Letter from the VAN editor

Welcome to the new electronic VAN, the newsletter of VAF!  I am the newly appointed editor of VAN, Christine Henry, and I am really excited to bring the publication into the digital age and make it even more accessible and useful for everyone.  But first I want to thank Marvin Brown, the longtime editor of VAN for all of the wonderful issues of the printed newsletter over the years as well as his guidance and help during my transition as editor. 

You may have noticed that we have been on a bit of a hiatus from publishing.  The move to a digital newsletter has been a part of a larger movement to digitize the membership records and bibliography, making it even easier for all our members to keep in touch with us and access all of the resources of VAF membership.  We now have a great system that will integrate many functions smoothly, and I will resume our regular quarterly publication schedule.  So, if you have any news items, such as announcements, calls for papers, queries, opportunities or exhibit reviews, please send them to me at VANeditor@vafweb.org, by the first of the month: March, June, September, and December for publication at the beginning of the following month.  Also, we love to have images, and can include lots in the new format, so please include those with your submissions. 

The design of the newsletter is a work in progress, and I welcome suggestions from the members any time.  Thanks so much!  I look forward to working to provide a great and useful newsletter for everyone.  Hope to see you all in New Jersey in May!  For a little more information on me, feel free to visit http://www.arch.umd.edu/hisp/people/staff

Bibliography Moves to Zotero

With the transition of the VAN into an all-electronic format, we are pleased to announce a complementary transition for the VAF bibliography.  Initiated in 1979, the bibliography is a running list of sources relevant to Vernacular Architecture studies containing more than 28,000 entries.   Beginning this spring the complete bibliography will be available in a Zotero database  VAF Bibliography.  Developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for New Media at George Mason University, Zotero is open-source reference software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials.  As a standard bibliographic management tool it is capable of creating reference lists to be used in footnotes and bibliographies.  However, individual VAFers need not worry about adding to the comprehensive list by using Zotero, but we can all access the master Zotero list and extract sources for our own uses.  It can also be searched and browsed as a standard bibliography. Additionally, Zotero is integrated with WorldCat and other major databases.   David Bergstone initiated this project has been overseeing the herculean task of migrating existing entries from FileMaker to Zotero.

At the same time that the bibliography is going open-source digital, we are happy to announce two new bibliographers, who will be working as a team to maintain it and add new entries.  The latest additions will be reported in each issue of the VAN as in the past.  The team consists of C. Ian Stevenson (charlesian@hotmail.com) and Zachary Violette (zviolette@gmail.com).  Stevenson and Violette take over for Virginia Price, who has served as bibliographer for a number of years.

Iam Stevenson, co-bibliographer

C. Ian Stevenson holds a Master’s Degree in Preservation Studies from Boston University’s American and New England Studies Program, where his thesis focused on the late nineteenth century comprehensive architectural program of two interconnected railroads in rural Maine. He is Assistant Editor for the Humanities and Administrator of the Loeb Classical Library and The I Tatti Renaissance Library at Harvard University Press, where he has contributed to the major digitization project of the century-old Loeb Classical Library.

Zach Violette, co-bibliographer

Zachary Violette is a Ph.D. Candidate in the American and New England Studies Program at Boston University, set to graduate in May. His dissertation, “Fantastic Shapes and Unfamiliar Profiles: The Decorated Tenements of Boston and New York, 1860-1910” explores the intersection of class, ethnicity, and architectural ornament in a building type common to major American cities. That project’s research methodology involves adapting database and other Digital Humanities techniques to vernacular architecture questions.

Please feel free to send items for inclusion to either Ian or Zach.

Treasurer Stepping Down

Photo Courtesy of Don Linebaugh

Don Linebaugh, VAF Treasurer the past ten years, is stepping down. Long-time Director of Historic Preservation at the University of Maryland, Linebaugh will be taking on the additional role of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, which will prevent him from continuing his VAF work.

            

“Dennis Domer, the previous Treasurer, got me to say yes when I had had one too many beers,” remembers Linebaugh. “I continued because I enjoyed getting to meet great folks who have become close friends and colleagues over the years. I also liked the sense that I was contributing to an important organization that is close to my heart.”

            

“Don has not only given many years of valuable serve to the organization,” responded Chris Wilson to the news, “but also was an indispensable advisor to me as I got up to speed as VAF President this past year. He and Secretary Gabrielle Lanier have provided similar continuity for a succession of new presidents.”

           

The Nominating Committee, chaired by VP Claire Dempsey, is working to identify a replacement. Basic financial and accounting experience is sufficient for the position, although the establishment of a VAF endowment also makes investment experience desirable. The job requires about a day a month of work, then multiple days before each of two board meetings, and around tax and audit times.

             

Please contact Claire Dempsey, dempseyc@bu.edu, if you are interested in the job, or if you know of someone who might have the necessary experience . . . and also might like to share a glass of Leinenkugel’s.

President's Column: Letter from Chris Wilson

Parc National Forillon, Gaspé, VAF Annual Conference,

 June, 2013. Chris Wilson.

For those of you who were not at the Gaspé closing banquet, let me echo the hearty thanks that those gathered extended to Susan Kern for the dedication and hard work that she contributed over the past two years as VAF President.

After I finished graduate school in 1981, I was fortunate to be able to find a mentor in the cultural landscape writer, J. B. Jackson, who lived about an hour away from me near Santa Fe. I visited him every month or so, usually Sunday afternoon for conversation, coffee and camembert on crackers. After this had been going on for a few years, as I was leaving one day, Jackson handed me a check for $500, and said, “Here, why don’t you go to a conference?”

 I chose the next Vernacular Architecture Forum conference the next May of 1988 at Staunton , Virginia--a memorable conference organized by Pam Simpson and Ann McCleary. I met such important later advisors for my research as Catherine Bishir, Richard Longstreth and Dell Upton at that first conference. The combination of opening and closing receptions with live local music, two days of field trips with meals by the likes of the Daughters of Rebecca, and the substantive field guide, with a single day of papers seemed perfect to me.

 I was warmly welcomed by the old hands, especially when I mentioned that I was from New Mexico. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hold a conference in Santa Fe?” they all asked. Boyd Pratt--my research partner since grad school days, who was also at the conference--and I began thinking of ourselves as the pretty girl in high school, unsure if people liked us for our brains or just for the stunning good looks of the New Mexico landscape. We will always remember the hard work and the enduring pleasure of having hosted the VAF conference in Santa Fe, in 1991.

I have preached the importance of attending conferences for comradery and intellectual growth to my students ever since. Much in the spirit of Jackson’s gesture of encouragement years ago, the recently established Pamela H. Simpson Presenter’s Fellowships supports the expenses of students and recent graduates who attend the conference to present papers. Twelve who have had their papers accepted for the Down Jersey conference will receive Simpson Fellowships this year.

I have attended fifteen of the past twenty-six VAF conferences--and served stints on the board and as Second VP--but had not been as active in the past ten years as a I was in my first fifteen. I welcome this opportunity to serve an organization that has been indispensible to my intellectual development, and has given me so many long-term friends. Below are three links by way of further self-introduction.

I also look forward to seeing you all at what promises to be one of those great VAF conferences, next May in South New Jersey.

Regards, Chris Wilson

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Wilson Bio: http://saap.unm.edu/about/sap-people/faculty-profiles/chris-wilson.html

Plazas of New Mexico book website: http://plazasofnewmexico.com

Interview: http://newmexicomercury.com/blog/comments/insight_new_mexico_chris_wilson