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In 2022, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's HOPE Crew (Hands-On Preservation Experience) program in partnership with the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund presented a 6-month paid fellowship to students studying at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): Florida A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, and Tuskegee University.

With guidance from the HOPE Crew team, mentor architects, trades experts, and faculty advisors, participants moved through a project planning experience that included historical research, project development opportunities, budget creation, leadership training, and other speaking and presentation assignments. The cohort of 5 students—Joshua Francis and Cornelis Pace (Florida A&M University), LaTavia Latham and Gabrielle Payne (Prairie View A&M University), and Jordan Lamar (Tuskegee University)—focused on an array of campus documentation, historically black burial ground preservation, and historic site and landscape engagement in their respective university’s community. Their research and planning informed in-person projects where the fellows led their classmates in learning a preservation skill.

To share the impact of the digital documentation fellowship and the way in which it has encouraged and supported the integration of historic preservation at HBCUs, HOPE Crew, in partnership with the Action Fund has produced a documentary featuring the five students from this year’s cohort. Watch the trailer for the film below and check back for the full documentary and a series of shorts that provides a deeper look at the student's experiences and the broader partnership with each HBCU.

The House of Tomorrow, located in Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana, was constructed in 1933 as part of the World’s Fair in Chicago. This gleaming, technology-driven vision of what domestic life could be in the future was a part of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition attended by more than 39 million people (about twice the population of New York).

After the fair, the House of Tomorrow (and four other houses) were shipped to Indiana. It has sat vacant and deteriorating since 1999.

As part of the work to preserve the House of Tomorrow, in May 2022, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s HOPE (Hands-On Preservation Experience) Crew program coordinated a cabinetry restoration project funded by Indiana Landmarks, and in partnership with the youth serving program LaPorte County Career & Technical Education Center, Indiana Dunes National Park, and trades expert Ann Swigart.

Under Swigart’s tutelage, the students worked to remove rust, prime, and paint the cabinetry inside the House of Tomorrow in preparation for putting the home on sale with a 90-year lease. The National Trust’s partnership with Indiana Landmarks and the generous donation from the Efroymson Family Fund allowed the HOPE Crew team to train eleven students from LaPorte CCT, encouraging a sense of pride in their local history.

Dick Bucher, construction technology instructor at the LaPorte County Career & Technical Education Center, mused, “We live in a society of ‘disposable,’ ‘throw away,’ and ‘focus on to the new shiny object.’ Hopefully now my students will appreciate the value of history, the importance of history, and the appreciation of restoration.”

A majority-women crew organized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation completed work on restoring the historic clerestory windows of the Odd Fellows building in downtown Astoria, Oregon. This team was the first all-female-led project and first majority-female HOPE (hands-on preservation experience) Crew cohort in the program’s seven-year history and part of the campaign for Where Women Made History. The project was led by Oakland-based glass conservator Ariana Makau, President and Founder of Nzilani Glass Conservation and the first woman to receive a master’s degree in Stained Glass Conservation from the Royal College of Art in London.

As the Odd Fellows project proves, involving more women in the process of preservation–from business owners to glass conservators–is not only good for the past. It’s good for the future.

Over 60 years after the McDonogh 19 School, located in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, was integrated on November 14, 1960, HOPE Crew brought a new hands-on learning experience to this historic civil rights site.   

In early April 2021, a socially distanced crew with members from two Louisiana youth serving programs learned carpentry and other skills as they worked to restore existing stairways and recreate a third stairway. As a result, a new generation of diverse youth learned under-taught skills, helping to preserve historic materials, and aid in giving this site new life.