Virtual Sessions

Friday 9:10-10:25

Speakers: Chandra Reedy & Anna Wik

Session Title: Exploring UD's Old College National Historic District

Dr. Reedy and Ms. Wik will describe the architectural and landscape changes that occurred in the ten acre Old College Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, which comprise the original buildings and Newark location of what is now of the University of Delaware. They will also discuss the design and development of the Old College Walking Tour and the use of similar tools to help interpret historic buildings, districts, and cultural landscapes. Finally they will touch on how NRHP documentation can be amended/ expanded and some considerations of how the Old College documentation can be updated to reflect important changes over time.

BIOGRAPHY

Chandra L. Reedy is a professor in the Biden School and affiliated with its Center for Historic Architecture & Design (CHAD). She also directs the Biden School’s graduate certificate program in historic preservation, and teaches classes for that program and electives for the MA in Urban Analytics and Policy and the BA in Public Policy. In her Laboratory for Analysis of Cultural Materials she focuses on developing innovative methods for documenting, understanding, and preserving traditional materials, technologies, and intangible cultural heritage. She combines laboratory analysis of cultural materials with fieldwork at traditional workshops and with heritage management officials and policy makers, and has worked in India, China, Japan, and Cambodia. She maintains affiliations with the departments of Anthropology and Art History, and with the interdepartmental Asian Studies Program. Since 2010, she has served as Editor-in-Chief of Studies in Conservation, the flagship journal of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. She is also the author of four books and three edited volumes, as well as 85 professional articles. She is passionate about identifying what tangible and intangible reminders of the past are most important for the wellbeing of communities undergoing rapid changes.

Anna Wik is a registered professional landscape architect in Delaware and Pennsylvania and an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware. She has designed, documented, and managed construction of many landscape projects in the Delaware Valley region, working with community and non-profit partners including Delaware State Parks, Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs, Delaware Historical Society, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Philadelphia Water Department, the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, and numerous community groups. Anna’s courses investigate the relationship between the cultural practice of design and the built environment. She is passionate about equitable design and is interested in historical, social and cultural influences upon the urban and rural landscape. Other research areas include children's outdoor learning environments, coastal resilience related to cultural landscapes, and edible forest gardens. Anna earned her Masters of Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Friday 10:35-11:20

Speaker: Ryan Grover

Session Title: Past & Present at the Shipley-Bringhurst-Hargraves-House

Join Director Ryan Grover on a State of the Rockwood Estate to explore past and recent preservations efforts to both protect and popularize this Romantic Era mansion, garden, art collection, archive and landscape.

BIOGRAPHY

Ryan Grover is the Director of Rockwood Park & Museum and the Administrator of New Castle County’s Public Arts Commission. Before that, he was the Sewell C. Biggs Curator the Biggs Museum of American Art. He has held several adjunct professor positions with the University of Delaware, Delaware State University and the Delaware College of Art and Design for art history and museum studies and he has served on numerous regional boards including the Delaware Disaster Assistance Team and Delaware Foundation for the Visual Arts. He received his BA and MA in art history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Friday 11:30-12:15

Speaker: Dan Citron

Session Title: Bridging the Past and Future at Cooch’s Bridge Historic Site

This session will give an overview of the history of Cooch’s Bridge and delve more deeply into the location’s transition from a private home into a public historic site. The Homestead portion of the Cooch’s Bridge Historic Site was acquired by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs in late 2018. It is slated to open full time in early September of 2027, just in time for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware’s only Revolutionary War battlefield.

BIOGRAPHY

As the Historic Sites Team Manager, Dan Citron is responsible for the museums and historic sites that the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (HCA) owns and operates throughout the state. These include the Zwaanendael Museum, John Dickinson Plantation, Johnson Victrola Museum, The Old State House, and New Castle Court House Museum, all of which are regularly open year-round, and Cooch’s Bridge Historic Site, which is under development to be open full time. Dan holds a B.A. in History from the Pennsylvania State University. With over 23 years’ experience in the museum field, Dan began his career in education and interpretation at Fort Delaware State Park and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He moved into site management when he transferred to Auburn Heights Preserve (now Auburn Valley State Park) and led the transition from private home to public museum and park. Before joining HCA in mid-2019, Dan was the Executive Director of the New Castle Historical Society. As a native Delawarean, Dan enjoys the challenges of preserving and interpreting all aspects of Delaware’s history for the public.

Friday 12:25-1:10

Speaker: Barksdale Maynard

Session Title: Halloween Special: Delaware’s Most Frightful Buildings

Delaware’s Most Frightful Buildings

BIOGRAPHY

W. Barksdale Maynard is the author of seven university press books about American history, art, and architecture. His most recent book Artists of Wyeth Country is a rare, unauthorized biography of Andrew Wyeth. Currently he is teaching at the University of Delaware, which hosts the W. Barksdale Maynard Photographs of Delaware Collection (online).

Friday 1:20:2:00

Speaker: Kim Burdick

Session Title: Hale-Byrnes House

History and Preservation of the Hale-Byrnes House

BIOGRAPHY

Along with Don Homsey, Kim was a founding member of Preservation Delaware, and is an Advisor Emerita of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She served as House-Senate Liaison at Legislative Hall for fourteen years, and then taught American History as an adjunct at Wilmington Campus DelTech. Kim and her husband, Dr. Ralph Burdick, have been the Resident Site Managers of the Hale-Byrnes House since 2008.

Friday 2:15 to 3:15

Speaker: Gwen Davis, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs

Session Title: Preservation in Focus:  Planning for the Next 5 Years

The State Historic Preservation Plan serves as a statement of  public policy on historic preservation in Delaware.  As work continues toward developing the next Plan, Gwen will provide a summary of the comments received through public outreach to date and invite PDI Conference participants to share their thoughts.  What should be the main goals for historic preservation in the next five years? How might those goals be achieved?  Who will lead or participate in these efforts?

BIOGRAPHY

Gwen Davis is Delaware’s Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, whose office is within the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. She has the privilege of leading a dedicated team of archaeologists, architectural historians, historians and information resource specialists who carry out the work of the SHPO. Gwen holds degrees in anthropology with a specialization in archaeology from the University of Delaware (B.A.) and the State University of New York at Albany (M.A.)

Become a Sponsor today!  Add your support, and your Logo!

We invite your participation in the 2025 annual conference, to be held on October 31st and November 1st 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 either SUBMIT ONLINE or fill out the form linked below and either email it to info@preservationde.org or mail it to: