2011 Book Prize Winner Announced!

The 2011 Historic Preservation Book Prize, sponsored by the University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation, has been awarded to Line, Shade and Shadow by Lois Olcott Price. Oak Knoll Press, HES & DE GRAAF Publishers, and the Winterthur Museum published Line, Shade and Shadow in 2010. Line, Shade and Shadow is both a beautifully illustrated exploration of the evolution of architectural drawing craft and an innovative discussion of the preservation of these drawings. In light of the increasing reliance on computers and computer-aided techniques, this volume provides a timely and welcome reminder of a fading craft. This connection to the history of architectural drawings’ brings to mind the original intent of architects and builders. Drawing is a creative act and in architectural drawings one can see not only the record of the buildings and landscapes but also the creative process that brought them about. In addition, architectural drawings can be the last vestige of … [Read more...]

2011 Book Prize Candidates

The Victory Album: Reflections on the Good Life after the Good War Philip D. Beidler Univ. of Alabama Press Buildings, Landscapes, and Memory Daniel Bluestone W.W. Norton & Co. Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials Greg Dickinson, Carole Blair, and Brian L. Ott Univ. of Alabama Press The Architectural Legacy of Wallace A. Rayfield: Pioneer Black Architect of Birmingham, Alabama Allen R. Durough Univ. of Alabama Press Cemeteries Keith Eggener W.W. Norton & Co. The Idea of Cultural Heritage Derek Gillman Cambridge Press This House, This Town: One Couple's Love Affair with an Old House and a Historic Town Robert Hamblin SEMO Press Beyond Preservation Andrew Hurley Temple Univ. Press Cahokia Mounds: America's First City William Iseminger The History Press The American Department Store: Transformed 1920-1960 Richard Longstreth Yale Press Carolina Cottage: A Personal History of the Piazza House Margaret Ruth Little UVA Press Green … [Read more...]

Chemistry and Historic Preservation: A Collaborative Research Project on Bricks and Mortar

The blog Between the Cracks details two undergraduate students’ work as researchers partaking in the Summer Science Institute program at the University of Mary Washington. Sarah Smith, majoring in Chemistry, and Chris Young, majoring in Historic Preservation, spent the last 8 weeks of the ten week program researching and testing brick and mortar samples from some of Fredericksburg’s most historic structures. The samples extracted from each building underwent a series of tests to determine the elemental concentrations of calcium, sulfur, iron, silica, and magnesium. With this information, Sarah hopes to link the bricks with kilns used in 18th and 19th century Fredericksburg. Chris aims to scientifically distinguish the different periods of construction at the Mary Washington House, ca. 1772. The re-evaluation of building materials can add to the historic descriptions of the buildings as well as aid in the remediation techniques used in the preservation of historic buildings. The blog … [Read more...]

2010 Book Prize Winner Announced!

The University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation has awarded the 2010 Historic Preservation Book Prize to “The California Missions: History, Art and Preservation” by Edna E. Kimbo and Julia G. Costello, with Tevvy Ball. “The California Missions: History, Art and Preservation” offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to California’s missions. The work, published in 2009 by Getty Publications under the imprint of the Getty Conservation Institute, weaves together multiple narratives and integrates history, architecture, archaeology, art history, iconography and conservation. “This book exemplifies multifaceted preservation, going beyond history by setting the missions in a modern context and looking at physical exploration and conservation,” said Andréa Livi Smith, jury chair and director of UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation. “More importantly, the volume engages the changing role, challenges, conundrums and philosophies of preservation. It connects … [Read more...]