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Following their successful first collaboration at the Stone Quarry Park in Cazenovia, New York, the Women’s Leadership Initiative of RAMSA (Robert A.M. Stern Architects) renewed their commitment to provide substantial pro bono design, planning, and technical expertise in support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Where Women Made History (WWMH) initiative. The National Trust is honored that RAMSA leadership and the Women’s Leadership Initiative are continuing and expanding our pilot partnership with $100,000 in professional services directed to an important site of women’s history in need.

History of the Palmer Memorial Institute

The RAMSA and WWMH team unanimously decided that the full amount of RAMSA’s gift of services will be dedicated to master planning at the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina, a State of North Carolina Historic Site and home to the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. Founded in 1902 by civil rights advocate, suffragist, and educator, Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, the Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial Institute transformed the lives of the African American students who attended school there.

Following Dr. Brown’s death in 1961 the school struggled financially, changing ownership and then officially closing in 1971. After many years of effort and advocacy, the surviving Palmer buildings and 40 acres of the central campus were purchased by the North Carolina's Division of Archives and History as the first African American state historic site. Funding for maintenance and operation continued to be a challenge at the property, and in 2022 Palmer Memorial Institute was listed on the National Trust’s the America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list to draw attention to the deteriorated state of the buildings at this important site of Black history and women’s history.

A Coalition of Support

Since the listing, a project team composed of predominantly women architects, designers, and planners from RAMSA, along with National Trust staff from Where Women Made History, HOPE (Hands-on Preservation Experience) Crew, and the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, have been meeting with leadership at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Palmer Alumni, and the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Our goal was to understand the needs and condition of the 12 buildings and the central landscape, and their potential to be rehabilitated and reactivated to achieve the State staff’s compelling vision for the campus as a center of Black community, public events, and learning that carries on the legacy of Charlotte Hawkins Brown.

In 2024, to reinforce this work and support the future of the site, the Action Fund awarded Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum at the Historic Palmer Memorial Institute $75,000 for Endowment Project Planning.

Both the team and the project are grounded in a deep respect for the legacy and achievements of Charlotte Hawkins Brown and the many students, alumni, and heirs who shaped the campus and its history. Over the next 3-4 months the RAMSA team members will consult with the NC State staff and National Trust staff to create a master plan for the main campus, which will highlight and enhance that legacy by positioning the Palmer campus and historic site to become a vibrant center of education, research, training, and events for learners of all ages and interests.

Their work will include assessing the potential to undertake practical rehabilitation projects to achieve the desired uses in the existing buildings and landscapes. This will include written recommendations for a phasing strategy to establish near-term and long-term priority projects. They also will create compelling visuals (building plans, landscape plans, space plans, rendering, etc.) of specific projects and proposed uses that will assist the State staff, administration, alumni, donors, stakeholders, and community members in envisioning the proposed projects and their positive impact on the Palmer campus and its operations.

During Women’s History Month, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is delighted to announce the third round of Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts grants to four Historic Artists' Homes and Studios (HAHS) sites. The projects in this latest round of grants will receive a total of $71,000 in awards this March, continuing and expanding the successful partnership between the Where Women Made History program and HAHS to engage young students in the lives and work of women at historic places.

Thanks to a generous expanded gift from our lead donor, the National Trust has now provided nearly $190,000 to fund creative new student- and family-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) educational programming at 11 sites across the HAHS network.

“We are so fortunate to have a donor who understands the importance of this type of groundbreaking educational programming,” said Chris Morris, senior director of preservation programs at the National Trust and leader of Where Women Made History. ”As part of our larger commitment to increasing gender equity in our work, these grant projects are changing the ways in which the public--particularly young people--encounter women’s stories and achievements at historic places.”

“All of the projects funded by the Radgowski grants will become part of a virtual casebook of educational models for historic sites that the National Trust will document and share widely later this year,” added Valerie Balint, director of HAHS. “These grant awards and resulting projects are impactful for the entire network of HAHS sites and beyond. They provide critical funds and important programmatic examples for engaging young students - something sites throughout the country are striving to do. “

The four projects funded in this latest grant round showcase very different types of female artists across the country, drawing on their personal histories and the intersection of the arts and sciences to examine complex issue of identity, self-reliance, social advocacy, the relationship between art and the natural environment, and much more:

Alice Austen House (Staten Island, New York) for “Alice Austen’s Lens: Bringing the Mobile Photography STEAM Wagon to PS 59: The Harbor View School.” The Alice Austen House will retrofit and transform a mobile food pantry truck into a “STEAM Wagon,” a mobile classroom and photographic lab. Through a six- week intensive residency program delivered to every grade level at the nearby PS 59 on Staten Island, students will look closely at the life and artwork of Alice Austen (1866-1952), one of America’s first female photographers who produced over 7,000 photographs of a rapidly changing New York City through the lens of her lesbian identity. Students will learn how Austen and her female peers broke boundaries of acceptable female roles and created groundbreaking art and inventions; will explore a range of photographic techniques from the Victorian era guided by teaching artists; and create an exhibition of their own photography.

