Education and Training

A Report on the International Trades Education Symposium & International Preservation Trades Workshop

August 24-29, 2009
Leadville, Colorado

By Patrick Kennedy, Restoration Project Manager

The International Trades Education Symposium (ITES) is a biennial gathering of educators and others with an interest in continuing and improving preservation trades education.  ITES presentations provide insight into a variety of approaches for preservation and renovation of the world’s historic sites.  The symposium takes place in conjunction with the annual International Preservation Trades Workshop (IPTW).

The IPTW is the only annual event in North America which brings the foremost practitioners of the traditional trades together in a single venue dedicated to sharing and teaching traditional trades through interactive, hands-on demonstrations and educational sessions.  Since 1997, masons, timber framers, carpenters, painters, plasterers, roofers, metal workers and other trades practitioners have come together with tools in hand to share their knowledge and demonstrate their skills at the annual “gathering of the trades.”  The IPTW is an interdisciplinary event designed to attract participants of many backgrounds, ages and skill levels including trades people, contractors, architects, engineers, conservators, educators, preservationists, students and interested members of the public.

My attendance at this year’s IPTW in Leadville, Colorado was especially important to the Kentucky Heritage Council, as Frankfort will host this event in October 2010.  One of my main goals in attending was to gain insight for next year, including behind-the-scenes organizational duties required to present such an undertaking.  Following is a brief recount of my experience and some thoughts about improvements for next year.

Three local hands-on workshops were conducted in Leadville – historic log structures preservation, historic brick masonry cleaning and historic cemetery monument conservation.  These workshops are intended to provide local caretakers or volunteers an opportunity to learn from the visiting preservation professionals.

The first of two phases of the Leadville event was the trades education symposium, with 2½ days of lectures and presentation by a diverse group of speakers from across the United States and around the world.  Topics ranged from training initiatives for at-risk youth in New York’s inner city neighborhoods to cost-effective project management for private and public construction projects.  The latter was particularly interesting in that use of the Performance-Based Studies Research Group from Arizona resulted in reducing construction time by half and construction costs by 5%, and eliminating 80% of project management.  See www.pbsrg.com for details.

Other presentations focused on effective use of volunteers for projects, curriculum and apprenticeship development by the Timber Framers Guild, and successful approaches to preservation skills education programs by representatives from California, Montana, Ohio, Colorado, Great Britain, Scotland and France.

The second phase of conference was the preservation trades workshop with 2½ days of hands-on education and demonstrations, where attendees were welcomed to try their hand.  Demonstrations ranged from Kentucky’s own Miles Miller of Bourbon County, explaining and demonstrating how he makes historic-style bricks and his methods for renovating 19th century brick structures, to demonstrations of Western Civilian Conservation Corps log construction techniques, stone carving, leaded roof covering, historic mortar analysis, a variety of plaster repair approaches, tricks of the trade for creating wood molding, and even such mundane topics as how to properly sharpen woodworking tools.

At each of these I learned new methods (new to me – quite often they are old methods) to enhance the preservation of Kentucky’s historic buildings.

For me, a big focus of the 2009 event was not only to learn about different approaches to preservation skills and education, but to pay close attention to the flow of the event, look for ways to make improvements and learn how to make the 2010 IPTW successful, Kentucky-style.

Preservation Skills Training – Learn by Doing

Since 2002, the Kentucky Heritage Council and the Pine Mountain Settlement School, a National Historic Landmark District, have partnered to present an annual series of hands-on training events.  This partnership, known as the Pine Mountain School for Practical Historic Preservation, []conducts workshops that are intense but fun hands on sessions.  They feature dedicated and experienced instructors who take time off from their full time careers to help educate others in the skills needed to properly care for and repair historic buildings. Traditional construction methods are taught and practical preservation using modern techniques is emphasized.
 
 Only significant historic buildings on or near the campus are used to demonstrate the hands-on techniques.  Not only do the buildings benefit, but these programs provide participants quality instruction and the opportunity to work on historic landmark sites that feature a variety of materials and construction methods, all in a secluded setting over a week or weekend in the Appalachian Mountains.  Students leave with the knowledge of using new and old tools to meet their preservation goals.  To quote one student, an owner of an historic log building, “you have taught me methods to work on my building but more importantly you have given me the confidence that I can do the work”.

