Salve Regina brings back annual Cultural and Historic Preservation Conference after pandemic hiatus

Salve Regina’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program (CHP program) will host its 2022 Cultural and Historic Preservation Conference from Thursday, Oct. 13, through Saturday, Oct. 15. Because the CHP Conference has been on a hiatus due to the pandemic, it’s particularly special to bring it back in 2022.

This year’s theme, “Celebrating 75 Years of Preservation at Salve Regina University,” will both honor the legacy of preservation and look to the future.

Seventy-five years ago, the Sisters of Mercy were gifted the turn-of-the-century mansion Ochre Court as the base for founding a college. In the years since, the University has grown to encompass 80 acres of historic grounds and structures.

Today, Salve Regina stands as a monument to the early work of preserving historic structures that are enjoyed by modern students and the community. The University is committed to preserving the architectural and historical legacy that is part of its foundations, and the CHP program is only one of nine undergraduate programs in the entire nation that focuses on cultural and historic preservation.

The Cultural and Historic Preservation Conference was founded in 1997, although it was put on a hiatus the past few years due to the pandemic.

“We are so excited to be inviting both our Salve community and the outside community back onto campus to see all that Salve has to offer in this field,” said Dr. Jeroen van den Hurk, assistant professor of cultural and historic preservation. “This is also an amazing way for students to see all of the variety of careers that this field of study offers to them moving forward, and we are looking forward to connecting with everyone.”

What to expect at the 2022 Cultural and Historic Preservation Conference

Students participated at an archeological dig in the summer of 2021.

For 2022, the 2022 Cultural and Historic Preservation Conference has been expanded greatly. The conference will address the following themes of history of the preservation movement, technological developments aiding preservation efforts today, and the future of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“This year, we have Morrison Heckscher giving the Richard A. Grills Keynote Speaker in Historic Preservation. He’s retired from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was the head of the American Wing,” said Dr. Heather Rockwell, assistant professor of cultural and historic preservation. “He’s going to do a retrospective on his work in cultural preservation and his experience in the field, and we’re very excited.”

The CHP Conference also decided to invite some key speakers from the broad fields of preservation, according to Dr. Rockwell. For architectural history, the conference has Carl Lounsbury, who is retired from working for many years at the Colonial Williamsburg, the largest outdoor educational living history museum in the country. Jesse Casana, a professor at Dartmouth College, will also be joining the conference.

“Jesse Casana has done a lot of work in looking at the looting of cultural heritage, as well as the use of digital technologies to detect and protect cultural sites,” said Dr. Rockwell. “He’s also going to be doing one of our tours, so he is doing a demonstration of ground penetrating radar for conference attendees.”

The CHP Conference will also have a student’s symposium where four students are presenting, and the invited key note speakers are going to give a student paper award. Two of the presenting students are from Salve Regina, and two are from other universities.

For a full schedule of the conference, please go here. For any questions, please contact Dr. van den Hurk at jeroen.vandenhurk@salve.edu or Dr. Rockwell at heather.rockwell@salve.edu.

Featured photo is of students participating in a cultural and historic preservation project on campus at Salve Regina.