Elisabet Ney Museum (Austin, Texas) for “Breaking the Mold: Mobile Hands-On Art Crates Featuring Art, History, and Science Programs.” Elisabet Ney (1833-1907) was a German-born, emigree sculptor who defied societal norms in the 19th century and broke down barriers for future women artists. This program is designed to address the shortfall of arts education in local public schools by providing comprehensive materials, along with qualified museum education staff, to lead classroom discussions and guide K-5 students through a series of three hands-on activities. Working with a science teacher and an arts education coordinator, Ney Museum staff will create curricula and three different traveling Art Crates focused on distinct aspects of Ney’s story as a suffragist living and working in a male-dominated sculpting field, and her story as an immigrant. Ney’s process as an artist, her social advocacy, her rightful place in Texas history, plus her admiration of the natural world will be evident in the out-of-the box designs and innovative object-centered teaching lessons in each of the Art Crates.

Pond Farm Pottery (Guerneville, California) for “4th Graders Explore Design, Physics, and Nature at Marguerite Wildenhain's Pond Farm Pottery.” For decades Pond Farm Pottery was the studio and home of artist and educator Marguerite Wildenhain (1896-1985), the first female master potter trained at the Bauhaus in 1925. This project for local 4th grade students will consist of field trips to Pond Farm Pottery that connect the artistic concepts of texture, form, and color with Wildenhain’s legacy and themes of resilience and perseverance. Students will learn from Wildenhain’s philosophies and teaching pedagogy and strengthen their observational skills by learning from a pottery educator demonstrating throwing a pot on one of the kick wheels; exploring patterns, colors, and forms found in nature; creating their own work with clay; and sharing what they learned. Ultimately this pilot project will be expanded from two local school districts to nearly 40 other schools.

Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio (Lenox, Massachusetts) for “Suzy's Palette: Exploring Abstract Color Relationships with Personal and Mathematical Insights.” By examining the paintings of opera singer and abstract artist, Suzy Frelinghuysen (1911–1988), the museum staff and local educators will create pilot workshops and a lesson plan for 4th and 5th graders that uses math as a method to teach students to appreciate and understand the color proportions and formal composition principles in abstract art. The lesson plan will be developed over the course of 20-30 on-site student workshops, and the final lesson plan will become part of a toolkit for educators that contains all project research, along with clips of a new video that will provide an overview of the House & Studio, Suzy’s story and her art, and “how to” guidance for teachers or parents undertaking the lessons outlined in the toolkit.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to announce the second round of Dorothy C. Radgowski Learning Through Women’s Achievement in the Arts grants to three Historic Artists' Homes and Studios (HAHS) sites. This grant round, made possible with funding from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, continues and expands the successful partnership between the Where Women Made History program and HAHS. With these awards, the National Trust has provided $118,365 in grants during the first year of the program to support the exploration of women’s wide-ranging influence at sites of creativity across the HAHS network.

These projects represent groundbreaking work in gender equity, public engagement, and student education at historic places, with imaginative approaches to connecting women to the arts and sciences that embrace new partnerships in the sciences and education, elevate diversity and inclusion, and adopt multiple program types including in-class, after school, and online options.

The projects will receive a total of $49,865 in awards this July and will become part of the virtual casebook of educational models for historic sites that the National Trust plans to document and share widely in 2024:

Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio (East Hampton, New York) for “Artistic Identities: Using STEAM, History, and Artmaking to Understand Gender, Race, and Class.” Mary Nimmo Moran’s and Sarah Fowler’s lives intersected at the Moran Home & Studio in the 1880s and 1890s. Through the etchings of Nimmo Moran and the beading and basket weaving of Fowler (a member of the Montaukett Indian Nation), this afterschool program will explore how both women used science to create artwork expressing their identity and heritage. An intensive 28-week OST (Out of School Time) program will center on opportunities to learn science and history while incorporating a comprehensive art program featuring artmaking with professional artists and members of several Long Island Indigenous communities. The program is designed to help students meet NY State learning standards for grades 4-6, improve student achievement, school attendance, and social and emotional learning. A potential “in-class” version of the program available for all five local school districts will be considered as well.

Mabel and Victor D’Amico Home and Studio and Art Barge (Amagansett, New York) for “Mabel D’Amico Full STEAM Ahead: A Found Object Art Tour and Workshop.” This project will celebrate and amplify the experimental art-making and innovative teaching of Mabel D’Amico with a five-phase, multi-day program that can be adjusted to fit the needs of educational partners. Mabel’s pedagogy, lifestyle, and artmaking are the sources of inspiration for the program, encouraging children to learn about the natural environment around them through engagement in the creative process. Hands-on, found-object construction experiences align with Mabel’s artwork and build on her connection to the natural environment and wildlife around her home, studio, and the art barge. Students will consider scale, balance, stability, and materials used in Mabel’s work, and explore the skills used in building and sculptural construction. A new, free online video will highlight Mabel’s deep connection to the local environment in her artwork and collections, and will include descriptions of Mabel’s construction process along with detailed steps for creating found-object construction.

Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts (Alta Loma, California) for “Alfreda Maloof and Art, Math and Science Lessons of the Maloof Historic Home.” In partnership with the Ontario Montclair School District (88% Latino/Hispanic student population) and the Smithsonian Institution’s “Leadership for Change” internship program, the Maloof Foundation will expand its four-week K-6 curriculum beyond its current focus on art to incorporate science and environmental teaching. A new “Guide to Science Learning in the Maloof Discovery Garden” will conduct new archival research about the life and work of Alfreda Maloof in the management of the family’s citrus groves, creating up to six new bilingual lessons (in English and Spanish) relating to science, environment, and climate change. The guide will be developed in collaboration with teachers from science academies in local public schools and piloted with students before, during, and after their field trip visits to the Maloof Foundation, and also will be made available as a free, online resource.

"We are confident each of these will produce outstanding projects to address the considerable demand for educational content that allows grade schools students to understand women’s achievements across the arts and sciences in the context of the physical places and environments where they made their impact," said Chris Morris, senior director of preservation programs at the National Trust.

On September 20, 2022 the National Trust for Historic Preservation hosted the last of three events celebrating "Women's Work." This event "Women's Work: A Conversation with Lucy Lippard and Harmony Hammond " was developed by the National Trust’s Where Women Made History program in conjunction with the “Women’s Work” exhibition at Lyndhurst—a National Trust Historic Site located in Tarrytown, New York.

Writer, activist, curator, co-founded various artists’ feminist and activist organizations and publications, and author of 25 books on contemporary art and cultural criticism, Lucy Lippard, will be joined by Harmony Hammond, a leading figure in the development of the feminist art movement in New York in the early 1970s, and co-founder of A.I.R., the first women’s cooperative art gallery in New York. You won’t want to miss this spirited and thought-provoking conversation between two leading figures of the feminist art movement—and two long-time friends—as they reflect on their careers from the 1970s up to the present, and the evolution of “women’s work” in the art world as reflected in the artists and artwork of the Women’s Work exhibition at Lyndhurst.

On September 7, 2022 the National Trust for Historic Preservation hosted the second of three events celebrating "Women's Work." This event "Women’s Work: Beatrice Glow, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Nafis M. White in Conversation with Rebecca Hart" was developed by the National Trust’s Where Women Made History program in conjunction with the “Women’s Work” exhibition at Lyndhurst—a National Trust Historic Site located in Tarrytown, New York.

How do contemporary women artists draw on personal histories and cultural heritage to create a unique body of work? Independent curator Rebecca Hart leads a panel discussion with three contemporary artists who are featured in Lyndhurst’s “Women’s Work” exhibition. Beatrice Glow, Daisy Quezada Ureña, and Nafis M. White each use their artistic vision to address complex social and political issues that include migration, colonialization, gender and racial discrimination, and cultural identity.

Using a wide range of different media and sensory experiences, each artist explores identity, community, and the power of resilience in their vast body of work, community activism, and teaching. Rebecca Hart will engage these artists in conversation about their chosen methodologies and the ways in which they examine their role as artists within the historical context of artistic practice.

Speakers

• Beatrice Glow
• Daisy Quezada Ureña
• Nafis M. White
• Moderator: Rebecca Hart, Independent Curator
• Introduction: Chris Morris, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Where Women Made History

Related Links

• "Women's Work" at Lyndhurst
• A Curatorial Conversation and Studio Visit with Artist Suchitra Mattai, Curator Rebecca Hart, and Gallerist Doug Kacena
• Beatrice Glow: MA Curators Celebrate the Art of Collaboration
• Beatrice Glow and the Botanical Intimacies of Empire
• Daisy Quezada Ureña: Present Cartographers
• Nafis White: Women's Work on 60 Minutes (Video)