Episodes

3 hours ago
3 hours ago
Today we're joined by Laura Zimmerman, Chair of the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage, and Liz Shatto, Executive Director of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area, about the history of the organization, this year's Washington County House and Garden Pilgrimage (Saturday, June 7th), and engaging the public around history and historic places.
For more information and tickets:

Monday Mar 24, 2025
Preserving a Community Asset with Hank Levine
Monday Mar 24, 2025
Monday Mar 24, 2025
Today we're talking with Hank Levine is the President of the Bethesda (Maryland) Meeting House Foundation and the Secretary of the Bethesda Historical Society. He was a prime mover in the Foundation’s 2023 purchase of the Bethesda Meeting House site and leads its ongoing efforts to preserve/restore the site and turn it into an active community asset. He regularly leads walking tours of Bethesda and is a frequent speaker on the history of the community.
Learn more: www.bethesdameetinghouse.org

Monday Mar 17, 2025
Rediscovering Lost History with Jeffrey Ricketts
Monday Mar 17, 2025
Monday Mar 17, 2025
Today we're talking with Jeffrey Ricketts, who, in July of 2022, took ownership of Mullen’s Folly in Calvert, Maryland. Mullen’s Folly is a log house located in northeastern Cecil County, Maryland. It was built possibly before 1789. It operated as a general store from 1789-1823 servicing the surrounding community with a wide variety of goods sourced in Philadelphia and Wilmington. After 1823, the building was converted into a house. From 1859-2022 the house was owned by four generations of the Berriker-FitzGerald family, until it was sold to Jeffrey, who is currently restoring the building to its late 18th-century appearance, and is rediscovering all of its lost history.
Learn more: https://www.eastnottinghamantiques.com/about-6

Monday Mar 10, 2025
Developing Multi-Sensory Experiences with Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch
Monday Mar 10, 2025
Monday Mar 10, 2025
Today we're talking with Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch, founder of MuseumSenses LLC, a consulting firm that helps museums develop multi-sensory exhibits for everyone, regardless of their visual acuity. Creating exhibit content with tactile and audio components engages blind people with history, the arts, and sciences. Exposing sighted people to tactile and audio content creates an integrated experience for all visitors.
Dr. Fogle-Hatch works with historic sites to improve their tactile experiences. Projects include:
• The Please Touch tour at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown New Jersey
• Revolutionary Anthology: Power of Place exhibit at Fort Ticonderoga, New York
• Making History Accessible: Toolkit for Multisensory Interpretation, a digital publication produced by the Intrepid Museum and the NYU Ability Project.

Monday Mar 03, 2025
National Historic Preservation Advocacy Week with Russ Carnahan
Monday Mar 03, 2025
Monday Mar 03, 2025
Russ Carnahan, Honorary President and Strategic Advisor for Preservation Action, joins us today to discuss National Historic Preservation Advocacy Week. Congressman Carnahan served 4 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the St. Louis, MO region. He held several leadership positions including the Chairmanship of the bi-partisan Historic Preservation Caucus and the High Performance Building Caucus that focused on strategies that included use of green building technologies and policies for historic and new buildings. Previously as a state legislator, he was a champion of Missouri’s nationally known State Historic Tax Credit that has successfully spurred saving and restoring countless historic properties. Congressman Carnahan is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law and is a principal in the firm Carnahan Global Consulting.

Monday Feb 24, 2025
Preserving Electronic Media with Mark Sledziewski
Monday Feb 24, 2025
Monday Feb 24, 2025
Today we're going back in time, as we often do, speaking with Mark Sledziewski about his work as the Executive Director of the the National Capital Radio & Television Museum in Bowie, Maryland. The museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts, programming, and publications to educate the public about the development and impact of electronic media.

Monday Feb 17, 2025
The Mother of the American Valentine with Trisha Tanner
Monday Feb 17, 2025
Monday Feb 17, 2025
We're still feeling the love here at PreserveCast! Today we're talking with Trisha Tanner, Executive Director of the Alum Association at Mount Holyoke, about Esther Howland (Mount Holyoke class of 1847), known as the “mother of the American valentine.” At a time when most women didn't have the opportunity to be employed, let alone lead, Howland founded her card-making business and pioneered an entire industry.

Monday Feb 10, 2025
Staying Safe While Preserving with Joe Redd
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Monday Feb 10, 2025
Today we're chatting with Joe Redd, safety director at Durable Slate and Durable Restoration. We talk about preservation from many angles here on PreserveCast, but we've yet to cover safety! We're excited to have this important conversation with Joe on today's episode.

