During the Fall
2016 semester at SEMO I had an awesome opportunity to work with HistoriCorps
for five weeks gaining hands on field experience in Historic Preservation in
Ettrick, Virginia. Through an agreement between Southeast Missouri State
Univeristy’s Department of History and HistoriCorps Institute, funded by
donations from Historic Preservation Alumni, I completed my graduate level
Advanced Project in Applied History working to restore an 1860’s Italianate
house. Not only was I able to meet the requirements for my AP, I was also able
to earn HistoriCorps Institute’s Certificate of Achievement in Heritage
Conservation and Construction. What
this means is that I have the experience and skills needed to work within the Secretary of the Interior’s
Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving,
Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings. This experience helped to expand my education with SEMO that
incorporated all the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for
Historical Documentation, Architectural and Engineering Documentation,
Registration, and Preservation Planning.
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Week One at Summerseat, Ettrick, VA |
HistoriCorps is a nonprofit
organization whose goal is to preserve historic structures on public lands in
the United States by utilizing volunteer and student workers and funding
provided by various types of grants. HistoriCorp began in Colorado in 2009 and
quickly spread across the nation. They have since completed work on over 138
buildings and structures. The project I was involved with was the restoration
on Summerseat in Ettrick, Virginia. This building is ca. 1860’s Italianate,
with an elevated brick basement. There is also a two story addition, ca. 1880.
The building was restored through funding provided by the Cameron Foundation, a
501(c) whose focus is on the improvement of Petersburg and the surrounding
areas. Through an intricate agreement between the Cameron Foundation, Virginia
State University, and Concerned Citizens of Ettrick group, HistoriCorps was
contacted to restore the building for reuse. Though the final intended purpose
of the building had not yet been decided by the time I had finished with
project, the general hope is that the house will be used in some way to
represent the mill workers and carpenters in the Ettrick area in the 1860’s.
Additionally, it is one of few remaining buildings of the Ettrick Historic
District, and the only one of its type.
During my time
there, my direct focus was the restoration work on Summerseat, though I was
afforded multiple opportunities to speak with volunteers and professionals from different
backgrounds and gain a better understanding of their involvement with Historic
Preservation. I made multiple connections, learned new perspectives, was
educated on new resources, and interacted with historic preservation in a real
world setting. I still remain in contact with many of them.
I was in Virginia for 5 weeks, working with different volunteers. Each week with HistoriCorps incorporated something new, while building on what we had learned before. Natalie Henshaw and Mike Reigert, both with fantastic credentials, were excellent in educating us on masonry. Answering questions, giving demonstrations, and supervising our work allowed all of us present to leave with a strong foundation to continue building on what we had learned while working with them.
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Week One: Kira and Natalie
repoint the East elevation
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Week Two: Marc Wagner gives a talk
about the Summerseat project
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Week Two: Whitney repoints
the East elevation
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Week Three: Ricky and Natalie
remove rotted stairs
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Week Three: My beautifully
repaired windows.
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Week Four: I conquered my fear of heights!
Look at those gorgeous dentals!
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They
were also willing to share their own professional experiences to help us
understand the historic buildings trades and different opportunities in the
field. I had experience in window restoration from work at the
Felixe Valle State Historic Site in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. I was
really happy to be able to put those skills to use working in Ettrick. Natalie
was a font of knowledge on the subject and I learned even more way to
handle window repairs and restoration. Dennis Moran was also very
experienced and knowledgeable in his field. Dennis supervised the carpentry
work being completed. He was always willing to teach us something new, answer
any questions, and give advice on projects we may have in the future. Though, I
did get the chance to teach him how to build a steam box. It was really a great
confidence boost to be able to show someone so knowledgeable something new.
Between these three, all of the students and volunteers learned a fantastic
amount about project planning, management, and budgets.
In addition to training in the historic trades, we were given many opportunities
to interact with professionals in the Historic Preservation field, as well as
learn about the way many different groups interact and work together to fund
and complete a single project. Robert Ogle, Director for HistoriCorps
Institute, was a valuable source of
information on the administration side of project planning and funding. Bob was
always willing to take a moment to answer questions and explain anything that
was happening.
Marc Wagner, Architectural Historian for Virginia, was also an amazing
person to work with. Marc asked questions about the various programs supervised
in Missouri, as well helped me understand the similarities and differences in
Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources. HistoriCorps worked closely with
Marc, making certain the project stayed within the Standards. As the house was
eligible for nomination to the National Register, work needed to stabilize and
repair any damages had to be done with careful consideration to not damage the
historical integrity of the building.
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Week Five: The volunteers and staff in
front of (nearly) completed Summerseat
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This experience
with HistoriCorps provided a well-rounded experience in which I could apply
previous classroom experience in documenting, interpreting, and preserving the
built environment and combine it with the ability to comprehensibly articulate
project planning and scheduling, and how that work could best be completed
within the Secretary’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This
is just one of the many opportunities provided by Southeast Missouri State
University in experiential learning.
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Week Five: On my way out of town, I had to stop and
say goodbye to Summerseat!
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