Since 2004, the Kentucky Heritage Council has also partnered with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) to develop training curricula and offer preservation skills training workshops during the summer at various campuses across the state.  Other partners in recent years have included The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation, owners of the Pope Villa in Lexington Kentucky, the University of Kentucky’s College of Historic Architecture and Preservation and Preservation Kentucky Inc., Kentucky’s statewide preservation advocate.

Several of our workshops have been filmed by our friends from Appalshop Inc. in Whitesburg Kentucky.  Copies may be requested by contacting Patrick Kennedy at patrick.kennedy@ky.gov or 502-564-7005, ext. 138.

Preservation Trades Network
Rudy R. Christian, PTN Executive Director
PO Box 249
Amherst, New Hampshire 03031-0249
Phone: (330)465-1504
Web site:http://www.iptw.org/ 

American College of the Building Arts
1362 McMillan Avenue, Suite 102
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405
Phone: (843) 577-5245
Toll free: (877) 283-5245
Web site: www.buildingartscollege.us 

Belmont Technical College
120 Fox-Shannon Place
St. Clairsville, OH 43950
Phone: (740) 695-9500
Web site: http://www.btc.edu/bpr/ 

College of the Redwoods
7351 Tompkins Hill Rd.
Eureka, CA 95501-9300
Phone: (707) 476-4353
Web site: www.redwoods.edu 

Harford County Community College
401 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015
Phone: 410-836-4000 x7179
Web site: http://www.harford.edu/bpr 

North Bennet Street School
39 North Bennet Street
Boston, MA 02113
Phone: (617) 227-0155
Web site: www.nbss.org

Timber Framers Guild
PO Box 60
Becket, MA 01223  
Phone and fax: 888-453-0879 (toll-free)
Web site: http://www.tfguild.org/ 

Colorado Mountain College
Central Services Office
831 Grand Ave.
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Phone: 800-621-8559
Web site: http://www.coloradomtn.edu/historicpreservation/ 

Heritage Education

Kentucky Heritage Council staff work with educators to incorporate Kentucky’s historic places as classroom resources.  Real places in their own communities often make an even stronger connection for students than those more famous but farther away, often sparking students to learn more about their own community.  These places inspire investigations that enable students to develop a variety of basic and higher-order thinking skills.  They learn to observe, gather facts, compare and contrast, synthesize and analyze, evaluate sources of evidence, develop and test hypotheses, and draw conclusions.  Because places teach skills as well as content, they are well-suited to help teachers meet both state and national curriculum standards in social studies, history, geography and other subjects.

Currently Heritage Council staff are working in partnership with the Letcher County School Board and Kentucky Historical Society on the Documenting American Democracy project funded by a Teaching American History Grant – a professional development program for teachers in southeast Kentucky.  Staff also partner with Preservation Kentucky, Inc. to coordinate the Annual Photo-Essay Competition for students who select, photograph and write about historic places in their communities and explain why they believe them to be significant and worthy of preservation.

Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference

Since 1986 the Kentucky Heritage Council has coordinated a biennial statewide conference to focus attention on historic preservation efforts throughout Kentucky and to provide technical assistance and training to local organizations and community leaders.  This conference has taken place in various communities across Kentucky.  Historic places in each of these locations have served as the meeting backdrop to highlight successes and issues in preservation as well as provide a venue for Kentuckians to learn from guest speakers and presenters from other states and countries.

The 2008 Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference took place September 4-6 in Bardstown with the theme Preserving the Spirit of Home.  Following is a list of previous conferences and host communities:

May 9-10, 1986
Preservation in Perspective – Louisville

October 2-3, 1987
Preservation in Detail – Lexington

September 21-23, 1989
Partners in Preservation – Louisville

September 26-28, 1991
Preservation in Profile – Covington

September 22-25, 1993
Preserving the Diversity – Bardstown

September 21-23, 1995
Preserving Real Places – Lexington

September 11-13, 1997
Preserving Community – Bowling Green

May 18-20, 2000
Planning to Preserve – Louisville

August 1-3, 2002
In Tune with Preservation – Centre College, Danville

September 2004
Restore America: Communities at the Crossroads
National Historic Preservation Conference – Louisville

September 28-40, 2006
The ART of Preservation – Covington