Monday Feb 03, 2025
Practical Preservation with Danielle Keperling
Monday Feb 03, 2025
Monday Feb 03, 2025
Danielle Keperling has worked in the restoration industry since 2001, but her education in the traditional trades, construction industry, and historical preservation was built from an early age through her father's work in the traditional trades and her mother's love of historic architecture. Danielle works to help historic building owners restore and preserve their piece of our built history.

Monday Jan 27, 2025
Second- Order Preservation with Erica Avrami
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Monday Jan 27, 2025
Welcome to another episode of PreserveCast! Today we're talking with a previous guest, Erica Avrami PhD, to discuss her new book Second- Order Preservation Social Justice and Climate Action through Heritage Policy.
Erica is the James Marston Fitch Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Monday Jan 13, 2025
Preservation Trades Program Creation Guide with Molly Baker
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Today we're talking with Harrison Goodall Fellow Molly Baker. Molly also serves as HOPE Crew Manager in the Preservation Services and Outreach department at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Her focus is growing interest in the building preservation trades by engaging a younger, more diverse audience in hands-on preservation opportunities. Molly’s fellowship capstone project was to collect, analyze, and publish replicable models for preservation trades training. Nationwide there are examples of successful trades training programs at various levels: high school technical education courses, conservation corps training, apprenticeships, volunteer opportunities, and accredited community colleges. However, often a barrier to entering these programs is their location. Molly’s project produced a roadmap for smaller regions to create their own preservation trades training opportunities.

Monday Jan 06, 2025
Worth Preserving with Kate Wood
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Join us for a conversation with Kate Wood, founder and principal at Worth Preserving where she works with owners, architects, trades and others to rescue, rehabilitate and reimagine residential properties. With expertise on character-defining features we explore what’s “worth preserving.”

Monday Dec 30, 2024
The History of New Year’s with Dr. Alexis McCrossen
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Monday Dec 30, 2024
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
On the eve of New Year's Eve we're talking with Dr. Alexis McCrossen, a author and Professor of History at Southern Methodist University, who is now working on book about the history of New Year’s observances in the United States, tentatively titled, Time’s Touchstone: New Year’s in American Life. She is also the author of Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday (Cornell University Press, 2000) and Marking Modern Times: Clocks, Watches and Other Timekeepers in American Life (University of Chicago Press, 2013).

Monday Dec 23, 2024
Beyond Architecture: The New New York with A.O. Scott
Monday Dec 23, 2024
Monday Dec 23, 2024
Today we're thrilled to be joined by A.O. Scott, who, by day, serves as a critic at large for The New York Times Book Review. He's with us today to discuss his contributions to Beyond Architecture: The New New York, which commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the passage of the New York City Landmarks Law. The 1965 law established the Landmarks Preservation Commission and initiated the era of historic preservation in New York City, the largest city in the United States.
The book can be purchased here: https://www.nyrb.com/products/beyond-architecture-the-new-new-york

Monday Dec 16, 2024
Interpreting Kiplin 400 Project with Naomi Peach
Monday Dec 16, 2024
Monday Dec 16, 2024
Today we're talking with Naomi Peach, project officer at Kiplin Hall and Gardens in North Yorkshire, the historic home of George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore. Naomi is working on the Interpreting Kiplin for 400 Project, celebrating 400 years since the building of Kiplin Hall. The project seeks to engage with local community groups and previously under-represented audiences to create engaging and relevant interpretation for the museum and grounds.

Monday Nov 18, 2024
Zero Waste with Stephanie Compton
Monday Nov 18, 2024
Monday Nov 18, 2024
Today we're talking with Stephanie Compton, a passionate zero-waste advocate, founder of Leave No Waste, and an advisor to policy makers. We'll discuss how her work relates to historic preservation, policy, and the deconstruction movement.

Monday Oct 14, 2024
Sailabration: Sailing Traditions in Ink with Owen McGarry
Monday Oct 14, 2024
Monday Oct 14, 2024
We're again connecting with New England-based hand poke tattoo artist Owen McGrarry, who will be at Sailabration: Sailing Traditions in Ink - a festival celebrating the lives of sailors and the art of tattooing - on October 26th in Baltimore. Before the electric tattoo machine was invented in 1891 by a former sailor, tattoo artists used a simple poke and stick technique. Aboard ship, sailors often used the materials they had on hand, such as large needles for sewing sails, India ink, laundry bluing, and even gunpowder. 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.
Owen's previous episode: https://www.preservecast.org/2023/02/20/stick-poke-tattooing-with-owen-mcgarry/

Monday Oct 07, 2024
Monday Oct 07, 2024
Sara Bronin has spent her career exploring, researching, and publishing on the intersection of law, policy, and preservation. Today, as the preservation community grapples with the challenges of equity, climate and inclusionary zoning – Sara’s research and expertise is filling an important role. Bronin was nominated by the Biden administration and now serves as chair of the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) shaping preservation policy.
Sara and I connected via Twitter following her appointment by President Biden to chair the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation – and with her long list of credentials, publications and keen awareness of equitable land use planning, I felt she’d make an ideal guest as our field grapples with these heavy but important issues when it comes to saving historic places.

Monday Sep 30, 2024
Protecting Rural Land & Resources with Renée Hamidi
Monday Sep 30, 2024
Monday Sep 30, 2024
Today we're sitting down with Renée Hamidi, executive director of Valleys Planning Council, a nonprofit that works to protect land and resources, preserve historic character, and maintain the rural feel of 130 square miles of northwestern Baltimore County, Maryland. We'll cover a bit about the work of Valleys Planning Council, and a current issue, the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, that would put irreplaceable heritage sites and thousands of acres of public-and-private conserved lands at risk.

Monday Sep 23, 2024
City Archaeology with Dr. Eleanor Breen and Scott Vierick
Monday Sep 23, 2024
Monday Sep 23, 2024
Historical archaeologist Dr. Eleanor Breen currently directs the renowned public archaeology program and museum that preserves and interprets the buried history of the City of Alexandria, Virginia. She joins us along with return guest Scott Vierick, who serves on the Alexandria Archaeological Commission. Together they'll discuss the work of connecting Alexandrians with the Port City’s past.

Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
A Journey through Atlanta's National Treasure with Gene Kansas
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
Tuesday Sep 03, 2024
Gene Kansas, an award-winning cultural developer, preservationist, and social entrepreneur, joins us to discuss his upcoming book Civil Sights (UGA Press, 2025), about the Sweet Auburn Historic District in Atlanta and the movement to preserve it.

Monday Aug 19, 2024
Crabbing with Luke McFadden: The History and Future of Maryland’s Watermen
Monday Aug 19, 2024
Monday Aug 19, 2024
On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re setting a course for the Chesapeake Bay with first-generation Maryland crabber Luke McFadden. Luke’s story is anything but typical – from beginning crabbing at age 12 to developing a social media following to help build a brand – but his atypical approach to crabbing might just be what the industry needs at this challenging moment. We’re talking with Luke about the beautiful swimmers, maintaining crab boats, and how his can-do approach may just help sustain Maryland’s iconic watermen heritage.

Monday Jul 29, 2024
Restoring Historic Places One Brick at a Time
Monday Jul 29, 2024
Monday Jul 29, 2024
Today’s episode of PreserveCast returns to the United Kingdom to open a conversation with Colin and Dan Richards of CJR Heritage, a company that has spanned continents and worked with princes to save priceless heritage. From Transylvania to the Great Wall of China, we’re talking with two of England’s most accomplished tradespeople about the future of historic trades.

Monday Jul 22, 2024
Monday Jul 22, 2024
Today we're talking with Vedet Coleman-Robinson, Ph.D., who serves as the president and CEO of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), an organization bringing stories of civil rights and social injustice to the forefront, chronicling the strides that have been made, and emphasizing inequalities that still exist today.
AAAM is hosting its 46th Annual Conference in Baltimore August 13-16.
Learn more:
AAAM Website: Association of African American Museums – The official web site of Association of African American Museums. (blackmuseums.org)
Conference registration: AAAM 2024 Conference Registration – Association of African American Museums (blackmuseums.org)

Monday Jul 08, 2024
Zoned In with Maria Tova Enriquez Dougherty
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Continuing with the Smart Growth theme from last episode, today we're chatting with Maria Tova Enriquez Dougherty from HDAdvisors about urban planning, policy, affordable housing, and the Virginia Zoning Atlas. As always, we'll cover the connection to history and preservation and the real world impact of this work.
Maria is involved on a variety of projects, including providing policy research and programmatic development for HousingForward Virginia and the Virginia Statewide Community Land Trust (VSCLT) and affordable housing real estate development.
As referenced in this episode: