Tag Archives: Drayton Hall

Jump Start Your Interpretation with a Scholars Workshop

As an interpretive planner, one of the common circumstances I encounter at a site or house museum is that historical research hasn’t been conducted for years, perhaps even decades.  It’s not that research and scholarship isn’t appreciated by the staff.  Typically there was lots of research done when the site first opened, but staff just hasn’t had time since then (the distractions of “toilet paper and light bulbs”, alas!) or there isn’t the incentive now that the place is open (“history hasn’t changed that much in twenty years, has it?”).

The past may not have changed, but our interests continually change.  Right now, the Civil War is hot but in a couple years it could be jazz.  Without new historical research, eventually tours, exhibits, events, and programs, and yes, even staff lose their edge and the place seems dull and boring.  And you have to stay committed to research for the long term because as other sites mimic your innovative interpretation, it eventually settles into a regional monotony when everyone does the same thing (e.g., now it seems that every Colonial house museum is discussing foodways, lives of servants, and the contradictions of liberty and slavery).

Scholars Workshop underway at Drayton Hall. Director George McDaniel is providing an introduction to the site during the first part of the workshop.

If you find that you’ve ignored research far too long or that your research endeavors need some direction and refinement, a scholars workshop may help.  For a day or two, a small team of scholars gathers at your site to review the current interpretation and historical resources (archives, collections, and buildings) and then discusses how they might be refined, updated, or approached in new ways.  They can also confirm existing plans, support new ideas, and suggest new books or archives to explore.  By including staff in the workshop, it rekindles their energy and allows them to think longterm and strategically about interpretation.  For an example of the structure of a scholars workshop, take a look at Continue reading →

Associate Architect Elizabeth Milnarik departs National Trust

Former Associate Architect for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Elizabeth Milnarik has recently left her position to pursue other opportunities in historic building preservation and research. During her tenure at the Trust, Elizabeth gained tremendous experience in the technical aspects of preserving the Trust’s extremely diverse historic structures, varying from a structural and visitor impact study of Charleston’s Drayton Hall (1738), to an invasive investigation into corrosion issues at Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (1951) in Plano, Illinois. A licensed architect, Elizabeth earned her M. Arch from the University of Illinois and received a doctorate in architectural history from the University of Virginia. In addition to her duties as architect, Elizabeth has also lectured widely on the architectural history of the Trust sites, on American residential architecture, and particularly on the history of public housing in America. She can now be reached at emilnarik@yahoo.com.

Welcoming New Members: Examples from the Field

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As part of my year-end giving, I decided to join four different history organizations (one historic site, three historic preservation organizations).  I support the mission of every organization I joined–there’s no attempt to embarrass them here–but I also wanted to see how a new member and unsolicited gift was received.  In this tight economy, every organization seems to placing a great emphasis on growing membership and support, so it’s useful to learn what others are doing.  Admittedly, this is just a limited experiment, but for each one I downloaded their membership forms from their websites, filled it out, and then sent it in with a check for the basic individual membership level all on the same day in mid December.  So far, I received responses from three of the four organizations (and they arrived about a day apart) and here’s how they compared: Continue reading →