Marjorie Hunt (Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage)
Craftspeople in the traditional building trades play a critical role in historic preservation. Their skills and knowledge help local communities preserve historic places and vernacular buildings that hold cultural heritage, identity, and meaning, and are vital to ongoing community life and values. Yet this important body of intangible cultural heritage is endangered today in United States. Few young people are learning the crafts and traditional contexts for apprenticeship have been shrinking. This presentation will discuss efforts of public folklorists, preservationists, and artisans to help sustain and foster the continuation of these traditional crafts and the cultural heritage they preserve.
Part of 01-13 Public Folklore, Historic Preservation, and Heritage Studies, Thursday, October 13, 8:30 am–10:00 am