often means getting involved in crafting policy which is why I knew we had to bring Senator Sarah to PreserveCast.

On this week’s PreserveCast we’re diving deep into the technology of preservation with Greg Galer and Taryn Williams about their roles at The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT). We’re talking about how preservationists keep up with changing technology and how those trends, tools and the science of buildings is helping keep our historic structures standing. And, we’ll discuss how you can get involved and learn more about the science behind preservation. 

ABOUT

Greg Galer, Ph.D., Hon. AIA, HREDFP is the Executive Director of APT. He began this role in early 2022, having previously served as Executive Director of the Boston Preservation Alliance where he impacted over $5 billion of real estate development. His 30-year career spans the breadth of public history including historic preservation, collection management, museum exhibits, documentation of historic sites, and adaptive use projects.

Taryn Williams is the President of the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT). She has served on the APT Board of Directors since 2016, and co-chaired APT’s Partnerships & Outreach committee from 2017-2021. She is a Senior Project Manager at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger in Washington, DC where her work focuses on investigating and repairing existing and historic buildings. Taryn holds bachelor and master of engineering degrees in civil engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She is a licensed structural engineer in California and Hawaii; a licensed civil engineer in California, Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, DC; and an APT Recognized Professional.

Learn more:

Greg Galer's Previous Episode (Ep. 50)

On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re heading back 250 years to the mid-18th century to talk to Ed Schultz, master farmer of Colonial Williamsburg. We’ve covering a lot of ground in this episode – rich fertile ground – and will take a closer look at what it takes to learn this style of farming and what lessons it holds for the future of sustainable agriculture. We’ll also talk with Ed about his work with ALFHAM – an association for living historians and what that organization does for the field of heritage preservation. All that and more on this week’s PreserveCast.

The experiences of hundreds of free and enslaved people of color who witnessed and took part in the Battle of Antietam, one of America’s bloodiest battles, have never been shared in depth until now. Join us on this week’s PreserveCast as we talk with author Dr. Emilie Amt about her book Black Antietam: African Americans and the Civil War. Emilie will give us a glimpse into her book and the African American perspectives in Sharpsburg before, during, and after the Battle of Antietam and the Civil War.

Dr. Emilie Amt is an award-winning writer on the African American history of western Maryland. A Maryland native, Emilie is an emeritus professor of history at Hood College in Frederick. She spent much of her career as a medieval historian, but since 2010, her research has focused on slavery in Washington County, where she lives. Her most recent book, published by The History Press, is Black Antietam: African Americans and the Civil War in Sharpsburg (available for purchase here). She is on the board of the Friends of Tolson’s Chapel, a National Historic Landmark in Sharpsburg, and is a founding director of the Friends of Halfway African American Cemetery, in Hagerstown.  

Learn more: https://emilieamt.com/

Purchase Book: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467150729

On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re heading to the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay to revisit an episode with Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, a dynamic new organization that is using heritage and history and a host of other innovative tools to develop opportunities for minorities to engage in this growing and sustainable industry.

Like many guests, I read about Imani in an article and knew we had to get her on PreserveCast – especially because of her background, heritage and focus on using history to get minorities interested and engaged in careers in aquaculture. We’re talking sustainability, environmentalism, history and the bay on this week’s PreserveCast.

Once one of the top 10 cities in the United States, Buffalo’s historic Elmwood district could once again be a model for America’s cities. On this week’s PreserveCast, join us as we talk with Clinton Brown, a heritage and project architect, about his book Olmsted’s Elmwood: The Rise, Decline and Renewal of Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood, A Model for America’s Cities. Brown takes us through this Buffalo, NY neighborhood's rich history, devastating decline, and ongoing renewal.

Historic preservation architect Clinton Brown, FAIA, is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, and the University of Virginia School of Architecture. He has taught at the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts and is a frequent speaker about historic preservation and Main Street revitalization. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

He founded Clinton Brown Company Architecture, pc, a leading full service historic preservation, architecture, and grant services firm, which is driven to renew historic buildings and heritage place to be better for everyone. CBCA nominated the Elmwood Historic District for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, one of the country’s largest historic districts. This is the genesis of his book, Olmsted’s Elmwood: The Rise, Decline and Renewal of Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood, A Model for America’s Cities, published by City of Light Publishing in 2022.

The New York Governor appointed him to the Board that is overseeing the rehabilitation of the National Historic Landmark Richardson Olmsted Campus, the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane. Successive Secretaries of the Interior have appointed him a Commissioner of the state-wide Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission, an affiliate of the National Park Service. He is a Board Member of the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts in Queenston, Ontario, of which HRH Prince Charles has been Patron.

Purchase the Book: https://cityoflightpublishing.com/product/olmsteds-elmwood-the-rise-decline-and-renewal-of-buffalos-parkway-neighborhood-a-model-for-americas-cities/

Join us on this week’s PreserveCast as we talk with Katherine Porter, a design director at Waterhouse Wallhangings. Waterhouse’s collections contain new and old wallpaper designs, including some authentic reproductions, first used in the early days of the US. Join us as we explore how wallpaper has changed since it was first brought to the US, peeking into Waterhouse’s archives, and the differences between historic and modern wallpaper.

 Originally from Amityville, New York, Katherine Porter attended Syracuse University and graduated with a BFA in surface pattern design. Fresh out of college she landed a job in New York City working for a lively and very productive textile design studio. Surrounded by talented and interesting people, young and old, from all over the world, she really learned the ropes. Now located in rural northeast Ohio she continues to work in the fabric and wallpaper field from her home studio. Katherine’s fabric designs appear in the following collections: Isaac Mizrahi for S. Harris, Jaclyn Smith Home, Charlotte Moss for S. Harris, Mount Vernon Home for Fabricut, Vervain, Valdese Weavers, and Longaberger Company.

Since 2017 Katherine has been partnered with Lance Houpt in the Thomas Strahan Collection of wallpapers. Thomas Strahan, a sister company to Waterhouse Wallhangings, is one of the oldest wallpaper companies in the United States. Currently located in New York, the designs are drawn from an extensive archive (over 12,000 patterns) and printed on the premises. Waterhouse and Thomas Strahan offer a high-end showroom line of wallpapers and fabric as well as specializing in reproductions for historic house museums.

Both Katherine and Lance share a love for the beauty and history of these timeless designs. We are proud to carry on this unique legacy of pattern design.

Learn more: https://www.waterhousewallhangings.com/

Want to know how sailors used to get their tattoos centuries ago? On this week’s PreserveCast, we will be talking with Owen McGarry a New England tattoo artist who specializes in hand poked tattoos. The stick and poke tattoo method has been performed for thousands of years from sailors to indigenous Americans and Europeans. Owen will walk us through this slow tattooing process and where he gets his inspiration from.

__

Owen Payette McGarry is a traditional hand poke tattoo artist based in Boston, Massachusetts.  He came to tattooing in 2014 through his interest in maritime folk art, while working as a boat builder. His work attempts to recreate what tattooing in New England may have looked like in centuries past. Owen’s tattoos are entirely hand poked, the same technique practiced for thousands of years by both Indigenous Americans and Europeans. Though the process is slower than the tattoo machine, hand poking better recreates the experience and the style of historic tattooing. As tattooing leaves little physical evidence after the wearer is deceased, Owen references other surviving examples of maritime folk art from around the North Atlantic; scrimshaw, graffiti, woodblock prints, needlework, painted ship’s chests &c. to create contemporary work informed by our past.

Learn More: http://themassachusite.com/index.html