A Future for the Past

Creating a New Future for a Historic Convent: Historic Building Rehab & Adaptive Reuse at Ursuline Academy

Moderator: Kara Smith, NCIDQ, Associate, John Milner Architects, Inc. & PDI Board Director

Guest Speaker: Charles B. Ryan, AIA, Director, The Homsey Studio @ Tevebaugh Architecture

This workshop will explore the adaptive reuse of an historic Wilmington resource, followed by Q&A

• History of the building and campus
• Why the building was eligible for tax credits/its location within the Cool Springs NR District
• Overall description of the project: removal of later addition, new addition, new systems, window replacement/restoration, etc.
• Areas that were complicated such as bringing the building up to code, “enclosing” the stair, retaining/recreating historic features where possible
• Areas of interest such as Sister Betty’s new classroom located in her former bedroom in the Convent
• Brief overview of how Part III was completed, how credits were claimed as a non-profit (and how for-profits can claim them
  

Behind the Scenes at a Private Home Restoration Now Underway: Mauchline

Kara Smith, NCIDQ, Associate, John Milner Architects, Inc. & PDI Board Director

Guest Speaker: Cheryl Black and Kevin Simmons, Owners of Mauchline

Get an inside (virtual) peek at this exciting private restoration project in Wilmington, including the use of state historic tax credits, sustainable materials, and neighborhood employment. This project has a loyal following on Instagram watching the progress of the new property owners.

Voices from State College for Colored Students of Delaware Graduates 

Moderator: Abdullah Muhammad, Ph.D., PDI Board Member

Guest Speakers:  Mrs. Susan Young Browne & Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth

There are literally only a handful of graduates (5) from the State College for Colored Students of Delaware still alive today. We are truly fortunate to hear from two of the oldest surviving members of that elite group as they recall their days as students at that unique institution. Our two speakers will be Mrs. Susan Young Brown, age 105, and Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth, age 97, both of whom have an uncanny ability to recall even minor details of their time as students at the State College. Join us to hear the amazing lives these women lived and how they continue to defy the aging process. By the way, Dr. Hollingsworth will be celebrating her 97th birthday on that day as well, so we urge you to join us in singing Happy Birthday to her!

Using Architectural Sleuthing to Understand Archaeological Sites

Moderator: Rebecca Wilson, PDI Board Director

Guest Speaker: Kerri Barile, Ph.D, RPA, President, Dovetail Cultural Resource Group

Architectural remains and features are ubiquitous on historic Delaware sites. Often discarded in the field or the subject of limited study, architectural artifacts like bricks, nails, and stone can offer a wealth of data if examined through the right light. This talk will highlight three sites along the US Route 301 corridor where a careful study of architectural deposits revolutionized the interpretation of each site, its built environment, and the daily lives of its occupants.

The DuPont “Colored” Schools Storymap 

Moderator: Alex Tarantino, Cultural Resource Specialist, National Park Service, Denver Service Center & PDI Education Committee Chair

Guest Speakers:  Jenifer Anderson-Reno, Historic Property Research Center Manager, Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, and Kim Showell, Historic Preservation Specialist, University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture and Design

The DuPont “Colored” Schools Storymap is a collaborative effort, by the University of Delaware Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD) and The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (DHCA), highlighting CHAD’s research and survey of the DuPont “Colored” schools, and incorporating modern and historic photographs, excerpts from the Strayer report (1919) assessing conditions of each school, and the oral history interviews conducted by Preservation Delaware, in an interactive map.

Frequently Asked Questions of the National Register Program

Moderator: Dee Durham, PDI Board President

Guest Speaker:  Emily Whaley, Cultural Preservation Specialist/Architectural Historian, Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs

Explore frequently asked questions of the National Register Program while learning about the multifaceted process involved in researching and drafting a National Register nomination along with tips for writing successful nominations.

Friday, October 27, 2023 VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

Historic Building Documentation in Delaware: Methods & Case Studies in the First State

Moderator: Alex Tarantino, Cultural Resource Specialist, National Park Service, Denver Service Center & PDI Education Committee Chair

Guest Speakers:
Cate Morrissey, Associate Director, and Michael Emmons, PDI Vice President and Senior Architectural Historian/Assistant Director, University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture & Design (CHAD) 
Catherine Lavoie, HABS Chief, and Daniel De Sousa, HABS Architect, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)

From photography, to measured drawings, to documentary research, to laser scanning, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service and the Center for Historic Architecture & Design (CHAD) at the University of Delaware have collectively recorded hundreds of historic structures in Delaware. This session will feature a pair of fascinating presentations from HABS and CHAD, highlighting the methods they use to study and document historic buildings, while also sharing some interesting case studies in Delaware from the last couple of years!

