HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM

EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

History of the Program:

Under the auspices of a l978/79 grant from the Preservation Education Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Professors Marshall McLennan and Andrew Nazzaro of the Department of Geography developed the three curricular programs in cultural resource management offered at Eastern Michigan University. Approved by the Board of Regents on June 20, 1979, classes commenced in the fall of l979. During the spring, l980, fourteen program students participated in a group project to determine the feasibility of establishing a central business area historic district for a citizens' study committee in Ann Arbor. In the summer term l980 the first historic administration courses were taught on site at the Edison Institute and a concentration in Historic Administration was initiated in the fall semester, l980. In the winter, l98l, two program students contracted with the Washtenaw County Historic District Commission to carry out a survey of all farmhouses, barns, and outbuildings in Webster Township. In October, l980, the Historical Society of Michigan presented the EMU Historic Preservation Program with the Award of Merit for innovative programming at its annual meeting in Marshall, Michigan.

Architectural surveys of Adrian and Chelsea were carried out during the spring, l98l, and a year-long rural architectural survey of Washtenaw County was initiated. All three projects were assisted by matching grants from the Michigan Center for History. A concentration in Heritage Interpretation was introduced in the fall of l98l, and to date remains the largest university-based curriculum available in the United States pertaining to heritage interpretation. During the spring and summer, l982, students prepared a rehabilitation plan for Welch Hall. In the following year, when the university administration was considering tearing Welch down to replace it with a parking lot, preservation students under Dr. Nazzaro's leadership fought for the preservation of the building. It is now listed on the National Register, and with the assistance of funds allocated by special appropriation of The House of Representatives, it was completely renovated during 1988-89. During the fall of l984, the historic preservation program undertook a thematic National Register nomination of Greek Revival buildings in Washtenaw County, and sponsorship of an on-campus historic preservation conference in conjunction with the National Trust, the National Alliance of Preservation Commissioners, and the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. In recent years program students, under the direction of Professor Gabriel Cherem, have inventoried the historical, cultural and recreational resources of the town of Chelsea and the city of Ypsilanti and developed a comprehensive community interpretation plan for the two communities whereby they can image their sense of place, their quality of living, and their community resources to their residents, tourists, and business entities considering relocation.

In September, l985, several faculty attended the First World Congress for Heritage Presentation and Interpretation at Banff, Canada, and subsequently, at the Second World Congress at Warwick, England, in the summer of 1988, made a successful joint bid with the University of Hawaii to organize the next world congress. Consequently, EMU's Historic Preservation and Travel & Tourism programs hosted the Third Global Congress in Heritage Interpretation jointly with the University of Hawaii's Sea Grant and Interpret Hawaii programs, and the East-West Center in Honolulu in November, 1991. Some of the congress' theme tracks dealt with the role of heritage interpretation in relation to historic preservation, cultural preservation, and cultural tourism. Several students and graduates of the program, as well as faculty made presentations or simply attended the conference. Another outgrowth of the Second World Congress in Warwick, England was a visit to the program in September, 1989, by Sue Millar, Director of the Heritage Administration Programme at Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Great Britain. Ironbridge Gorge is listed by ICOMOS (affiliated with the United Nations) as a world heritage site.

As a consequence of the national award from the AASLH in 1989, the program underwent a phenomenal enrollment growth, which enabled the Department to add Ted Ligibel to the preservation faculty as an Associate Professor in the fall of 1991. Ligibel, author of Clark Lake: Images of a Michigan Tradition, a book on the nineteenth century cottage resort landscapes of Clark Lake, Michigan, led students in a documentary survey of nineteenth century buildings at Clark Lake during the spring of 1992. During the winter semester, 1993, students surveyed and documented outdoor sculpture in three Michigan counties as part of a nationwide survey sponsored by the Smithsonian, and in the spring, a cultural landscape survey of Salem Township was undertaken. In the 1994 fall semester, two survey courses were offered, one to carry out a survey of stain glass windows in Washtenaw County as part of a statewide survey, the other to survey the records of selected Michigan architectural firms as a pilot project for the State Bureau of History. Through the auspices of the National Council for Preservation Education, the National Register for Historic Places funded an experimental internship for 1996 for the purpose of developing a cooperative relationship between university preservation programs and state historic preservation offices. A team of five EMU preservation students successfully competed for the internship and surveyed two small Michigan communities, Homer and Concord. In October of 1997, the program hosted the annual meeting of the Pioneer America Society in nearby Dearborn, Michigan. The PAS is an organization interested in the study of American cultural landscapes, such as regional vernacular house types, barns, settlement patterns, cemeteries, old roadscapes, etc. Over the years program faculty, students, and alumni have regularly presented papers at the annual meetings of the PAS.

Working closely with the Michigan Historical Center, the EMU preservation program has established a two week summer field camp at Fayette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Fayette is a mining industry related historic townsite open to the public as a state park. Students will work under the supervision of restoration consultants to learn hands-on restoration techniques, which will be applied to surviving on-site buildings, ranging from an old hotel and stores to industrial buildings and worker housing. Concomitantly, the program is expanding its curricular offerings in the area of building conservation.

Dr. Ted Ligibel, Director of the program, is also an Advisor Emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, having served nine years as the Advisor from the state of Ohio. In January 1992 he was invited to Little Rock, Arkansas, as a participant in one of President Clinton's "Roundtables", which focused on Neighborhood Revitalization, Historic Preservation, and the Arts. He returned to Washington, D.C. for a second "roundtable" in May, 1992. Ligibel replaced McLennan as program director in January of 1999. He brings seventeen years of preservation practice, including several years with the Ohio SHPO, to the EMU program. Ligibel teaches core courses in historic preservation, preservation planning, survey techniques, adaptive use, and preservation and cultural tourism. Shortly before joining the Department, he was a primary organizer of a national conference on cultural heritage corridors held in Toledo, Ohio, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Ohio Historical Society, and is currently working with the National Park Service toward the establishment of a Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor. His work with the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office was key in developing the annual summer field school for the restoration of the buildings at the state owned historic Fayette site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.