Episodes
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Open-Air Museums and the Historic Trades at the Genesee Country Village
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Nestled among the verdant fields and winding streams of the Genesee River Valley in upstate New York is one of America’s largest living history museums. Founded in 1966, the Genesee Country Village & Museum features 68 historic structures from the 19th century, moved from locations throughout Western New York, a gallery of sporting art, and a nature center and attracts more than 90,000 visitors each year. On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re headed back to the 19th century to talk with Genesee Country Village & Museum CEO Becky Wehle and Curator of Collections Peter Wisbey about the future of open-air museums and the historic trades.
Monday Jul 20, 2020
Monday Jul 20, 2020
The story of where we live is uniquely personal. Many historic homes have been preserved and opened to the public – places that tell a story about the way we once lived.
However, American public housing – places built and maintained by governments – has been long been overlooked, forgotten, and worse yet, maligned.
Today’s guest, Dr. Lisa Lee, is working to solve that gap in memory and understanding as the Executive Director of the National Public Housing Museum, the only cultural institution devoted to telling the story of public housing in the United States.
Find the best spot to sit and relax in the place you call home as we talk about the history of housing on this week’s PreserveCast.
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Americans have long admired the resistance, tenacity and spirit of those brave souls who were travelers and conductors on the Underground Railroad. On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re heading back to those days to dredge up another chapter – and one far less proud – that of the reverse Underground Railroad which brought captured formerly free blacks back to slavery. It’s a difficult history – but one we must confront and we’ll explore it with Dr. Richard Bell, a distinguished scholar who recently authored a book on this overlooked story from American history.
Dr. Richard Bell is Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and is author of the new book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home. He has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor for teaching faculty in the Maryland state system. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Historical Society, as an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Monday Jun 22, 2020
Monday Jun 22, 2020
As the nation confronts a crippling pandemic – we find ourselves drawn to history for parallels. History provides context for the confusion.
Today’s guest has dedicated her career to exploring those connections. Dr. Marian Moser Jones is a social historian and ethicist of public health who studies the way in which Americans care for other Americans – and how that shapes our response in emergencies like the current pandemic.
Stay calm – we’ll get through this – and we’ll learn how on this week’s PreserveCast.
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Monday Jun 15, 2020
For Civil War readers and historians, Maryland has always been confounding. Its location along the Mason-Dixon Line meant it was the seat of war for many pitched battles – and divided the loyalties of its citizens. But, for all the impact, bloodshed and division – its contribution to the Union Army is often overlooked. Confederate memory clouds the history – but today, the clouds are lifting thanks to the work of professor and historian Timothy Orr. Dr. Orr has begun to chronicle Marylanders who served in the ranks of the Union Army of the Potomac – a story long overdue that we’ll begin to explore on this episode of PreserveCast.
MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST
Timothy J. Orr is Associate Professor of History at Old Dominion University. He earned his Ph.D. at the Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State University and he worked for eight years as a seasonal Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. His publications include Last to Leave the Field: The Life and Letters of First Sergeant Ambrose Henry Hayward (University of Tennessee Press, 2011), Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway, a volume co-authored with N. Jack “Dusty” Kleiss and Laura Lawfer Orr (William Morrow, 2017), as well as several scholarly essays about the Army of the Potomac.
Monday Jun 08, 2020
Monday Jun 08, 2020
When you think of pirates – you may think of far-off warm islands and tropical beaches or perhaps your mind goes to modern-day piracy off the dangerous horn of Africa – but you probably don’t think of the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay off the coast of Maryland and Virginia.
But, today’s guest, Dr. Jamie Goodall, has spent years studying that very story – and has recently published a compelling account of piracy on these now quiet waters.
Let’s set sail for Chesapeake Bay – but keep a clear eye because these waters be dangerous!
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Few guests to PreserveCast have commanded as large an audience as today’s guest, Ruth Goodman.
Ruth is an award-winning social and domestic historian of British history who has been involved in several highly-rated BBC television series and has used her knowledge and charm on the screen to make history approachable and interesting.
On this week’s PreserveCast we’re crossing the pond to learn from a master of public history in a time when history matters more than ever before.
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
Few names are as synonymous with Civil War battlefields as “The Bloody Cornfield.” It conjures up visions of harrowing bloodshed and the tragedy of fratricidal combat.
Yet, for over 150 years, the story of this struggle has been difficult to track – the sway of battle back and forth over David R. Miller’s cornfield was a confusing melee of destruction. To help interpret this pivotal story, historian and author David A. Welker has produced a detailed study of this pivotal moment in American history which captures the reader and makes the compelling case for the national significance of these 20+ acres of Maryland soil.
On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re taking a trip back to Sharpsburg, Maryland, on the morning of September 17, 1862, and descending into the Bloody Cornfield.
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Monday Apr 20, 2020
On this special extra edition of PreserveCast, you'll hear from one of Preservation Maryland and PreserveCast's best friends, Mary Anthony, Executive Director of The 1772 foundation as she interviews her friends with the National Trust of Scotland about a very special fiddle. Just to *see* this 270-year-old violin in a glass case, you'd have to travel to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Scotland – but today you'll **hear** it and all about it...on this special recording of PreserveCast.
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
As COVID-19 has changed the everyday ways that we interact with each other and our communities, it’s clear that our environment has important physical and psychological effects on us all.
This podcast is part 2 of a five-part special series presented by PreserveCast and powered by Preservation Maryland and includes the audio recording of Dr. Jeremy C. Wells' presentation of this subject at a Preservation Maryland conference in 2016.
Dr. Jeremy C. Wells is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, with a research focus on the ways that people interact with their environment and the ways historic places – their decay and patina – influence their psychological and social health.
Dr. Wells’ research utilizes applied social science methods and presents new approaches for heritage rules, laws, and regulations. In this context of health and behavior, there is additional importance placed on the work of community planning, historic preservation, and evaluating what it is to live a healthy life in a healthy place.
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
As this current international pandemic has changed the everyday ways that we interact with each other and our communities, it’s clear that our environment has important physical and psychological effects on us all. Preservation addresses the physical material of our built environment – and those materials’ potential positive or negative health impacts – so too, does preservation address an emotional connection to a time and place in history.
This five-part special podcast series, Healthy, Hip & Historic on PreserveCast will feature five preservation visionaries that will place our preservation work in a broader context, identify challenges, and illuminate solutions for linking historic preservation and healthy communities.
Preservation Maryland brought Storm Cunningham, an author whose work is leading the way for partnerships between preservationists and environmentalists, to our annual statewide conference held in 2016 in Frederick, Maryland. Storm Cunningham is the publisher of Revitalization News online, and the author of "The Restoration Economy," "reWealth," and the forthcoming "Planetary Renewal: A Strategy To Reverse Our Decline."
As a regional partnership planner, he has facilitated comprehensive revitalization processes, not just a vision, project or plan which help places enhance their economy, boost the quality of life and increase climate resilience by repurposing, renewing and reconnecting their natural built and socioeconomic assets.
Storm joined our group of preservationists, planners and heritage tourism and museum professionals to show the group how they can think differently about who they partner with and what benefit comes from those partnerships. If we want to make the world a better and more sustainable place, we need to breakdown the silos each discipline has wedge themselves.
One example Storm will share was a potential relationship between “water people” and “solar people.” Instead of saying “we have nothing in common,” think about your goals and how they overlap. “Solar People” want solar panels to make clean energy and “water people” want to get safe and clean water long distances. Water evaporates unless it is covered, so why not cover the water channels with solar panels? This is a win-win. More energy and less water loss.
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Monday Mar 09, 2020
PreserveCast Log. Star date 97757.16.
Today we’re speaking with Michelle Hanlon, Co-Founder and President of For All Moonkind, Inc., a non-profit focused on protecting human cultural heritage in outer space. We’ll push the limits of the National Register and boldly go where no preservationist has gone before.
We’ve got 20 minutes, so let’s put this podcast on Warp 8 and proceed on this week’s PreserveCast.
Michelle Hanlon is Co-Director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law and its Center for Air and Space Law. She is also a Co-Founder and President of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on protecting human cultural heritage in outer space. For All Moonkind has been recognized by the United Nations as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Michelle Chairs the International Committee of the National Space Society. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. Michelle earned her LLM in Air and Space Law from McGill University where the focus of her research was commercial space and the intersection of commerce and public law.
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
With 4.4 million visitors in 2018, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is one of America’s most visited national park sites – a linear treasure of 184.5 miles of history, heritage and nature balanced precariously on the edge of the Potomac River as it curves from Georgetown in the District of Columbia to the foothills of the Alleghenies in Cumberland, Maryland.
Today’s guest, Heidi Glatfelter Schlag, is a preservation and heritage communications professional who works with the award-winning Friends group organized to help support, advocate, and fundraise on behalf of this national treasure. The C&O Canal Trust’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach to its work is changing the way visitors interact with the canal and its history.
So, keep your head down as we pass below the low bridges and keep a clear eye for the next lock – we’re headed to the C&O canal!
Monday Jan 06, 2020
Monday Jan 06, 2020
Start your engines – because on this week’s PreserveCast we’re talking historic cars and the history of the American Automobile with Diane Parker, Vice President of the Historic Vehicle Association. Buckle up and hit the clutch, because you’re listening to a revved-up edition of PreserveCast.
Diane Parker is Vice President of the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA). Surrounded by gear heads from a young age, Diane developed a love and appreciation for vehicles. Since joining the Historic Vehicle Association in 2013, she has combined her love of vehicles with her expertise in operations management. Focusing on the organization’s overall vision, values, beliefs, and strategic goals, Diane is extremely passionate about the organization’s mission to share the cultural past associated with America’s automotive heritage; and to ensure it is never lost nor forgotten.
Two major components of that include Cars at the Capital, their annual exhibition on the National Mall in Washington, DC and, the continued growth of their program that documents historically significant vehicles. That program is the National Historic Vehicle Register. Similar to the Register of Historic Places, and in partnership with the U.S. Department of Interior, the Register program ensures that culturally and historically significant automobiles are fully documented and reside within the Library of Congress in perpetuity.
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Nestled in the verdant fields and forests of the Hudson Valley, Saratoga Springs is a historic jewel of New York State – a place where the past is evocative and ever-present. The unique and charming character of Saratoga Springs didn’t happen by accident – like many places it’s the result of dedicated preservationists, like today’s guest, Samantha Bosshart who leads the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. On today’s episode, we’ll talk about preservation work in a small town with the nation’s oldest sports venue. Giddy up; we’re talking horses, houses and history on this week’s PreserveCast.
Samantha Bosshart joined the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation in 2008 and under her leadership, the Foundation completed a $750,000 restoration of the Spirit of Life and Spencer Trask Memorial; undertook a comprehensive cultural resource inventory of the Saratoga Race Course, and successfully advocated for the Foundation to review capital improvement projects to ensure the preservation of the historic character of the oldest sports venue in the country.
Prior to leading the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, she held positions at the Historic Albany Foundation and Galveston Historical Foundation. Samantha is a graduate of both Indiana University and Cornell University where she received her Masters of Arts in Historic Preservation Planning.
Monday Nov 04, 2019
Monday Nov 04, 2019
Few names are as synonymous with the Civil War as Gettysburg. For many Americans, Gettysburg is the Civil War – a touchstone of American history that has captured the imagination and interest of the nation since the battle was fought over 150 years ago. Today’s guest, Barbara Sanders, has worked for the National Park Service at the iconic battlefield for nearly twenty years where she’s helped thousands of young visitors learn about the meaning, value, and importance of this now peaceful field. On this week’s PreserveCast we’re taking a trip back to 1863 to talk about youth education and Civil War history.
Barbara Sanders has been Gettysburg National Military Park's Education Specialist since 1999, where she oversees thousands of students visiting the park each year – whether in-person or on virtual field trips. In addition, the park annually offers professional development opportunities for teachers, classroom loan materials and more. Barbara was the educator on the project team for the planning and construction of the visitor center and museum, which included the concept and design for exhibits, films, and computer interactive elements. Barbara began her career within the museums of Philadelphia, and she then moved to Washington, D.C. to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from The George Washington University’s Museum Education program. She was recently awarded the National Park Service Northeast Region’s Freeman Tilden award which recognizes creativity, advancement, and ingenuity in the field.
Monday Oct 07, 2019
Monday Oct 07, 2019
As preservationists, we here at PreserveCast are usually concerned with the physical history: what we can know from the cold hard facts in front of us.
But seeing as how it’s October and Halloween is around the corner, we thought we’d talk a little about haunted history.
Author Colin Dickey joined host Nick Redding to talk about the history of ghost stories and share what we can learn from the places that scare us.
If you've ever wondered why American horror stories typically feature an old Victorian mansion or forgotten roadside motel...this episode is for you!
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Do you ever wonder how people can write new books about history?
Shouldn’t it never change because it’s all in the past?
The truth is anything but.
No one can explain that better than our guest, Dennis Frye, as we approach the 157th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.
Having been involved in everything from giving tours to leading nationally important preservation and battlefield protection organizations, few people know Civil War history like Dennis.
In his recent book, Antietam Shadows: Mystery, Myth & Machination, Dennis makes the case that history should never lie dormant, it always needs to be re-examined, stating, "Historians should always be challenging themselves. They should always be a detective. They should always be mining for new information, and if it completely reverses something that’s conventional, good, good. Throw it out there and let people see it in a different way, in a different manner, in a different light."
Listen in to this episode of PreserveCast to hear from Dennis about his investigative and inclusive approach to historical research on this special re-broadcast in commemoration of the 157th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.
Monday Jun 03, 2019
Monday Jun 03, 2019
Few names over the past twenty plus years have been as synonymous with the National Trust for Historic Preservation as David J. Brown. David served as the Chief Preservation Officer for the Trust and has worked with several CEOs to implement a complex, difficult and costly mission to save America’s historic places. As David has recently departed the Trust and begins writing his next chapter, we had a chance to sit down with this influential preservationist to talk about where he’s been and where he’s headed on this week’s PreserveCast.
David J. Brown led National Trust’s comprehensive preservation efforts, with four decades of experience in working to save historic places and build thriving, livable communities. He played a key oversight role in the implementation of the National Trust’s Preservation10X strategic vision, including the National Treasure campaigns that helps protect some of America’s most significant and threatened historic places. He guided the Trust’s advocacy work on behalf of the country’s most important preservation laws and incentives. And he supported local preservation leadership by providing the preservation community with effective, high-impact training offerings.
Prior to his work with the National Trust, David served as the founding executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Virginia, where he produced one of the nation’s first studies on the economic impact of preservation, and as director of the Historic Staunton Foundation in Virginia. He was among the first graduates of the Historic Preservation Program at Middle Tennessee State University and has a Masters in Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Monday Dec 24, 2018
PreserveCast Ep. 101: A Retrospective with Your Host, Nick Redding
Monday Dec 24, 2018
Monday Dec 24, 2018
This is also our 101st episode – and we’re changing the format slightly today to offer a brief retrospective on what we’ve learned about ourselves and preservation over the past 100 episodes – and to talk about where we’re headed moving forward...
If you’ve enjoyed these past 100 episodes, we hope you’ll consider making a year-end gift to offset our significant expenses in bringing you this content. Think of us as your Preservation Netflix – even a one-time $20 gift would go a long way! You can make a simple online donation to Preservation Maryland at presmd.org and hit the DONATE button in the upper right corner.
Monday Dec 17, 2018
Monday Dec 17, 2018
It takes a village to make a preservation project a reality – and in today’s complex financial environment it also takes an expert in tax credit law to take a project from idea to completion. Today’s guest, Bill MacRostie is one of the nation’s leading experts in that complex but critical field. Sharpen your pencil and grab you calculator, because we’re talking the dollars and cents of preservation on this week’s PreserveCast.
In private practice for more than 30 years, Bill MacRostie has advised clients nationwide on projects ranging in size and type from the multi-phased $175 million mixed-use project in Detroit, Michigan to a $1.5 million hotel rehabilitation in Santa Rosa, California. For the 14 years that NPS certification project review was conducted in regional offices, Bill worked extensively in every regional office and most major states around the country.
Bill MacRostie is now a senior partner at MacRostie Historic Advisors where he advises clients on historic rehabilitation tax credit design and regulatory issues. In addition, he also serves on the board of directors of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association and previously served on the board of Preservation Action.
Monday Dec 10, 2018
Monday Dec 10, 2018
Historic places and resources come in all shapes and sizes. On Maryland’s eastern shore, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum preserves and restores a wide variety of historic resources – including historic boats and ships. Today’s guest, Pete Lesher, the chief curator of the museum is assisting in the latest restoration project of the 1882 Chesapeake Bay nine-log bugeye Edna E. Lockwood. You don’t know what a bugeye is? Well batten down the hatches and check your port and starboard as we set sail for this week’s PreserveCast.
Pete Lesher is chief curator at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, where he has served on staff since 1991 and now oversees museum collections, exhibitions, and programs. He graduated Lafayette College, holds an MA in history from Columbia University, and studied maritime history at Mystic Seaport’s summer Munson Institute for American Maritime Studies.
Active in his community, Pete is a member of the Talbot County Council, chairs the St. Michaels Historic District Commission, and serves on the boards of the Maryland Humanities Council, Council of American Maritime Museums, and Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. In his spare time he sails, taking particular pleasure in his role as jib tender on the 1882 Chesapeake Bay sailing log canoe Island Bird.
Monday Dec 03, 2018
Monday Dec 03, 2018
Do you enjoy international travel, historic buildings, and helping to restore important places? This week’s guest works to connect those interests through her work as Executive Director of Restoration Works International, an organization whose mission is to restore buildings of cultural significance and provide cultural exchange and understanding. Make sure you have your passport ready and lock that tray table in the upright position – we’re headed overseas this week to talk international preservation on PreserveCast!
Melanie Lytle is the Executive Director of Restoration Works International, an organization which uses national and international volunteer tourism as the catalyst for its mission to help communities around the world protect their cultural heritage sites and prosper through preservation and renewal of their history. A trained architectural historian, prior to her current position, she served as the Executive Director of the non-profit Maryland Association of Historic District Commissions. Melanie is a graduate of Goucher College's MA in Historic Preservation program.
Monday Nov 26, 2018
Monday Nov 26, 2018
Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, like Colonial Williamsburg to the south, is now historic in its own right. Founded in 1946, the 72-year old museum has told the story of the early federal period for nearly five decades – and like any institution of its size and scope – it is working hard to adapt to a new reality. Fortunately, CEO James Donohue is focused on making the site relevant for a new generation. Sit back as we head back to 1830 to learn how this old site is coming up with new ideas on this week’s PreserveCast.
Monday Nov 19, 2018
PreserveCast Ep. 96: A Taste of History with Foodways Historian Joyce White
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Food is a powerful tool for building relationships, warming the soul, and providing comfort. Food can also tell us a lot about a culture – and can tell us a lot about our history. For foodways historian Joyce White, historic food is not only her passion, it’s also her career.
Warm up something tasty as we talk historic food on this week’s PreserveCast.
Joyce White is a foodways historian operating A Taste of History with Joyce White, offering food history PowerPoint presentations with tastings on a variety of topics. Joyce is also the foodways consultant to the ca. 1801 Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, Maryland, was the consultant for the restoration of the 18th century kitchen at Annapolis’s William Paca House, and was the guest curator for the Maryland State Exhibit for the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans.