Episodes
Monday Jan 23, 2023
The Landscapes of Frederick Douglass with Jeffrey McGuiness
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
On this week’s PreserveCast, we’ll head back to the 19th century to explore the landscapes and sites associated with Frederick Douglass and talk with Jeffrey McGuiness about his photographic journey to document these sites for his new book published by The St. Michael’s Museum, Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass.
Jeff McGuiness is a photographer and writer fascinated by history, politics, art, and photography. He lives in St. Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For the past five years, he has worked on a photographic essay of the place where Frederick Douglass was born and lived for eleven years enslaved—Talbot County, Maryland. His photobook, published in November of 2022 by the St. Michaels Museum Press, is entitled Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass.
McGuiness was born in California and grew up in suburban Washington, D.C. After graduating from college with an art degree in 1969, he spent the next four years in the U.S. Air Force as a photographer during the Vietnam conflict. He then worked for a commercial photographer in St. Louis for a time before deciding to pursue a law degree. McGuiness was a practicing attorney in Washington, DC, for more than four decades, concentrating on public policy and managing non-profit organizations.
These days, McGuiness does what he enjoys most. An avid boater, he explores his beloved Chesapeake Bay in his powerboat while using his varied experiences to pursue photography and writing projects through his company, Bay Photographic Works.
Learn more: https://www.bearmeintofreedom.com/
Book: https://www.bearmeintofreedom.com/
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Preservation requires a solid and significant understanding of our past – and on this week’s PreserveCast we’re talking with Jason Church, a National Park Service preservationist who is leading an effort to expertly document the powerfully important physical vestiges of slavery and tenant farming. As these humble and simple structures fade away, work like this takes on a new level of importance and significance.
All across America, the physical evidence of slavery is being lost to the ravages of time and indifference. Without expert documentation – there’s a real chance we could lose all memory and understanding of these important buildings. That’s why Preservation Maryland is partnering with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training to laser scan structures on Maryland’s eastern shore as a part of a broader national effort – a topic we knew we had to bring to our listeners.
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project with Eugene Tapahe
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Monday Mar 29, 2021
The Jingle Dress project originated from a dream to unite the beauty of the land and the healing power of the jingle dance during these uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The origin of the jingle dance to the Ojibwe people happened during the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. It came as a dream to a father whose daughter was sick with the virus. His dream revealed the new dress and dance that had the power to heal. When the dresses were made, they were given to four women to perform the dance. When the little girl heard the sound of the jingles, she became stronger. By the end of the night she was dancing too.
Today’s guest, Eugene Tapahe, also has a dream to take this healing power to the land, to travel and capture a series of images that will document spiritual places where ancestors once walked. The goal is to unite and give hope to the world through art, dance and culture to help us all to heal together. Learn more about the project and support it at: https://tapahe.com/jingle-dress-project.html
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
As nearly anyone who has seriously studied American history can attest – there is no American story without the story of slavery. It is central to our origin and must be included in order to get a full and complete picture of our history. Unfortunately, the records of slavery are spread far and wide and are often siloed and incomplete. In this two part series, we’re talking to two of the minds behind Enslaved: Peoples of the Historic Slave Trade – a digital preservation effort aimed at connected the dots and knocking down the silos of slave history. Learn more at www.enslaved.org.
Monday Jan 04, 2021
The Civil War Photo Sleuth: A Conversation with Kurt Luther
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Chicago's Glessner House is a National Historic Landmark that was designed by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1887 for John Glessner and Frances Glessner. The structure served as an inspiration to architects such as Louis Sullivan, Mies van Der Rohe, and the young Frank Lloyd Wright and helped redefine domestic architecture.
On this week’s PreserveCast, we’re talking to Glessner House’s Executive Director and Curator Bill Tyre about the unique design and residents of this house including, Frances Glessner Lee, daughter of John and Frances Glessner. Lee was the first female police captain in the United States, likely the inspiration for Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, and is known as “the mother of forensic science.” Her series of extremely detailed dioramas, “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death,” influenced investigative training for many years. The dioramas were recently featured in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in 2018. The Glessner House will host a Birthday Gala in honor of Lee later this month at which her meticulously detailed miniature model of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be on display for the first time in six years.
Bill Tyre is the Executive Director and Curator at Glessner House Museum. He’s one of just three full-time staff members who manage and maintain one of Chicago’s most famous homes. Glessner House was saved thanks to preservation efforts that resulted in the formation of both the house museum and Chicago Architecture Center in 1966.
Monday Apr 09, 2018
Monday Apr 09, 2018
As historic preservationists we often can feel a sense of despair whenever we see a building that's been abandoned for years or even decades. Our guest today, Matthew Christopher of Abandoned America, knows just that feeling. That's why he is dedicated to gaining access to abandoned buildings and spaces across the country, and photographing what he finds inside. Matthew's images have appeared in countless esteemed publications, and he has photographed abandoned sites ranging from old mental hospitals to public utility buildings to theme parks. Don't go away! Matthew and Nick discuss how he picks his sites, why he thinks these buildings end up so mistreated, and how photography and greater exposure can sometimes help turn things around.