Restore The King: Delaware’s Gambrinus Statue

Moderator: Leila Hamroun, Senior Preservation Architect, TetraTech & PDI Board Director

Guest Speaker: John Medkeff, President, Friends of Delaware's Gambrinus Statue (FDGS)

FDGS's mission is to restore the iconic commercial sculpture of Gambrinus, the king of beer, which stood atop Wilmington's Diamond State Brewery from 1882 until 1962. The 11-foot-tall, one-ton zinc statue was broken in the late 1970s. Our non-profit organization owns the pieces and has undertaken a fundraising campaign to complete restoration. Once the project is completed, we intend to donate the statue to the Delaware History Museum for public presentation and conservation.

The sculpture is the most significant remaining artifact from Delaware's golden age of brewing in the late 19th through the early 20th century when the industry was one of the state's largest and most profitable. The King Gambrinus statue's restoration will serve as a symbol of the return of brewing as an important cultural, economic, and social driver in Delaware.

With very sincerest thanks to PDI's
2023 Conference Sponsors!

Bios for Annual Conference Speakers

Jenifer Anderson-Reno

Jenifer Anderson-Reno is the Historic Property Research Center Manager for the State Historic Preservation Office within the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. Jenifer is responsible for maintaining the state inventory of historic properties and associated data in such that way that it is accessible to the public and researchers, including Delaware’s Cultural and Historical Resources Information System (CHRIS) GIS mapping system. She holds an M.A. in Historic Preservation and a Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Delaware, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology (double-major) from the University of North Carolina- Greensboro.

Kerri Barile, Ph.D., RPA

Kerri Barile Tambs is the President of Dovetail Cultural Resource Group in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She has over 30 years of experience in historic preservation. She received her BA in Historic Preservation from Mary Washington College, an MA in Anthropology and Museum Management from the University of South Carolina, and a PhD in Archaeology and Architectural History from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include urban archaeology, architectural construction methods, and studying social groups who are underrepresented in the historical record. Dr. Barile is also deeply committed to volunteering on preservation-related committees. She has been the technical editor of the annual Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Delaware for over a decade and on countless additional boards and commissions.

Cheryl Black and Kevin Simmons

Kevin and Cheryl have three children, and two grandchildren. The grandkids live with their parents nearby in Ardmore, PA which prompted their move to Wilmington.  

Kevin was born in New Jersey, but lived all over the world as his father was assigned to various countries while working for Citibank. For the past 7 years, Kevin has been focused on restoring historic homes and bringing them back to life. Beginning with a 1900s firehouse in San Francisco, then an 1873 Second Empire home in Old Salem, North Carolina, he is now devoted to restoring Mauchline. His skills, initially acquired working summers for carpenters and roofers during college, have been honed by apprenticing under the master craftsmen that he hires to work on his homes.

Prior to home restoration, Kevin was a seasoned sales and operations executive, specializing in the full-scale development of domestic and international sales efforts for companies seeking to expand their global impact. He was VP of Global Sales Productivity for Salesforce for several years before founding his own company in 2013. He also has a passion for growing and roasting organic coffee that started when he and Cheryl bought a farm in the Andes of Ecuador in 2016.

Cheryl was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta but moved to Toronto, and then Boston to pursue her first career as a professional ballet dancer. She quickly changed careers to become a software engineer following a downturn in funding for the arts in Massachusetts.

She worked as an engineer, and then in management, at various companies until she was bitten by the start-up bug. She founded her first company in 1999, and worked for various start-ups until she became CEO of You Technology in 2014. She remained at You Tech through a successful sale in 2019, which prompted a move to North Carolina where the acquiring company was headquartered. She is now semi-retired and helping Kevin restore Mauchline. She loves drinking the coffee that Kevin roasts.

Daniel De Sousa

After two summer internships with HABS, Daniel became a full-time staff member in 2008 and has been with the program ever since. Most of his time is split between field work (using both traditional hand-measuring techniques as well as 3D laser scanning) and creating HABS-level documentation based on the collected data. Every year he also trains student interns on summer projects just like the ones that he participated in 15 years ago. Daniel has worked on all kinds of sites and structures over the course of his career, from small farm outbuildings to abandoned NASA rocket test stands and the Statue of Liberty. Daniel graduated from Connecticut College in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies and served on the Board of the Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF) from 2020-2022.

Michael J. Emmons, Jr.

Michael Emmons is Assistant Director and Senior Architectural Historian at the Center for Historic Architecture & Design (CHAD) at the University of Delaware, a research unit that engages in historic preservation projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. He also teaches in the Historic Preservation program at UD's Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, including one of the program’s core courses, Theory & Practice. Michael is Preservation Delaware's vice president for New Castle County, and serves on the Education Committee.

Leila Hamroun

Ms. Hamroun-Yazid is an accomplished historic preservation architect, with over twenty-five years of national and international experience providing design, planning, management and cultural analysis services primarily for historic buildings, sites and urban centers. By bringing together design and technical knowledge from the combined disciplines of architecture, planning, conservation, and building diagnostics, she is committed to imaginative solutions that provide a contemporary experience while respecting the integrity and character of the historic resource. 

Ms. Hamroun-Yazid has a distinguished record of developing strategies for the long-term stewardship of the built heritage with a commitment to customized solutions, adapted to the nature, scale and context of each project. Her effective, and inclusive approach seeks to create consensus between the multitude of stakeholders and governmental entities involved in the process, informed by a thorough - and practical - knowledge of relevant codes and standards, and latest technological innovations.  As an Algerian-American preservationist and architect, her multilingual and multicultural background informs a nuanced perspective on the historical, political, social and economical contexts that shaped the existing building fabric, to create architecture that contributes to its present community and represents its history.  Her projects have a common theme: extending the life of existing properties in a manner consistent with the Client’s mission, while providing an enhanced experience.

Ms. Hamroun-Yazid is consistently enriching her professional practice with presentations at national conferences, teaching opportunities, educational programming, and mentoring activities. She recently received the 2019 Society of Foreign Consuls of New York Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievements and Contributions to Community Empowerment.

Catherine Lavoie

Catherine Lavoie has a master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Maryland with an emphasis in historic preservation and material culture. She worked briefly in state and local preservation before coming to HABS as a historian in 1986, becoming chief in 2008. Catherine is active in the Vernacular Architecture Forum, mostly recently serving as 2nd  Vice President and was awarded VAF’s Buchanan Award for excellence in fieldwork and public service (2002) for her HABS study of the Quaker Meeting Houses of the Delaware Valley. Most recently, she co-authored Buildings of Maryland, the latest in the Society of Architectural Historians Buildings of the United States series.

John Medkeff

A native and resident of the city of Wilmington, John Medkeff Jr. has been researching, writing, and speaking on the topic of Delaware beer and brewing history for more than 25 years. As Delaware’s foremost expert on state brewing history, his articles have been featured in several local and national publications, and on radio and television. John has conducted numerous lectures throughout Delaware on a variety of topics related to the state’s beer and brewing history and led tours of historic brewing sites. In addition to authoring Brewing in Delaware, a pictorial history of brewing in the First State, he also maintains a website and a Facebook group page dedicated to Delaware’s brewing history. John has led projects to promote and preserve the state’s brewing heritage, including the completion of the Christian Krauch memorial and Restore the King, the campaign to restore Delaware’s historic King Gambrinus statue. In his professional life, John works as a Marketing Manager for a Wilmington business services company.

Catherine Morrissey

Catherine Morrissey is the Associate Director of the University of Delaware’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD). She is an architectural historian who holds an MA in Urban Affairs and Public Policy with a concentration in Historic Preservation, and is currently a PhD candidate in Preservation Studies at the University of Delaware. Her dissertation work, entitled How Buildings Change: Historic Preservation and Material Integrity of Early Historic Districts focuses on quantifying and analyzing material change in small historic districts in the Mid-Atlantic, to understand material replacement to historic structures. Additionally, she teaches courses in Architectural Documentation, Vernacular Architecture, and Methods in Historic Preservation for the Historic Preservation Certificate Program at the University of Delaware.

Abdullah R. Muhammad, Ph.D.

Dr. Abdullah R. Muhammad spent his formative years in Baltimore, MD, where he lived for 38 years. After graduating from Baltimore’s top college prep high school (Baltimore City College High School), he enrolled at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, after turning down acceptance to the Air Force Academy. After only 3 years at Bowdoin, he graduated cum laude as an early graduate. After leaving Bowdoin, Dr. Muhammad returned to Baltimore to teach English at his high school alma mater. Although he had been admitted to four law schools, the lack of funding and the start of a new family pushed him to embark on a successful 17-year career in the insurance industry instead. 

As a successful insurance agent, Dr. Muhammad had time to maintain his commitment to education by rising from PTA president at his daughters’ middle school, to Regional PTA Coordinator, to President of Baltimore PTAs and PTOs, and finally to Parent Representative on the Superintendent’s Advisory Board. While serving as an Advisory Board member, he was able to revamp an ailing and failing Dropout Retrieval Program, institute a Citywide In-school Suspension Program, and establish a mandate for every school to have an active Parent Organization.

In 1993, Dr. Muhammad moved to New York City, where he was given the opportunity to complete his Master of Arts degree at Teachers College, Columbia University.  He completed his degree with honors in 1996, while working full-time as a Special Education teacher for middle school students in Queens, NY. He moved to Delaware in 2003, after spending 10 years studying and teaching in New York City, where he successfully completed two master’s degrees in education, and served as a principal for one year.  

After arriving in Delaware, Dr. Muhammad served one year in the Colonial School District where he discovered a need for a “new kind” of history book.  He began by publishing a #1-selling Delaware History calendar, followed by his reader-friendly history book, which capsulates the pivotal and often “first-of-its-time” historical events of Delaware.  This “one-of-a-kind” history book, The Making of Delaware One Day at a Time quickly became the #1-selling history book in the state within 3 months after its release!

Dr. Muhammad served as an Adjunct Professor in the History Department at Delaware State University, where he completed his doctoral degree in under 3 years and completed his second history book, “Africans in New Sweden: The Untold Story”.  Prior to joining the teaching staff at DSU, he was recruited to serve on the board of Delaware Preservation Fund. While serving on the Board of DPF, he served as both Vice President and President, before joining the Board of Preservation Delaware, Inc.  In addition to his position as Project Director for the DuPont Colored School Oral History Project, he serves as Chairman of the New Castle County Library Advisory Board, Vice President of Old Swedes Historic Site, and In-House Historian for the New Sweden Centre.

Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth

Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth is a dedicated educator, counselor, and community activist born and raised in Milford, Delaware. A lifelong advocate for education, Dr. Hollingsworth overcame the obstacles of living in a segregated society. After attending Milford Colored School # 3-C and Booker T. Washington Middle School, she earned her high school diploma in 1945 from the Delaware State College High School for Colored Students in Dover, which was then the only educational institution in Kent and Sussex Counties that provided high school instruction to African American students. She graduated from Delaware State College in 1949 with a B.S. degree in Home Economics and became a teacher. Even still, Dr. Hollingsworth continued to further her education. Despite being shunned and ignored as one of only two Black students in the School of Home Economics graduate program at the University of Delaware, she attended summer school there in 1952. She also earned a Master’s in Education in Guidance and Counseling from UD in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Counseling from Pacific Western University in 2001.

After starting work as a teacher in South Carolina, she was hired to teach Home Economics and Science at William C. Jason Comprehensive High School in Georgetown, Delaware in 1954. In 1966, she took a new position as a Guidance Counselor at Dover High School in Dover, Delaware, where she was the first Black woman counselor at the school. Dr. Hollingsworth retired in 1988. 

Dr. Hollingsworth has served her community in countless ways, both as an educator, counselor, and advocate for civil rights, and she has been recognized and honored in Delaware and abroad. She has served on a number of boards and commissions, including as Vice Chair of the Delaware Heritage Commission, a life member of the NAACP, and as the first Black president of the Delaware School Counselors Association. In 2017, the Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth Center at the Early College High School at Delaware State University was renamed after her in recognition of her accomplishments and legacy at the school. Additionally, Dr. Hollingsworth was inducted into the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2023, she remains very active in state and local affairs and shows no signs of slowing down at the young age of 96.

Charles B. Ryan, AIA

Mr. Ryan began his architectural career with the Wilmington firm of Homsey Architects, starting as a drafter in 1979 and ultimately as the firm’s managing partner. In 2021, Homsey Architects merged with another local architectural firm, Tevebaugh Architecture, where the Homsey Studio @ Tevebaugh Architecture was formed. Mr. Ryan’s interest and background are demonstrated by his work in the fields of historic preservation, educational, institutional, and corporate design. Notable preservation projects on which Mr. Ryan participated or led include the restoration of The Ship’s Tavern District, Walker’s Mill, Gibraltar, Mt. Cuba, Georgetown’s Brick Hotel, The Queen Theater, West Chester’s Knauer Performing Arts Center, and Ursuline Academy’s Student Life Center.

Kimberley Showell

Kimberley Showell is a Historic Preservation Specialist with the University of Delaware's Center for Historic Architecture and Design and works on a variety of projects, including National Register of Historic Places nominations, Section 106 evaluations, and architectural survey and documentation. She holds a B.A. from the University of Delaware in sociology and women's studies and later returned for a graduate certificate in historic preservation.

Kara Smith, NCIDQ

Kara Smith, a new board member of Preservation Delaware as of October 2022, is an Associate with John Milner Architects in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She’s been with the firm for over ten years working as a preservationist, architectural designer, and project manager. Her clients include private owners of historic residences, academic institutions, religious congregations, other architects, and government entities including the Architect of the Capitol and National Park Service. Whether she is writing a building preservation guide for a national landmark or designing a new shingle-style residence, Kara’s work is always centered in the realm of historic preservation and traditional architecture. Kara is an adjunct professor at the College of Architecture and the Built Environment at Jefferson University in Philadelphia and also serves on the boards of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture.

Alexandra Tarantino

Alexandra Tarantino is an architectural historian with a background in environmental and cultural resource compliance. She currently works as a Cultural Resource Specialist with the National Park Service’s (NPS) Denver Service Center, where she provides National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act compliance support for transportation projects within the national park system. Prior to joining NPS in 2022, she worked at the Delaware Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as an Environmental/Historic Preservation Specialist. Alex holds a B.A. in Art History and a Certificate in Historic Preservation from Rutgers University, and an M.A. in Historic Preservation from the University of Delaware, where she worked on the Mid-Atlantic Historic Buildings and Landscapes Survey at the Center for Historic Architecture and Design. She has served on Preservation Delaware's Board of Directors since January 2020 and currently chairs the Education Committee.

Emily Whaley

Emily Whaley is an Architectural Historian with the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ State Historic Preservation Office. Whaley earned a B.A. in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington and is currently working towards a M.A. in Historic Preservation at Goucher College. Whaley’s responsibilities at the division include reviewing nominations and project proposals for the National Register of Historic Places, historic preservation tax credits, consulting with federal, state, and local agencies and applicants on proposed construction projects, and other preservation planning work.

Rebecca L. Wilson

Rebecca L. Wilson has over forty years’ experience in non-profit organizations, over thirty of these years in senior level management positions. She has worked in a number of museums ranging from decorative arts, anthropology & archeology, art, and historic sites – Old Swedes Historic Site; New Castle Historical Society; Jekyll Island Museum; Tampa Museum of Art; University Museum, University of Pennsylvania; and Winterthur Museum & Gardens as well as, regional museum association the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. She has lectured on collection issues, policies and procedures, ethics, and leadership.

Wilson has worked on preservation projects both in Delaware and Georgia. Additionally, she has developed many preservation programs, seminars, and workshops on landscape, historic structures, and interiors, for the Mid Atlantic Association of Museums. Wilson worked for close to 25 years in institutions where she developed preservation plans and oversaw the preservation projects. She is concerned with preservation of Delaware icons and helping individuals understand why preservation is an important component to the state’s history.

Mrs. Susan Young Browne

Mrs. Susan Young Browne, who is 105 years old, was born in Houston, Delaware in 1918. She started 1st grade in 1924 at Williamsville Colored School located in Houston, Delaware and left in 1932 after completing 8th grade. Her formal education was completed at segregated schools in this state, including her graduation from Delaware State College for Colored Students High School in 1937, and then later from the college in 1945.

While at the State College, both for high school and college, she lived on campus and paid a total of $25 per year, which she says was a lot of money in those days! After finishing high school, she took a year off to work and make some money to complete college. She returned as a day-student and graduated in 1945 with a degree in Elementary Education. While attending college, she took a little more time off to get married and earn enough money to stay on campus and graduate.

Mrs. Browne took an interest in elementary education after being influenced by one of her elementary school teachers, Mrs. Elizabeth Shockley. After graduating with her teaching degree, she started as a 3rd grade teacher at John Wesley Elementary School, and then Lockwood Elementary School, where she taught grades 1-6. She went on to teach at Booker T. Washington School, and Fairview Elementary School, where she retired after 30 years as a teacher.

Sponsorships still welcome!  Add your support, and your Logo!

We invite your participation in the 2023 annual conference, to be held in October 2023 with a wide array of topics, by becoming a sponsor.  As a sponsor, your logo will be included in all sessions of the conference, on the PDI web site, in social media posts, and in our e-newsletter.

To become a sponsor please fill out the form linked below and either email it to info@preservationde.org or mail it to:

Call For Presentations!

Preservation Delaware, Inc. always encourages nominations for presentations and papers for our Annual Conference held each October and for our webinar series.  We are seeking presentations and papers on a range of topics related to historic preservation, primarily focusing on topics in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region, but also including more general topics relevant to our region or historic preservation.